Blue Gouramis fighting

[goku]

I have a 250 gallon tank. 2 male Gouramis are fighting. Initially both got along just fine. One was dark coloured and the other was very light. Now they keep changing their colours to dark and light and constantly fight. I have separated them for now. Will getting a few females solve the problem? And can possibly keep them in the same tank after that? I have a few goldfish and dollars in there too.

[goatnad]

Those arent actually blue gouramis. They are opaline gouramis. Yes getting some females will help some or even getting more males to spread out aggression. Plant your tank heavily and give the fish places to hide when they don't want to be harrassed. If you go with females I believe its 2 females to every male but you might to read up on that. Opaline, blue and gold gouramis are some of the more aggressive gouramis so there will always be fighting going on. Great looking fish. They seem to be very happy in your tank.

[goku]

Originally Posted by goatnad

Those arent actually blue gouramis. They are opaline gouramis. Yes getting some females will help some or even getting more males to spread out aggression. Plant your tank heavily and give the fish places to hide when they don't want to be harrassed. If you go with females I believe its 2 females to every male but you might to read up on that. Opaline, blue and gold gouramis are some of the more aggressive gouramis so there will always be fighting going on. Great looking fish. They seem to be very happy in your tank.

The problem with plants is that dollars destroy them. I have added a driftwood and a few artificial plants today.One gourami is currently with guppies. Hasn't troubled them yet, but I have already set up another tank which will house 1 male and 3 female gourami. Will put lots of plants in it.If I am lucky I'll get them to breed. As for the other one, he will stay with the dollars and goldfish. They are too big for him to trouble. Thankyou for your reply!

[Barliman]

Both blues and opalines are color morphs of the three-spot gourami, trichogaster trichopterus, as are golds. All are known to be semi-aggressive. You might distract the males with a few females (I do a 1:2 ratio, m:f), but, in a tank that size, some line of sight breaks and hiding places might help, too.

[goku]

Originally Posted by Barliman

Both blues and opalines are color morphs of the three-spot gourami, trichogaster trichopterus, as are golds. All are known to be semi-aggressive. You might distract the males with a few females (I do a 1:2 ratio, m:f), but, in a tank that size, some line of sight breaks and hiding places might help, too.

I got each of them 3 females but they were still fighting. So I kept them in separate tanks. One of them formed a bubble nest a few days ago. Now I have hundreds of fry swimming around