Gourami Vs. Gourami

[juelz]

it seems that my 2 gold gouramis(about 4 inches long) keep trying to attack each other what do u guys think i should do about it

-take em to the lfs nd trade them in if i do what are sum other fish that i could get to replace them?

in case you wanna kno wut other fish i have in the 29 gallon that are living with the gouramis

2x red wagtail platies
1x rtbs
2x silver dollars

-keep them and let them headbutt and attempt to nip each other
-keep one in my 29 gallon and put the other in my 35 gallon

thanks in advance

 

[Rodders]

My two gold ones do it.
And my two dwarf, did have three but one died. Not cause of chasing each other though.
But my tanks large enough that they arnt always in each others faces!

 

[lljdma06]

I am assuming that your gold gouramis is a member of the trichogaster genus. Males tend to be agressive towards one another, and males tend to be agressive towards a single female. These lovely fish are best kept either singly or in a larger group of 1 male and 3-4 females to divide the male's agression. Some people recommend 2 females, but I ere on the sid of caution. This tends to be the rule of thumb for most gouramis species. If there's room in the other tank, I would separate the two fish. They will thank you later.

Females in the trichogaster genus are more rounded when viewed from above, and the side. Males have a longer body. Females' dorsal fins are also more rounded and their anal fins lack the extended rays present in the males. But if the fish are immature, it is hard to distinguish between male and female. Gouramis species also shouldn't be mixed, so if you have a tank with golden gouramis, which are really just a hybrid of Trichogaster trichopterus trichopterus, your pretty much limited to that species, but with the correct sex ratio. They are a great fish, and often kept under the wrong circumstances, resulting in injury or death. If kept under the correct conditions, they are very interesting and a lot of fish for the buck! I've kept them before, and enjoyed them.

On a side note, your platies should also be kept in a ratio of 1 male to 2-3 females. Or if you're keeping all males, go for at least 5 to spread out agression. In addition, your silver dollars really need to be in a larger group. They are a schooling fish and can get quite large. So, actually I would rethink the silver dollars.

 

[juelz]

k thanks that sounds like a decent idea

would this idea work moving the 2 platies to the 35 gallon and adding a silver dollar to make it a group of 3 or should i just get rid of the silver dollars

 

[lljdma06]

k thanks that sounds like a decent idea

would this idea work moving the 2 platies to the 35 gallon and adding a silver dollar to make it a group of 3 or should i just get rid of the silver dollars

Define "get rid"? If that means return them safe and sound to the LFS, ok. I know what's in your 29g, what's in the 35g? I can't answer your platy question until then.

 

[juelz]

i do mean return them safely to the LFS lol

and the 35 gallon isnt even set up yet im still working on it

 

[lljdma06]

i do mean return them safely to the LFS lol

and the 35 gallon isnt even set up yet im still working on it

No, that's what I thought you meant, but some people can be real nut cases! What I suggest then is for now, separate the two gouramis, "get rid" of the silver dollars. Try to determine the sex of both of them, to see if they can eventually reunited. If you have a male and female, agression can be curtailed by adding another female. If you like gouramis, I would donate one of the tanks to the golden gouramis. Preferably the 35g. I would also, once the tank is cycled move the RTBS there. They really should have a larger tank, I've read in sources anywhere from 35-70gallons. That would actually be a great tank, if you had the right sex ratio. The 29g should house the platies and expand on them, if you'd like.

Do you have pictures of the gouramis? If they're like 4 inches already, I might be able to sex them.

 

[juelz]

here they are

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Please post pics of the gouramies if you can. If you do have one of each sex then adding some more females would ease the trouble. My 35g is a gourami home for my goldens, along with a blue and a brown......and several fry. They get on like one big family and share their tank with one male b.n and 2 female b.n. And alot of live plants!! And yes, mine breed whenever the fancy takes them really.
The blue and brown, I should add here, are the same species as the golds, just a colour variant. I'm trying to work my way towards some lavendars with them eventually but it takes time.
And you needn't wait until they're 4 inches to post the pics, do so now. My oldest fry aren't 4 inches and they're very easily sexed. Just look at the top fin on each of them. If it is longer and pointed (By longer I mean reaching the base of the tail) then you have a male. If it is shorter and rounded then it is female. You can get late developing males on occassion where the top fin is not as pointed as you might expect. If unsure look to the body next. A females body has a deeper girth (wider round the belly) then the more svelt look of the male.
For now, seperate them to stop the chasing. I'd have to recommend the silver dollars go too. This particular species of gourami is highly aggressive, especially once the males mature and become territorial towards other top water dwellers. And they can be jolly fast!
Hugs,
P.
Edit:Hard to tell. Is it the same one in both the top pics? Looks like an immature male or a little on the thin side female. Can't see the fins of the last pic but the girth looks deeper. But I will still hesitate to say it definitely one or the other.
Here's a pic of one of my girls. How does she compare to their body shape and fins?

 

[juelz]

yes its the same one in both the top pics

and i think mine both are male judging from how your girl there looks compared with my gouramis

your girl seems to have more brown scales on her then mine do

mine are more yellow or does the colour difference not matter

and i wish i didnt listen to the stupid lfs guy he said i could keep 2 or 3 silver dollars in my tank when i told him wut other fish i had
lol now im attached nd i dont wanna see them go but if it must be done then i guess i have no choice

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Awwww that's upsetting for you. You don't have to get rid of your silver dollars. If you return one of the gourami to the lfs then you'd be fine. Yes, they would need a larger tank (Not sure how fast they grow) eventually but at least you could work out if you can work towards that bigger tank and perhaps have a community of 3 spot gourami in the 35g in time.
No, Queenie is just a rather dark girl. My other female gold is much lighter in colour than she is and obviously the brown is brown and the blue is blue! Colour morph doesn't matter so long as they are the same species.
Here's a look at the colours you can find.
Hugs,
P.

 

[juelz]

if i return one of my gouramis to the LFS will the one i keep be lonely or do they not care if theyre the only gourami in the tank

cuz i might do that and im also moving the platies to another tank

so it would be
1 gold gourami
1 rtbs
2 silver dollars

or should i just keep
2 gold gouramis
1 rtbs
2 silver dollars

or should i scrap both those ideas

 

[lljdma06]

Sorry, you misunderstood me Miss Dib Dabs, Juelz told me they were four inches, so they were definitely big enough to sex. I just needed to make sure they weren't too small. Sometimes, the really small ones are a bit tricky to point out, I'm finding that out with my honey gouramis, but Juelz's are alright to sex. It's hard to tell, but the dorsal looks rounded and smallish on the first two pictures. I also want to say skinny female, but I'm not sure.

I disagree about the silver dollars, though. They can get to be 8 inches long and really require a larger tank, IMO. They are also a schooling fish, which means they would be probably more comfortables in greater numbers, at least 6. They are big characins, really cool under the right circumstances. Juelz, it would be alright if you planned to upgrade in the near future, but if you didn't I wouldn't recommend the silver dollars.

By the way, Miss Dib Dabs, Queenie is quite the lovely!! Pretty fish! And that link has great pictures!

 

[sylvia]

Re-home your silver dollars. They realy do need a larger tank and will seriously mess with any plants in your tank (plants being something gouramies enjoy).

Also return one of the golds. The one in the top 2 pics is deffinately male. With the last pic, a lot of the fish is covered so it's difficult to tell. Having said that, even if you have a male/female pair, one has got to go.

Besides the aggression you'll get between males (which almost always results in the death of at least one), males will also chase females to the point of stressing them to death (directly, or indirectly by making them more prone to disease). With several females, the male's attention is devided so the girls don't suffer quite so much. With only one, her death is likely to result prematurely.

Even if you were to add more females (which probably isn't all that good idea in the sense that you'll end up over-crowding them if you add, say, 2-3 more to a 25 gallon), the platies and silver dollars will be in danger of being attacked if/when the gouramies decide to breed. The platies, certainly, are very likely to get killed by a bubblenesting male.

Keeping a single three-spot is a far better option and it should eb relatively peaceful kept with the platies - so no need to move them. As these gouramies are quite highly territorial, they actualy tend to preffer being alone and deffinately suffer less stress this way.

BTW, golds are not a hybrid of trichogaster trichopterus. they are simply a color morph, a mutation, they are not a cross between 2 species. lljdma06 - the extended-fin-rays-on-anal-fins thing doesn't apply to this species - you have them confused with pearls.

 

[lljdma06]

BTW, golds are not a hybrid of trichogaster trichopterus. they are simply a color morph, a mutation, they are not a cross between 2 species. lljdma06 - the extended-fin-rays-on-anal-fins thing doesn't apply to this species - you have them confused with pearls.

Funny, I thought about that when I said that, but Horst Linke used the word "hybrid", so I assumed. But I was asking myself, how can just a color morph be a hybrid? Next time, I won't use Linke's terminology.

Then the specimens of golden gouramis I have seen probably appeared to have that characteristic because of fin damage, perhaps nipping. My bad, thanks for the clarification, Sylvia. It wasn't confusion, just lousy examples of the fish.