Help! New Gouramis Fighting???

[NinjaTetra]

I have had a pair of female moonlight gouramis for a couple days now. They are definitely both female, via my diagnosis and the guy at the lfs who i know has had 20+ years fish experience. They seemed to exhibit fairly normal gourami behavior, but tonight I was a bit surprised. I have to say that one is a quarter inch shorter and the fins aren't quite as large, but it has followed the slightly larger one as they explore their new home. The other tankmates (tetras, corys, etc.) haven't payed them any mind, not even the guppies I have (I've kept a close watch- I don't want those ventral fins damaged). Most of you may know that gouramis use their ventral fins to "feel" their surroundings- everything from my sponge filter, the glass, my plants, and surprisingly my clown pleco (there was no response- yet if I blink, he goes and hides). They began reaching out to each other, like lightly brushing the other's ventral fins, like a handshake or something, and then the larger one did a sort of kissing gesture (which was my first thought- kissing gouramis do that when they fight), and slowly moved closer, until finally sweeping past the smaller one. They darted around, and it then appeared as if the larger one was nipping, but not at the fins. It was like mid- body. Apparently, a quick google search said the kissing behavior isn't always hostile, usually only between two males. They chased around for a bit, like my tetras do once in a blue moon but larger scale. The smaller one seemed a bit more pale but I'm not sure, its hard to tell on a grey-white fish. The dorsal fin also seemed slightly more compressed to the body for the next minute or two, and the caudal fin sagged a little bit, just making it look depressed. They are supposed to be peaceful, and supposedly moonlight gouramis need to be in at least a duo. Can anyone help me with this? Is it normal? Should I try and return them? Also- the larger one keeps pecking at my pennywort's roots, and eating them, it seems a little fat too....

 

[philipraposo198]

it is best to keep gouramis with a 1 male to a 3 female mix. this results in healthy aggressions spread. you females are most def fighting and that kissing behaviour is dominance and not friendly. females can be aggressive like males. without a male to rules over them they will indeed fight among themselves.

with that said each gourami has its own personality and some are simply better behaved than others. my blue gourami is more peaceful than my pearls. it is said that pearls are one of the more peaceful ones and the blue is supposed to be more aggressive.

Anyhow, to correct your problem / normal behaviour you simply need to increase the number of targets. I would suggest the ratio I stated above and see how that works for you. Understand with gouramis of this kind its highly unlikely that they will be friendly all the time. during feeding your will see more aggression which is normal as well. as my as my gouramis do their thing, no one ever has a scratch on them and non of the fins are damaged in the least. all the behaviour I notice in my tank is them fighting through the ranks and not attacking type of thing. if one fish is constantly attacking another for no reason that one fish may need to be removed as he/she could be too aggressive to be housed with the weaker one.

also note that size is a big factor too, with a big gap of size between 2 gouramis you will have the bigger one bully the smaller one. try and get em all around the same size with the male being a bit larger. if the male is the main aggressor I find the females will join together and it will be only him vs the girls. in which case the aggression is spread between all 3 females and note just 1 fish. generally the male will keep to himself most of the time too.

I hope this helps you some.

 

[NinjaTetra]

Okay- with moonlight gouramis I was slightly pushing size.... I don't know if I could get more of them, however I may be able to return them. I actually originally wanted pearls but my lfs hasn't had them in stock for six months so they suggested moonlight gouramis. They also only had females, otherwise i was planning on getting 1:1... I want gouramis to be my centerpiece fish, otherwise I would get something a bit smaller like honey or dwarf. I think there was actually pearl gouramis at Petsmart awhile back, but after how many times their fish have been ich-riddled and died the day after the warranty ends, despite me trying to cure them- I'm kind of boycotting them.

 

[philipraposo198]

1male and 1 female is just not good enough. He will beat her up constantly. If you have to return them pearls would be better options if you can find them. Honeys would be great too.

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[philipraposo198]

Or alternatively you can just go with one gourami and be done with it.

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[Luananeko]

Or alternatively you can just go with one gourami and be done with it.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Aquarium Advice mobile app

^ This. Gourami are fine single and do not require additional members of their own species to be happy. They're relatives of bettas and have similar personality traits.