Gold Gourami

[christianflores]

Well i have some questions about the gold gouramis mines ive had for bout a year already and i noticed my pair has been nipping eachother.is it their matured stat?and both of mines have a some purple like colors on the end of it body near the anal gland is.is it ok?srry i tried to put a picture but well my camera has a broken lens so i cant get it yet.

 

[sylvia]

I can't help you with the purple coloring unless you get a pic. Some gold gouramies do have purple-blue markings but not necessarily concentrated around a particular area.

Gold gouramies are one color morph of the three-spot gourami, Trichogaster trichopterus. Other color morphs include blue, opaline, cosby, lavender and platinum. They are one of the most aggressive gourami species so the behaviour you are describing is to be expected.

What sexes are yours?

It is never a good idea to keep this species in pairs. The more dominant fish will tend to bully the other and can cause it severe stress. Two males will readily fight to the death over territory.

How large is your tank?

They grow to around 6" maximum - how large are yours? They may mature at half that size so yours may well have reached sexual maturity and are starting to become increasingly territorial and competitve. If you have a male/female pair, one or both may be becoming interested in spawning. Note that, if they do breed, the male can become extremely aggressive and may well attack and kill even non-gourami tankmates whilst guarding his bubblenest.

 

[christianflores]

I got a pair that are male and female and there is no longer any other tankmates in the tank.The tank size is 100 gallon,it used to be homed for my community tank which used to hold some school of 20 neon tetras and 3 albino plecos,8 assorted mollies and about 12 platies.

 

[christianflores]

And srry but i didnt know how to put the pics in.

 

[sylvia]

So you have nothing else at all in with them?

In a 100 gallon, you'd think they could avoid each other at least Clearly not.

I would suggest, seeing as you have the space, that you get several more females of about the same size. They can be different colors though - so blue, opaline, lavender, platinum etc. This will ensure the male is occupied and his attentions will be divided.

Adding a large school of fast-moving fish like danios or a non-nippy barb species (eg checker or rosy) might also help. Alternatively, you can always remove one of the two fish or just hope they learn to get along (though that's unlikely).

edit: About the pics - get an acount at http/www.photobucket.com and then post the image link here.

 

[christianflores]

 

[sylvia]

I don't see any unusual markings on him so I'm guessing whatever you were concerned over is part of the natural coloration (or is it not visible in the pic?). Looks perfectly healthy to me

 

[christianflores]

Oh ok but b4 the purple-ish color was very dark then it is now fading away now.thx