Sparkling Gourami Fighting

[Daniel Margaritas]

Hello, I recently made an addition of two sparkling gourami to my ten gallon previously dedicated to four celestial pearl danios. They seemed to get along just fine, but I saw the two gourami chasing after each other today and noticed that one of them was missing a ventral fin (the long threadlike one) and the other's tail was pretty torn up. The celestials don't seem to take any note of the gourami at all, and the sparklers didn't look very friendly when they were chasing each othrer around, so I'm fairly certain it's the gourami taking bites at each other. I have them separated for right now, but I'd really like to keep them both. Any ideas on why they're fighting, and how I might fix it? I'm pretty sure they're both male, but I don't have access to getting any females to help alleviate the issue.

 

[KittyKat]

Sparkling gouramis (and D. margaritatus) are shoaling fish. This means that they should be kept in groups of at least 6 individual and ideally in schools of 10-15+. There are many reasons for keeping shoaling fish in shoals, one of which is to keep con-specific aggression spread out over a larger number of fish. You will find http/natureaquarium.co.uk/?p=380 useful to read.

The only way to fix the problem that I know of is to get a 3+ ft tank and add another 8-15 sparkling gouramis. If you are not willing to do that, then you should return the fish to the shop you bought them from, preferably exchanging them for at least another 2 celestial pearl danios. A smaller tank will not work for that many gourami individuals.

There are another few species of gourami that can be kept in pairs, possibly in your tank, depending on the dimensions, so that could be an alternative to sparkling gouramis *after* you increase the danio numbers to be a school.

Please research your fish before you buy fish: this will help you avoid problems such as you are having now and since the shop you bought from did not advise you that the gouramis are shoaling and the danios are schooling, it is obvious that you cannot trust them to advise you correctly.

 

[Daniel Margaritas]

Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately, neither of these giah are regularly stocked in any of the stores near me, I've simply been buying however many I find when they show up one or two at a time, so the gourami would be in the same situation at the store as they were in my tank.

I've read several articles on the gourami, but never anything to indicate that they're a shoaling fish or that there would be aggression between a pair of them, which is why I was surprised to see them fighting.

I talked to a friend who is willing to take the more aggressive of the two and put him in a tank by himself. Since the two have been separated, there haven't been any problems, and I'm actually seeing the gourami out in the open more often than before.

If I start having any other problems in the tank, the other gourami will be the first thing to go, and I plan on picking up at least two more danios as soon as I find some more.

Again, thanks for the help. Best wishes.

 

[KittyKat]

You are right, quick search does not show anything saying that they are schooling, but I have kept the species myself and they definitely were extremely social and did school when "danger" threatened.

Are you in UK? If yes, there are a number of shops that post their stocklists online and do offer delivery, so that could be something for you to consider in the long term.

I do recommend that you aim to find both of the gouramis a home in a school in the long term, be that in your tank or someone else's.

 

[Daniel Margaritas]

I'm actually in California. Unfortunately, there's rather a dearth of aquarium shops in my area. I'm planning on going upstate tomorrow, though, and one of the shops up there used to have Celestials, so perhaps I'll be able to get a couple more of those.

I'm hoping to upgrade to a 20 gallon long (30x12x13", or ~75x30x33cm). Do you think a tank this size would be big enough to accommodate a small school each of Celestial Pearl Danios and Sparkling Gourami?

 

[KittyKat]

I'm actually in California. Unfortunately, there's rather a dearth of aquarium shops in my area. I'm planning on going upstate tomorrow, though, and one of the shops up there used to have Celestials, so perhaps I'll be able to get a couple more of those.

I'm hoping to upgrade to a 20 gallon long (30x12x13", or ~75x30x33cm). Do you think a tank this size would be big enough to accommodate a small school each of Celestial Pearl Danios and Sparkling Gourami?

Ah, that's fair enough. I hope you have luck with the shop! Otherwise, you could try Aquabid, but I'd be careful with that.

A 75 cm tank will take a school of about 15-20 D. margaritatus and should take 10 sparkling gouramis if it is reasonably planted.