gouramis and mutilated fins

[tanganyika1001]

hi everyone. got a little trouble with some gouramis and some ripped (read shredded) fins. i got two large gouramis on tuesday, from an lfs. they are about 3.5-4 inches long and altho i dont know the latin name, the woman in the shop refered to them as gold gouramis. they are a dark yellow colour and three fins (tail, dorsal and anal, i think) are dark brown but have circles of different colours which flurece kinda under light. anyway, i got the two in my tank, and immediately one started to chase the other, who now has there three colourful fins ripped to shreds and the tail even has a large square out of it. ive had to put the aggressor into a large breeding chamber but he looks really scared and/or sad now. i dnt like doing it but its nt fair on the peaceful fish. any advice on why, bcus ive always been told and have read that they are very peaceful fish? how can i stop this?

thanx everyone
scott

 

[teacherspet]

They all have different temperments. I have a gold that is quite tame, but have had some in the past that weren't. I would return the aggressive one to the store or separate them. You might try rearranging the plants and sich in the tank, but there is no "solution" that I know of except removing them into another tank or back to the store.

 

[Mr Miagi]

What is your tank like? Could you elaborate a bit more for us. Ie, is it planted, how big? Other tank mates? etc etc...

Floating plants can restrict aggression between gouramis, and so can heavily planting, but if your tank is small, you stand really no chance, so tell us about your set-up?

beny

 

[eudielynn]

I had to take three goldens back to the lfs because they ganged up on the smallest golden. I kept the small one, but I don't know if he is going to make it. They chewed him up pretty good. I have been treating him, but who knows.

I tried more plants and rearranging the tank but nothing worked. Male goldens and some of the other varieties are very territorial and will not live with other males. I did read that if they are in larger tanks they can estabilsh their own territories and get along, but after my experience, I won't ever have two males in the same tank again. You don't say if they are both males, but since the females are very hard to find where I live, I thought that might be the case.

 

[tanganyika1001]

i both rearranged my tank, and in doing so bunched all my large plants togther to provide an area of shade. its a 120l juwel rekord tank, with around 50 plants, 2 peices of bogwood and some rocks. the left quater of the tank is quite dark due to the large plants, and the other area is bright. it has mainly white gravel (my mistake for buying it). thats about all i can tell you without a picture.

 

[tanganyika1001]

ps sorry but i dont know the sex, because i dont know the latin name i cant find out much info and im not experienced with gouramis yet. if any one knows how to tell the difference it wud b greatly appreciated info. thanx

 

[sylvia]

trichogaster trichopterus

The gold gourami is a color morph of the three-spot. Unfortunately these are aggressive fish and the males will often kill each other and their females.

Other varieties are the opaline, cosby, blue etc.

Sexing them is quite simple - the males have a more pointed dorsal fin and a slightly longer anal fin while the females have rounded, generaly shorter fins and a deeper body. Your are not yet fully-sized so the differences might be less obvious.

I didn't read the whole thread closely so I may be repeating other people but you should post some more info such as tank size and other inhabitants. Then I suggest you try to sex them and research these fish a bit more. Keep in mind that they are aggressive (as you hve found out the hard way) and shouldn't be mixed with other gouramies under usual circumstances. I would remove all but one male and then, according to your size tank and other inhabitants remove as many females as is necessary to keep the tank from being over-stocked (they get to 6" max.). Then I'd add lots of floating plants for cover and watch the fish to ensure they get along.

Watch any torn fins don't get infected. A little salt if you don't have scaless fish (such as cories or plecs), can help with this - as can melafix etc.

 

[tanganyika1001]

the attacked fish died a few days ago
he got a bacterial infection from the ripped fins and tail. poor guy, he was such a nice fish too. i was told that gouramis were prone to bacterial infections yesterday. is that true? i had two pink kissing gouramis die a while back, suddenly without symptoms (that i noticed). i am guessing that this was a bacterial problem.

 

[sylvia]

Don't assume the problem to be bacterial infections with these fish. Some gouramies, it's true, have weak immune systems which can make them prone to all sorts of diseases - the gold gourami is not one of these. In fact, three-spots are the hardiest of the common gouramies and long lived too - any deaths should not be over-looked and the cause should always be identified and, if possible, corrected. I'm sorry for your loss. Good luck with the rest.

 

[sylvia]

BTW, kissers aren't particularly prone to infections either. But kissers get to 8" so they need a pretty big tank and can die due to bad water quality in a smaller tank pretty fast as they produce a considerable amount of waste.

 

[navigator]

I have just lost my little honey gourami because of being constantly bullied and harrased by the larger honey gourami, wont be putting 2 together in one tank again. R.I.P little honey gourami

 

[sylvia]

The thing with gouramies, navigator, is that each has its very own character. Occasionaly you'll come across a very aggressive individual and he (it's usualy a male ) will be the exception to all preconceptions and he'll go against everything you believed about the species. It has happened to me many times and the killer pearl gourami I owned is the one that sticks in my mind. However, it is only an exception - most honey gouramies are perfectly peaceful and it is unusual to find one so violent. That doesn't mean they aren't territorial or aggressive though - to an extent, all gouramies are, but they are one of the most peaceful and the ones that are not are either not being kept in the right sort of environment or are one of those strange individuals. In any case, you cannot compare honeys to three-spots - three-spots are a lot more aggressive.