Gourami Problem

[wired691]

hi all need advice please i have two golden gouramis now i think one is male the other female, the male keeps chacing the other one all the time to the point were it is constantly hiding along with the other fish what would you suggest.

 

[stang1]

A lot of people suggest having 2 females to 1 male and that seems to sort the problem. Unfortunately, we had to take ours back because of the constant chasing. It might be worth a try though adding another female.

 

[wired691]

A lot of people suggest having 2 females to 1 male and that seems to sort the problem. Unfortunately, we had to take ours back because of the constant chasing. It might be worth a try though adding another female.

hi how do find out which is the and female??

 

[stang1]

The dorsel fin (the one on their back) is shorter and more round if it is a female. The males have longer and more pointed dorsel fins.

 

[wired691]

The dorsel fin (the one on their back) is shorter and more round if it is a female. The males have longer and more pointed dorsel fins.

hi stang1 thanks for the help.

 

[stang1]

No problem at all. I hope you manage to sort it out. Let us know how you get on.

 

[sylvia]

I would return the female instead. Three-spots (of which gold is one color morph) are particualrly aggressive. Adding another female may help your current fish but the new one will get picke on as well. With three-spots, you need several females per male or a large tank and there's always the problem of the new fish being smaller than the existing ones and, as she'll be viewed as an itnruder anyway, she will end up the least dominant and get picked on by both the others. Even if things work out, it's not usualy a good diea to have a mixed-sex group of three-spots in a community setting. They are one of the easiest gouramies to spawn and, when they do, the male becomes very aggressive - to the point where even non-gourami tankmates are in danger. If you just keep one fish, your whole tank will probably be mroe peaceful.

BTW, you didn't mention your tank's size - it may not be large enough for mroe three-spots anyway.

If you do decide to add more, get TWO - both female and of a similar size to your existing fish. It also helps to re-arange your tank before adding them so that the established fish feel less established It gives the new fish a better chance of settling in and a more 'fair' hierarchy being established than if you add new fish to a tank where they'll not be 'on equal footing' with the existing fish and will be automaticaly inferior (making settling in more difficult).