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 [acronym:e7f0d703fb="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:e7f0d703fb] 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 [acronym:e7f0d703fb="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:e7f0d703fb].

I agree, an upgrade is needed! hehe or you can just take one to ur [acronym:e7f0d703fb="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:e7f0d703fb]

[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 [acronym:05916d1749="Identify"]ID[/acronym:05916d1749] 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...