Gold Gourami Sex Identification

[Submariner]

Gold Gourami Sex Identification (fighting problem)

Hi, newbie here! Both to the board and aquaria. I started a 20gal in Feb. and love this hobby! Right now I am keeping:

2 Gold Gourami
1 Rosy Barb
2 Silver Lyretail Molly
1 Black Molly
1 Pleco

I've been through some rough times but am slowing getting the hang of this.
I've only lost one fish (I had another Rosy Barb) and didn't have much luck with live plants.

My silver mollies are mating and I've got fry here and there, although I'm not doing anything with them so I doubt any will survive. (Don't have the time or experience.)

Ok, anyway to my questions: When I bought the gouramis, I wanted two females, because I figured that they would get along the best. So I asked the store worker how to tell them apart and he said the females have a rounder dorsal fin. He also said that all of the gouramis in the store tank were probably female anyway, that's how they are shipped to the store. So we netted two that had rounded dorsal fins and I brought them home.

Now (about 2 1/2 months later) one of the gouramis is nearly twice the size of the other (he was the small one when bought) and the dorsal fin is very pointed at the back end. The other gourami hasn't changed size much at all and the fin is still rounded. So do I have a male and a female here?

My concern is that they harass each other frequently, although I've seen no sign of injury yet. A lot of chasing around (sometimes quite violently) and they will " kiss " pretty violently, almost like headbutting with the mouth.

So my two questions are: How can you tell the sexes apart when young, and what's the best sex combination for the tank? Such as all female, 2 female and one male, etc. I don't think I could support more than one more gourami. Any advice?

Thanks

 

[CAPSLOCK]

You probably do if the dorsal fin is noticibly pointed, and you can really tell the difference between the 2 gouramis. They might have been too small for the dorsal fin to have grown out enough when you got them. I'm not sure what the best gender combination is, so long as it isn't multiple males. You could try adding more plants (real or fake) or other decorations so that they can set up their own territories without always having to see each other... break up the line of sight around the tank.

The larger gourami isn't keeping the smaller away from the food, right?

 

[Submariner]

No, both gouramis seem to be eating well and healthy. It's funny but the smaller one, (the female?) used to harass the other one so much he (I guess he's a male) hid in a corner most of the time. But now, HE's the big one and HE runs the show!

I think I'm going to get another female, I just hope I get a store worker that can tell the difference this time. I know a little better what to look for now.

What happens if you have more than one male? Do they hurt each other?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[UP UP AND GUPPY]

Well they are like bettas,most males will fight with each other.

 

[Submariner]

Well, I noticed today that my large Gourami (Roslyn) is REALLY getting aggressive. He's GOT to be a male. He's got the pointed dorsal fin, and more and darker striping on the head. He's not only harassing the female Gourami (Cicely), but he's going after everyone else too. Especially after feeding time. Still haven't seen any signs of injury, but I'm really getting concerned here. Will adding another female help? I put another plant in, and I'm getting another one as soon as I can get to Petco. Do I have to get him out of there? It sucks, because he's big and beautiful and definitely my favorite fish, the king of the tank.

 

[Toam]

Sorry for taking so long to reply, I know you asked me a few days ago, I've just been super busy. Yea, I've heard it's the dorsal fin, but I personally always look at the anal fin, a male's is noticeable more sharp as you've already learned. To keep your tank happy, you should either switch to 2 female gourami's, although in this instance, the dominant female will constantly harass the subjugate female, possibly stressing her to death. I'll share my experiences with gourami's with you, and you can decide what to do. I originally had one female gold, and I decided to add two blues to the setup, a male and a female. The female blue was the dominant one of the two until my female gold decided the male was getting too large for her territory, I woke up one morning to witness an odd sight, my male blue was noticeably larger, and his sides were striped very vividly, him and my female were doing the lip locking and all sorts of aggressive behaviour. The end result of this was my female gold was always stressing about the male blue, and the two of them always took out their aggression on my male blue. To put this in parameters, this was in a 75 gallon tank, and if you look at my signature below, you'll notice there is no other large fish in there. In the end I've decided that gourami's should only go with gourami's, and if I ever purchase a normal sized one again, it will be only one. Once there is more than one, the territory begins to become an issue, my female gold was fine on her own for a very long time up until I added the other gourami's.
If you want a pretty fish, and don't want to witness the primal aggression, than I'd suggest pearl gourami's? or dwarf gourami's which are a fair bit more docile, stay away from blue's, gold's and the like unless you wanna imitate a cichlid tank. The plants and everything definitely help to break up line of sight, but a determined fish is a determined fish.
I hope this helps you, I'm in class right now, so I'm not really proff reading this. let me know if you have any other questions.

P.S. from personal experience, I find the pearl gourami to be one of the prettier, yet hardy gourami's that isn't going to be a heavy nipper (at least not in my experience) I just have the two pearl's and one green banded in my tank now, with the community, and haven't seen any signs of agression from anyone since I removed the blue's adn golds

 

[Submariner]

Thanks so much, I'll definitely direct my Gourami questions to you from now on.

I can see that the male has a distinct territory, on the right side middle of the tank, but the female seems to wander around.

Like I said, most of the aggression occurs after feeding time when they are close together, which is understandable. The rest of the time I'm noticing that the male tends to just hang out in his territory, not moving much at all.
And the female seems to leave him alone.

I'll definitely watch a bit more closely, and I won't put any more golds in there!

EDIT: Just checked and Roslyn is without a doubt a male. The anal fin is almost triangular at the back, and Cicely's is rounded. I guess I'll have to change Roslyn's name now!!