Sparring gouramis!?

[molotov256]

I was just curious why fish stores can put 30 gouramis in a little tank, and they all get along swimmingly (no pun intended), but when you bring a few of them home and put them in your own tank, one of them ends up being all dominant and beating up on the other gouramis?

I heard they're related to betas... which really makes me wonder how they keep 30 of them in one tank at the LFS!

 

[rich311k]

They get away with it because they are not in the tank that long and they are ussually under stress being in tanks like that. Yes they are related to bettas but they are not bettas. Male bettas especially wild ones will fight to the death no matter what the conditions they are under.

 

[molotov256]

That's interesting... so a healthy gourami will be more aggressive to other gouramis in the same tank? I guess it's in the LFS's best interest to keep the gouramis under some stress, then

 

[Devilishturtles]

I agree. Once the fish settles down and knows it's home, it'll start to create a territory. I guess it knows that there is no sense trying in a tank full of comrades, so they just don't bother.

And yes, they are labyrinth fish, just like the betta fish are. This is why it's not a good idea to mix the two species.

 

[Zezmo]

If you watch those crowded tanks in the LFS with Dwarf Gouramis for a while. You can usually determine the dominant male. He will be in the middle of the tank with some room around him. All other males will be driven to the edges of the tank. You may not see the aggresion that established the pecking order in a tank, but it did happen. Look at how most DGs in your LFS have their fins a ragged or split.

 

[bosk1]

This makes me nervous about my intended stocking of my new 55 gal.: 2 glues, 2 golds, 2 pearls. I have been assured this should be fine, but I am becoming hesitant. I have a couple of pretty good sized pieces of driftwood and a few good sized plants to kind of divide up the tank and allow for separate territories. And I plan to get the blues and golds pretty small, and the pearls somewhat larger. Should I worry?

 

[Gryph]

Gouramis like to have more females per male. If you're planning two males, four or five females isn't a bad number to have. Pairs tend to get squabbly (my two certainly do). I am, in fact, moving from a tall tank to a long one to give them some more territory space.

 

[bosk1]

I've heard that. I was using the term "pair" loosely as I don't necessarily need 1 male and 1 female of each color. I think that for the blues and golds, the males and females don't look much different in terms of coloration, correct? If that is the case, I am comfortable with ALL females, or at least a 1 male, 3 female group. For the pearls, I definitely want a male, as the males are prettier, in my opinion, with the bright red bellies. So maybe a male/female pair of pearls, and a group of 1 male blue, 1 female blue, and 2 female golds. That should work, right?

 

[gouramiguy]

. So maybe a male/female pair of pearls, and a group of 1 male blue, 1 female blue, and 2 female golds. That should work, right?

I don't see why it shouldn't. Especially since the gold is just a color morph of the blue. Just make sure not to get a male gold then. It wont be pretty, trust me. I use to have a male blue and a male gold in my 55. All was well one day, and then the next my beautifull gold(never seen one so bright) was dead. Strangely enough I have two male honey dwarfs and only one female in my little 6 gal and they all get along well.

 

[Andos99]

Good luck finding female golds and blues.....they tend to be a little harder to come by.....I'm still looking for a some females to along with my gold male.

 

[RoK]

I've heard that. I was using the term "pair" loosely as I don't necessarily need 1 male and 1 female of each color. I think that for the blues and golds, the males and females don't look much different in terms of coloration, correct? If that is the case, I am comfortable with ALL females, or at least a 1 male, 3 female group. For the pearls, I definitely want a male, as the males are prettier, in my opinion, with the bright red bellies. So maybe a male/female pair of pearls, and a group of 1 male blue, 1 female blue, and 2 female golds. That should work, right?

I would personally go with only the male pearl and the rest females, I think that could be a better choice. Then again, I have an opaline female and gold female who quarrel at times.

 

[bosk1]

Yes, I suppose that is a good thought as well. Is there a vast difference in coloration between the males and females, RoK? That male in your avatar is absolutely gorgeous, and I would LOVE to have blues and golds with that type of deep coloration, if possible. But I guess I have to weigh that against the potential for aggression, and keeping a harmonious environment for my fish has got to remain the top priority.

 

[Tiffi]

I think one other reason why they can put their tanks so full of gouramis in the lfs is that the aggression gets split onto more than one other male. That way the dominant ones can't just be agressive toward one or two but toward many. That way it's not so intense for the single one would be my guess.

I have had the golden Honey gouramy before (male+female), they were they most peaceful fish I ever had, but they are difficult to find around here and look a little different from the body form than most available ones. That's why I am not sure which is the "real" honey gourami and which is just a color morph of the dwarf gourami.

See here (the one I had):

http://site138.primosite.com/DataRoot/images/DiVa/honinggoerami.jpg

and here (the common version):

http://www.igl-home.de/chuna.jpg

 

[bosk1]

I think one other reason why they can put their tanks so full of gouramis in the lfs is that the aggression gets split onto more than one other male. That way the dominant ones can't just be agressive toward one or two but toward many. That way it's not so intense for the single one would be my guess.

Probably true. At my smaller and generally better lfs (there are 2 really goods ones within about 8 blocks of each other), there were a couple of golds in a tank that were really going at it. One was harassing the other so much that I'm sure he killed it eventually. It was heartbreaking to see. They were in a tank with just a few golds and a bunch of pearls. The aggressive gold had just picked out this one other gold that he did not like, and was going after it relentlessly. One of the male pearls would get annoyed whenever the action got too close to him, and would chase the aggressor gold away, which was kind of funny. But anyway, I do not want that type of performance in my tank at home.

 

[RoK]

Another you could try is have many gouramis which will usually spread out aggression. For instance: 1 male blue, 2+ female blue, 2+ female gold, 1 male pearl, 2+ female pearl.
My experience with gouramis of the Trichogaster genus (blue/pearl/snakeskin) is they seem to go more after gouramis of the Colisa genus (dwarf, banded, honey). I think one reason is due to size. I've noticed for awhile that (even slightly) larger gouramis will usually pick on smaller ones.
The way to be the safest usually is only having one gourami per tank, next safest I think is to have very similar sized ones (try to go for smallest and nearly all females though) and many. Having 2 or 3 together (especially males) is usually not a good idea IME, well with the exception of my incredibly peaceful gold gourami in my 20 gal who lives fine with my dwarf.