tales from the tank.

[Whisper Odinsky]

since i had to give out my 2 blue gouramis, my neighbour had a story to tell me. After she was done feeding them, the one looked at the other, and they just darted to eachother, locked lips, and were both trying to pull away at the same time, but neither of them parted this lip lock.
Now i have searched on the web only a little, on kissing gouramis, but i do not think this is what I had in my tank.. surely my neighbour is finding this a little nutty. This had happened once too when they were in my tank. is this just something they do for fun?

 

[AquaNut]

I'd call that an opaline gourami. When kissing gouramis 'kiss', what they're actually doing is aggressively battling over territory. My opalines don't display that particular behaviour, but I've watched them do so many fascinating things in the name of settling turf wars, that nothing would surprise me.

 

[Whisper Odinsky]

hah! well isn't that interesting. if thats the way they fight... hmph.. men should be more like those!!

(thankyou for the info)

 

[Alien Anna]

When I had two male pearl gouramies in the same tank they used to "lip fight" too.

 

[Kossy]

Yes the affectionate kiss ) is actually a a great fight over aggression. Sounds weird but hey no ones perfedt There just settling down and fighting on whos the boss of a bit of water.

 

[Inchworm]

It's agression, alright. You might suggest that your neighbor add plants or other things like rocks or ornaments so that they can better define their individual territories. Gouramis can be quite agressive, but if they feel secure they settle down quite a bit.

 

[Alex]

Blue gouramis are quite aggresive to each other, they should be kept by themselves or in groups. In groups they spread their attacks and don't seriously hurt any particular fish. When there are only two fish the winner of these fights can often keep the submisive fish feeding and cause it a lot of problems, sometimes even causing the fish to die.
Good luck but maybe adding another 3 blue gouramis (if possible) would stop that happening.

 

[Whisper Odinsky]

plants, excellent suggestion- this can be done immediatly.
those gouramis are so big, i don't know if i should have her add another one
it was just the most oddest thing i had ever seen.
thanks guys, yet again.

 

[Inchworm]

I hope the plants work for you. I wouldn't add another gourami just in the hope it will bring peace. It is more likely to make the problem worse since there will then be 3 or more fighting over the territory.

 

[Whisper Odinsky]

your thoughts are echo'd. and there isn't much room for another gourami in that tank. plants are set. thx again folks i would be sooo lost without you guys