Sparkling gourami agression

[Jonsmithy]

I decided to stock some sparkling gouramis in my tank and I think I got 1 female and 3 males. Anyways there is lots of fighting between the males they keep squabbling with each other and croacking and I'm already seeing some nipped fins. Should I go back to my LFS and replace some of the males with females and if so how many? Thanks

 

[neoyyf]

I did a quick google search and it says that sexing genders is really difficult but if you can, it is 1 male to 2-3 females. Ring your LFS and ask if they will exchange or if your tank is large enough, buy some more females

 

[Jonsmithy]

I did a quick google search and it says that sexing genders is really difficult but if you can, it is 1 male to 2-3 females. Ring your LFS and ask if they will exchange or if your tank is large enough, buy some more females

I'm fairly certain I have their genders correct and I will try and do 1 male to 3 females. It'll be hard to see my fish go though. My tank is not big enough for more sparklers according to aqadvisor.com at least. I will ring up my LFS, thank you.

 

[Byron]

Having more than one male is better because you will see some natural behaviours, like the "croaking" which in my experience took two or more males. However, the tank size (which is not mentioned) affects this, as does the aquascape; if you have lots of floating plants, like Water Sprite which has substantial root masses, they will be much better because they can spread out. Floating plants really are essential with any gourami. And many species, including the pygmy sparkling, build bubble nests among floating plants. I had a group of six or seven of this species in a 33g tank which is 3 feet by 1 foot, and never had issues of serious aggression. I also had fry more than once. I believe I ended up with 3 males and 4 females, by just selecting a group of 7.

If the tank is smaller, you may have no option but to go with 3-4 fish, with one male and the rest female. But discerning gender in young fish is not easy.

 

[Jonsmithy]

There's one that is certainly female, 2 that are male and 1 that I can't decide (it's quite young so hard to tell) However the female is sometimes chasing away males, anyone know why that is? Perhaps the males want to mate but she does not? I will swap one of the males for a female soon as well.

 

[hobby5]

Are you talking about the 30l-tank you mentioned in your other topic? Way to small for sparkling gourami! And to be honest to small to keep fish permanently, except a single betta or maybe, maybe some of the mini fish (they are much happier in a larger tank too). The absolut minimum tank size for keeping fish permanentely should be 60l except for special circumstances and when you know what you are doing (breeding, raising fry).

 

[Jonsmithy]

Are you talking about the 30l-tank you mentioned in your other topic? Way to small for sparkling gourami! And to be honest to small to keep fish permanently, except a single betta or maybe, maybe some of the mini fish (they are much happier in a larger tank too). The absolut minimum tank size for keeping fish permanentely should be 60l except for special circumstances and when you know what you are doing (breeding, raising fry).

Thank for your advice.