Blue Gourami

[AKelly]

I have a blue Gourami in a tank with a neon dwarf blue gourami, is this a good idea. We inherited the tank from the previous owners of the house.

The blue gourami is always attacking the dwarf gourami. I usually point my finger at the blue gourami to get him to back off, is this okay?

 

[lyquidphyre]

how big is your tank? Are there a lot of hiding places?

I personally don't think its a good idea to keep the two together. The neon will eventually loose its color due to stress and the blue gourami might start nipping at its fins

 

[lmw80]

2 male gouramis should not be kept together unless the tank is big with a lot of hiding places, and even then, it is not assured that they will leave each other alone. Gouramis, especially males are extremely territorial...even more so with males of their kind.

I suggest you trade in one or the other. I would suggest a school of fish.

How big is the tank, what are the other inhabitats?

 

[AKelly]

It is only a 10 gallon, but remember we inherited the tank.

There is one red swordtail, he gets along fine with all.

Then there are two other fish, tropicals of some kind they sort of look like gold fish but there tails are straight up and down, not sure what they are... one has a black spot near tail with a white underbelly and gold on upper fins, they are small.

I don't know who to get rid of, i like both gourami...

 

[lmw80]

you could always upgrade the tank!

 

[cginflorida]

Welcome to AA!

 

[AKelly]

thank, good to be here...

 

[lyquidphyre]

in a 10 gal that neon blue will prolly die due to stress. We had the same problem in a 29gal and the neon got pretty beat up, I can't imagine what its like for your neon in a tank with 19 less gal.

I agree, an upgrade is needed! hehe or you can just take one to ur lfs

 

[AKelly]

I just cleaned their tank and rearranged some things. There is a space where the neon dwarf can hide, but that is all he does, hide! The big Blue Gourami tries feeling him out with his tenticles. That blue gourami only bullies the dwarf gourami. I feel soooo bad, I really like the dwarf gourami, and find myself getting angry with the big blue gourami for picking on him so much... i may get rid of the big guy, even though he is so cool to look at.

Any recommendations on what to replace him with?

 

[madasafish]

we might be able to get you an ID on the other fish if you could take a picture or do a rough sketch for shape and color in Paint...

I def. agree with all the others. 2 gouramis in one tank: 1 always dies eventually. It's only a matter of time until the other one manages to take a few lethal bites and stress the first one. Replace the Blue (too big, really, for a 10G) with some of the same fish you already have, so that these are in schools. Perhaps another 3-4 of sword tails or the mystery fish...

 

[AKelly]

Great! I will take some pics tonight and post them tomorrow. I can use as much help as I can get!

Thanks again!

 

[ScottS]

A 10 is small for a blue gourami even. Since you inherited the situation, I'd definitely work to establish hiding spaces and separate territories. And keep a tight lid on that sucker. Swordtails are known to jump, and I had a blue jump out of a 20 that I thought was reasonably secure (it was a female that was chased by a male).

 

[AKelly]

Hi,

I think there is only one I still cannot id.

I have one blue gourami
one dwarf gourami - i though he was a neon dwarf, but went on a website and he looks to be just a dwarf gourami...
one mickey mouse platy
one red sword tail

the one i cannot id is the all gold color one. attached below... not the pic with the two fish in it...

 

[tsaraber]

We officially have MTS because of two gourami's.

We ended up buying a blue one and a gold one (not dwarf) and in the beginning the gold one would beat on the blue one big time. We put in a temporary tank divider and at that point the two of them would go at it through the divider. When we finally moved them over to a much bigger tank it was the blue one that had the attitude problem.

Now after about a week they are finally tolerating each other. There is very little chasing. It does still occur but at least now neither one of them is dominant.

So there ya go, get a bigger tank or like you suggested, take the big one back. I think I read they get to be like 6 inches. Definately too big for a 10 gallon.

 

[AKelly]

Thanks for sharing your story... I think we are going to look into a bigger tank. I just rearranged some things in the tank and now the dwarf has more places to hide...

poor little guy...

 

[madasafish]

Ahah! I knew we shouldn't be so hasty with that decision. The fish in the second (and third) and *original* picture is actually a Rosy Barb (Puntus conchonius).

Picture here:

http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/PicturesSummary.cfm?StartRow=1&ID=4714&what=species

Notice the black spot, the concave, not flat, tail and the coloration.

 

[AKelly]

thank you, I knew it was not a platy becasue of the tail. thanks again, and sorry for all the messed up posts with the pics.... oy...

 

[rallycat]

The mystery fish sound like lemon tetras. Very nice, socialable schoolers!

 

[AKelly]

I posted a new link for the rosy barb under "Can you ID this Fish" post.

Thanks madasafish!