Fighting pearl gouramis.

[alik]

Hi all,

Had my tank set up about a week now after a fishless cycle. Currently have 3 glow light tetras and two pearl gouramis. Everyone settled in fine but the last three days the slightly larger of the two gouramis keeps chasing the smaller one and trying to nip its fins. Wondered if you guys knew why they were doing this for? It often starts just after I feed them....!

Cheers

 

[MaryPa]

Are they both male?

 

[alik]

How can one tell?!

 

[Fish Friend]

lol, i think you can only tell by their reactions to other fish and their own kind, in this case, i think the bigger 'male' is bullying the smaller 'male' because he is....smaller, if this carries on then either swap the bully or get rid of them full stop

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Pearl gouramis are one of the easier types to sex. The males will have red beneath the chin, and will develop longer fins as they get older. Two males will fight, two females might fight, but a male and female should be fine together.

What size tank are they in?

 

[phOOey]

from the sounds of there behaviour i'd say they were both males, male pearls gouramis are almost never aggressive to females. i'd get rid of the smaller male, and get a female instead.

 

[Ramirezi]

Mine have been doing the same fighting behavior for two years. I just provided a cave and lots of plants for them to hide in and it slowed down. Now that the small one is bigger he does not back down and they get into a nasty lip lock with lots of shaking going on. I will be moving them to a bigger tank in the next month so the territory thing should start all over again.

 

[discus4everGrl]

gourami's can be mean. They are pretty, but mean especially the golden ones.

 

[MarkRW89]

Yeah having two gouramis usually means trouble, I heard when you have loads though this usually subsides-a japanese/chinese style gourami tank would be so cool!!!

 

[DEADLIFT]

OK thats my old username above me, just so people know.

 

[alik]

Thanks for all your posts guys!

 

[J'sRamAir]

The easiest way to sex Pearl gouramis is by looking at the top and bottom fins. The males fins will come to a point while the females fins will be more rounded.