Help Telling If My Gourami Are Male Or Female

[snowmeow]

Hi All,

I have just joined the forum so hello to everyone.

As for tropical fish I have about a years experience in keeping corydoras, mollies, platies, minnows and guppies. Also recently bought a bristlenose catfish who is awesome. I know some of you will have years experience so I value your wise words!

Anyway, recently I bought a dwarf gouramis (pic A) to go in my tank which currently has: 2 mollies, 7 corys, 1 bristlenose catfish. I am pretty sure that she is female as she is mostly silver and the rest of the gourami in the same tank in the pet store had brightly coloured stripes. From doing research online thats usually how you tell the difference. Anyway, they all got along swimmingly so thought I would get a male gourami yesterday so she has a mate. The only problem is A chases B around the tank and occasionally does a bit of nipping. I thought it was just males who had a go at each other.

My question is, please could somebody tell me for certain that I have 1 male and 1 female? If that is correct then is there a reason the female is chasing the male around?

Many thanks

 

[Rickzayne]

Female and male from my understanding.

He might constantly harrass her tho...

 

[Caprichoso]

+1

Female and male. It's not that uncommon for the female to express a keen interest in a male and TBH this is actually a good thing(as long as the male isn't a wimp). My female Pearl gourami was very interested in my male and she followed and chased him around a lot. Now that they are both mature, the male has more of an interest in her and they are breeding. So, wait and see what happens, but you probably have a pair that will mate. Now if the fin nipping starts to get out of control, she may be excessively dominant and might not want to have anything to do with the male. In that case, you may want to re-home one of them.

 

[snowmeow]

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated.

I've just been watching them and the male was actually following the female around just now. There has also been less nipping and more just being close to each other so I think you are right.

One question though, it would be awesome if they did spawn as I've watched a few vids on youtube of the male creating the bubble nest and looking after the eggs before they hatch. I was just wondering if I should get some floating plants to go with my existing plants? This is how my tank looks at the moment. What do you think?

 

[Caprichoso]

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated.

I've just been watching them and the male was actually following the female around just now. There has also been less nipping and more just being close to each other so I think you are right.

One question though, it would be awesome if they did spawn as I've watched a few vids on youtube of the male creating the bubble nest and looking after the eggs before they hatch. I was just wondering if I should get some floating plants to go with my existing plants? This is how my tank looks at the moment. What do you think?

Yes, floating plants will encourage the male to build a bubble nest. I made a floating ring, about 5 inches in diameter, put some floating plants in the ring and attached it to the corner of the tank that they hang around with a piece of fishing line. I did this because the floating plants wouldn't stay in one place(I have a powerful filter). It worked right away, the male started to build the nest the next day.

Good luck

 

[snowmeow]

Thanks for the tip. I might give that a go. Just out of interest, what did you make the ring out of? Also, what floating plants did you decide to use? I hear that floating lettuce are pretty good.

 

[Caprichoso]

Thanks for the tip. I might give that a go. Just out of interest, what did you make the ring out of? Also, what floating plants did you decide to use? I hear that floating lettuce are pretty good.

Yes, I have water lettuce and I used air line tubing(from a bubbler) to make the ring. It's a bit of a challenge to fit one end into the other but it works great.

 

[snowmeow]

Good stuff. I've just ordered some off ebay. It comes in 4 metre lengths, but I won't need that much

Once I have the tubing then I'll sort out some water lettuce and hopefully my dwarf gouramis will be breeding in no time! Thanks again for the help and suggestions. I'll keep you updated on the progress.

 

[Caprichoso]

Good stuff. I've just ordered some off ebay. It comes in 4 metre lengths, but I won't need that much

Once I have the tubing then I'll sort out some water lettuce and hopefully my dwarf gouramis will be breeding in no time! Thanks again for the help and suggestions. I'll keep you updated on the progress.

You're welcome, I hope you have success with it