GBRs and Red Flame Gouramis

[Dreamroper]

I bought a couple of Red Flame Dwarf Gouramis today and the interaction between them and my two male GBRs is pretty interesting to watch. They square off and the GBRs get all fired up with their fins up, but the Gouramis don't back down. There's no real aggression, just posturing on both sides. Pretty entertaining as long as it stays this way. It's not constant either, there's no harassment, but if they happen to get into the same area of the tank, the tough guy show begins.

[lilme]

looks like there defending territory how big of a tank

[doctordamen]

2 males gbrs and 2 male gouramis?


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[Patty1980]

Two male gourami won't end well. One will bully the other to death over time. Not fun to watch. Mine started out just like you describe. Rams, no idea. Doesn't sound harmonious to me.

[Dreamroper]

I don't know the sex of the gouramis, but I've always heard also that you can't have two males together, so I'm watching everything closely. They had a bunch of these gouramis in a tank together, and I'm not an expert on gouramis, (or any fish for that matter). I had once had two large Angels in with a variety of small fish, including GBRs and never had any problems. Sadly, I've lost them both over 5 years. If anything starts getting nasty, I'll rehome one of the gouramis, but I've seen the African Cichilds in my friend's 100 gallon go at it, so I know what fighting looks like, and this ain't it. But, as Patty1980 said, that could change with time, so I won't let it escalate. So far, the "encounters" if you can even call them that are few and far between. They mostly just cruise around ignoring each other. I'll keep you posted.


Lilme-It's a 36 gal. planted.

[doctordamen]

What size tank?


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[Dreamroper]

36 gal-medium planted.

[azmodan]

Sounds like you're monitoring them well. A lot of fish sold in LFSs are juveniles, and I noticed my gouramis didn't usually tend to exhibit aggressive behavior until they began to approach sexual maturity. I do love gouramis though, particularly honey and pearl, as they tend to have a great deal of character. Glad they're providing the same fun behavior for you!

[Dreamroper]

These are the Red Flame Honey Gouramis (I think that's the right order for the words in the name!). Really pretty. They must be similar in the respect of getting more "aggressive" with maturity like Angels, but I had bought both of my Angels when they were dime sized and when I lost them, they were easily 6" in diameter. Sad loss for me. They would half heartedly chase, but never got really mean. I had black skirted tetras that were tearing up the Angels, so I took them back to the LFS. I won't allow any fish to be tortured in my tank and if there's a trouble maker, out they go. I also had a male betta once that was going after my neons so I put him in a 5 gallon alone. Thanks for the encouragement. I'll let you know how they do in a few months or so.
D