Is this normal gourami behavior?

[JenNewbie]

In my 75 gallon tank I have a blue male gourami, a female pearl gourami and a male dwarf gourami. The dwarf has adopted the hornwort clump as his "corner" and one day last week when I turned on the lights, I saw him and the pearl nipping at each other's mouths. She was the instigator and I didn't see a repeat in the behavior until tonight at feeding time. She would swim up to the dwarf and almost push or nose at him and the two of them would twist in circles, nose to side. Is this courting or aggression behavior? I looked at both of them very closely and there are no nipped fins or any other signs of damage. In spite of their rep, my dwarf has been very peaceful and the blue is completely peaceful, too. Apparently it's the pearl that's the snot in this tank. Unless she's flirting... Am I going to end up with some bastard dwarf/pearl hybrids??

 

[Talon242]

My pearls go head to head it looks like there kissing but in actuallity they are not its there way of showing who is who. Gouramis like floating plants as cover so maybe try and get some more cover so they wont fight over the same spot.

 

[lmw80]

it sounds like a dominance showdown. If it were mating, it's usually the male that initiates.

 

[JenNewbie]

So would you recommend more "territories" or removing one of the offending gouramis? There are a ton of plants in the tank, but they're all swords or anubias, so the hornwort is the only plant that provides any real hiding place, besides under the conch shell or behind the rock arches. I had 2 clumps of dwarf wisteria that only lasted a week before it was all chowed down.