color change/strange behavior in dwarf gourami

[GlitcH]

Ok so I've had three honey flame dwarfs for a while now in my 29G.

About a week ago I transferred one over to the 92G and just today I'm noticing one of the two left in the 29G has had a bit of color change.

It's got a greenish black patch pattern on it's underside leading up into it's face. It's not acting sick at all but it is acting strange.

It is paying alot of attention (much more than usual) to the other gourami left in the tank.

It swims along like it is trying to get it's attention. It will swim up in front of the other gourami and hover in front pointing upward.

Is this normal mating behavior? I've never bred gouramis before.

Also, do all gouramis build bubble nests? Cuz I don't see any sign of one.

And on a side note............do fish change sex? I had heard that from a few different sources but never anything solid enough to consider it fact.

 

[rich311k]

I am not sure about the behavior but they do build bubble nests. The male would build the nest first before trying to attract a female. I have never heard of gouramis changing sex.

 

[SilverDragon]

I know gouramis are supposed to build bubble nests, but Ive never seen it happen either. Ive had two gouramis in the past. I think the current from the filter output was too strong to build a stable nest.

Not sure about the behaviour either.. it does look like some kind of mating thing. My female betta did that same "pointing upward" stance in front of my gourami a lot. Maybe its a territorial thing?

I heard somewhere that birds change sex, and I think I heard that about fish before, but its kinda hard to believe.

 

[Guest]

Ok gourami's belong to the Osphronemidae family along with the Betta and are bubble nest builders.[[ There has been reports of sex changes in the Gourami and betta's. But this only acures at a very young age and the female is the only one that can change there sex. It also has to be under very abnormal conditions during the frist 6 to 10 weeks and if the femalesare partially ovariectomized. They will transform into fully functional males { Dr. Lucas 1983 } Then Dr. Donoso in 1989 Done research on this and determaned that the sex changing of the gourami and betta was not just a myth but fact. He determaned that under stressful, bad water, and fighting where damages to the sex organs of the female in both spices acures in the early stages of development that females will be come males and fully able to produce young and have all the trites of the male.
But there has never been any males turn to females Dr. Lucas of the Unaversitey of Wessconson { I beleave it's wessconson or wyomen not sure } done studys for 8 yrs on the gourani and determaned that it was posable for a female to changes her sex to a male even after the anisual age of 6 to 10 weeks and no damage of the inturnal orgains had acured. But there has never been any records of this in the husbandery of the gourami in the home aqurium.
There is a few scentis that beleave this study to be totally false and with no backing to prove it can happen after the age of 6 to 10 weeks. They say that once the female reproductive organs are in place that it is imposable for the female to choose or changes her sex at will. I've read articals of it happening in betta's and a few from the gourami spices like the gaint, chocolate, kissing gourami. I had the articals at one point and time but that was a few yrs back and there's no telling where it's at now. LOL I do recall a few months back that the Unaversity of Oklahoma was doing some more studys on this but have never heard anything else on it.
I'll dosome calling to a friend of mine and see if he still has the artical { He's a pack rat so I'm sure he does. LOl } if he does I'll scan it and place it up.

 

[joannde]

I've never heard of a bird changing sex -in fact I don't think they do / can. Some fish do - and some may even change at a later age / larger size (sea bass are the example I'm thinking of)

 

[tbonem91]

Ok gourami's belong to the Osphronemidae family along with the Betta and are bubble nest builders.[[ There has been reports of sex changes in the Gourami and betta's. But this only acures at a very young age and the female is the only one that can change there sex. It also has to be under very abnormal conditions during the frist 6 to 10 weeks and if the femalesare partially ovariectomized. They will transform into fully functional males { Dr. Lucas 1983 } Then Dr. Donoso in 1989 Done research on this and determaned that the sex changing of the gourami and betta was not just a myth but fact. He determaned that under stressful, bad water, and fighting where damages to the sex organs of the female in both spices acures in the early stages of development that females will be come males and fully able to produce young and have all the trites of the male.
But there has never been any males turn to females Dr. Lucas of the Unaversitey of Wessconson { I beleave it's wessconson or wyomen not sure } done studys for 8 yrs on the gourani and determaned that it was posable for a female to changes her sex to a male even after the anisual age of 6 to 10 weeks and no damage of the inturnal orgains had acured. But there has never been any records of this in the husbandery of the gourami in the home aqurium.
There is a few scentis that beleave this study to be totally false and with no backing to prove it can happen after the age of 6 to 10 weeks. They say that once the female reproductive organs are in place that it is imposable for the female to choose or changes her sex at will. I've read articals of it happening in betta's and a few from the gourami spices like the gaint, chocolate, kissing gourami. I had the articals at one point and time but that was a few yrs back and there's no telling where it's at now. LOL I do recall a few months back that the Unaversity of Oklahoma was doing some more studys on this but have never heard anything else on it.
I'll dosome calling to a friend of mine and see if he still has the artical { He's a pack rat so I'm sure he does. LOl } if he does I'll scan it and place it up.

not to be a forum nazi, but reading this post gave me a headache and I am starting to wonder how well the TX school system is doing in their English classes... lol

 

[Kilgore]

not to be a forum nazi, but reading this post gave me a headache and I am starting to wonder how well the TX school system is doing in their English classes... lol

I had the same initial impression, but I think based on the grammar one can gather that Weasel F. is a non-native English speaker. I think that spellcheck would have helped in conveying his/her message more clearly, but we should all appreciate the goodwill that is apparent in the research effort he/she went to for that post. And the information is interesting all the same. JMHO.

-Kilgore

 

[tbonem91]

heh - that might be true - but since I'm from Wisconsin... lol


back on topic, what the heck caused that Gourami's belly to turn bluish?

 

[Kilgore]

IMHO, that looks like breeding colors for an adult male.

Try this link http://www.plantedtank.net/fishprofiles/Honey-Gourami-Colisa-chuna/50/ .

Or this one... http://www.colisa-chuna.nl/index.html .

Is that what your gourami looks like now, GlitcH? I bet it will darken even more.