New Pearl Gourmis

[HasGills]

Hi,

Today was a real mess. Stopped at my LFS to buy a male and female Pearl Gourmis which went without a problem. On the way home the car dies and mobile is at home. Anyway, I wont bore you with details but the Gourmis ended up spending near 1.5hrs in the bag.

Im expecting both to die within the next 24 due to the stress.

Both are hiding at the back of the tank behind the plants.. Occassionally they freak and go for a quick dash around the tank and settle again. The Male was happy to have some food just before but the smaller female stayed in behind the plants..

Is this normal behavior or is it a sign of significant stress and certain death?

 

[stang1]

I could be wrong but I think fish are ok for up to a couple of hours. When we introduced our Blood Red male and female to our tank they behaved exactly the same way. They probably are a little stressed and if you've got other bigger fish in the tank they may be a liitle frightened. Ours settled down after a couple of days and now they swim around quite happily with our other fish. Hope that helps!

 

[HasGills]

Thanks Stang1,

You have given me some hope .. Since getting home I find myself checking the tank every 10mins to see if they are floating.. So far so good.. I think if they get through the next 12hrs they should be ok.. (fingers crossed).

The Gouramis are the biggest fish in the tank. Platy, SAE and Kuhli's take up the rest of the tank..

I really want them to survive as they look fantastic!!

 

[stang1]

They are a beautiful fish, we have three of them in our tank and now and again they look like they are kissing each other!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you but I honestly think they will be fine.
We've had a few fish that we've introduced to the tank that end up hiding in the plants but after a while they come out and swim around with the rest.

 

[sylvia]

The kissing behaviour is aggression and female gouramies won't usualy do it. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen pearls 'kiss' except when there were two males in the same tank with no females to distract them (and even then it was a one-off).

BTW, it's best to keep these fish as trios (1 male, 2 females). The male will eventualy start chasing the girl around and having two means he'll have to devide his attention between the two - therefore stressing oth far less. This is luckily not too severe with pearl gouramies though anyway. If you decide to add another girl, I'd suggest you do it know - before the other two have settled in and claimed the tank for their 'own'.

 

[stang1]

How can you tell which is male and female, they look the same to me. We brought them about 2 months ago and were led to believe that one was male, two were female. As yet we haven't had problems but I'll certainly take on board what you have said.

 

[sylvia]

Are you asking about how to sex pearls or how to sex dwarfs (I believe yours are dwarfs?).

Pearls are obvious because the males develop an orange-red ventral region and longer fins with extended fin rays. Females are wider when viewed from above and deeper-bodied. over-all males, grow to be a tad larger than females and look mroe streamlined.

Dwarfs you can sex because only the males are brightly colored. The females are a duller brown or silver. Sometimes they have a faded red coloration or faint stripes. The same body shape differences apply as with the pearls but the fins hapes are different. With dwarfs, males have 'bulbous' looking dorsal and anal fins while the female's are short. The fins also tends to be 'spiked' in females like this: http/www.otsuka-nettaigyo.com/img/Orange...rami-female.jpg or this: http/www.aquariumfish.net/images_01/gour...blue_female.jpg
As opposed to males:
http/www.aquariumfish.net/images_01/gour...le_002_w190.jpg
http/www.bestfish.com/fish/turqdw.jpg

There's also a chance your fish are honeys:
male - http/www.freewebs.com/loopys/Dwarfredhoney2.JPG
female - http/www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/sword...edGourami01.jpg
It's tricky to find good pics of these on google cause they are constantly being mis-identified
The differences are again in fins shape (like dwarfs but not always as obvious) and in color (again, females tend to be a tad duller). Males also (not always) develop a dark blue-black ventral region when in breeding condition like this: http/www.plantedtank.net/images/fish/honeygourami.jpg

 

[stang1]

Are you asking about how to sex pearls or how to sex dwarfs (I believe yours are dwarfs?).

Pearls are obvious because the males develop an orange-red ventral region and longer fins with extended fin rays. Females are wider when viewed from above and deeper-bodied. over-all males, grow to be a tad larger than females and look mroe streamlined.

Dwarfs you can sex because only the males are brightly colored. The females are a duller brown or silver. Sometimes they have a faded red coloration or faint stripes. The same body shape differences apply as with the pearls but the fins hapes are different. With dwarfs, males have 'bulbous' looking dorsal and anal fins while the female's are short. The fins also tends to be 'spiked' in females like this: http/www.otsuka-nettaigyo.com/img/Orange...rami-female.jpg or this: http/www.aquariumfish.net/images_01/gour...blue_female.jpg
As opposed to males:
http/www.aquariumfish.net/images_01/gour...le_002_w190.jpg
http/www.bestfish.com/fish/turqdw.jpg

There's also a chance your fish are honeys:
male - http/www.freewebs.com/loopys/Dwarfredhoney2.JPG
female - http/www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/sword...edGourami01.jpg
It's tricky to find good pics of these on google cause they are constantly being mis-identified
The differences are again in fins shape (like dwarfs but not always as obvious) and in color (again, females tend to be a tad duller). Males also (not always) develop a dark blue-black ventral region when in breeding condition like this: http/www.plantedtank.net/images/fish/honeygourami.jpg

Sorry Sylvia, I meant Pearls. The other half got home from work and told me they are all females.
Thanks anyway.

 

[DarkEntity]

Hi,

Today was a real mess. Stopped at my LFS to buy a male and female Pearl Gourmis which went without a problem. On the way home the car dies and mobile is at home. Anyway, I wont bore you with details but the Gourmis ended up spending near 1.5hrs in the bag.

Im expecting both to die within the next 24 due to the stress.

Both are hiding at the back of the tank behind the plants.. Occassionally they freak and go for a quick dash around the tank and settle again. The Male was happy to have some food just before but the smaller female stayed in behind the plants..

Is this normal behavior or is it a sign of significant stress and certain death?

When introducing any new fish to a tank always have the tank lights off, and keep them off for at least 2 hours after putting the fish in. Its far less stressfull for the new comers

 

[HasGills]

When introducing any new fish to a tank always have the tank lights off, and keep them off for at least 2 hours after putting the fish in. Its far less stressfull for the new comers

Didnt think of turning the lights off. Ill do that next time I add some fish..

btw, my Gouramis are alive and doing really well..

The male is always out and about investigating the female seems a bit timed and likes to stay in amongst the plants. When she does come out she is alway but the males side. Only occasionally does she explore by herself solo.. I hoping with time she will become more like the male and be out in view most of the time..

I was reading other posts and many pearl G. owners tend to have 1 male to 2 females.. Should I look a getting another female?

 

[sylvia]

I personaly would as they are social fish and males eventualy start chasing their one female around if kept as pairs. However, get the new fish now - before your existing female settles in.

 

[IloveGouramis]

but if you get a trio, wont they breed?

 

[sylvia]

Not in a community tank - even if the male builds a nest, even if they spawn, you won't be getting any surviving fry. Also, unlike some other gouramies, pearls don't get extremely aggressive when they breed so you don't need to worry about the other fish being attacked and/or killed.

HasGills already has a male/female pair anyway - adding another female is not going to increase their chances of spawning significantly.