Gourami questions

[Toggil]

I've had a pair of dwarf neon coral gouramis for a few weeks now and had some questions about if their behavior is normal.

1. The female swims all over the tank but the male usually just stays inside one of my decorations only coming out to swim around it or to swim with the female for a little bit when he sees her swim by.

2. Since he spends so much time in the decoration he barely ever comes out to eat usually only once every 3 or 4 days, is this normal? I was thinking of trying to buy some sinking food and sink it near him.

3. I'm assuming this is mating behavior, sometimes when they are swimming together they kind of like bend their front and tail towards their middle, the male will even sometimes do this then turn over on his side. OH also their long "feelers"(don't know the scientific name) fin things always bend towards each other when they are near.

4. Would it be ok to get another pair of a different kind of dwarf gourami like a dwarf flame gourami?

 

[dax]

I had 2 blue gouramis and 1 of them always hid and was getting harassed . She would come out to eat but was then chased back into hiding. (I'm pretty sure that I had to females) I edned up giving the bigger one to a friend who has cichlids and she is doing fine with them, which is strange buy hey you never know.

They did rub feelers but I didn't think that it was anything to do with mating, but simply "talking".

By any chance is the one that hides smaller? It almost sounds to me that one is scared of the other that's why he is hiding away for long periods of time. I personally dont think that they seem compatible if that is the case.

I hope this helps , but to be sure check with you local pet store.

Oh and just to add something, Some gouramis are not compatible with each other. I know blue gouramis are not supposed to be housed with other males like them.

 

[NoDeltaH2O]

gouramis, gouramis, gouramis, ...

What can I say about gouramis?...

They are a joy to breed and raise, if you get a good set of parents to start with. I will never again mix home grown gouramis and store bought gouramis. That little basta$^&@(@)$*$&^^$

 

[Toggil]

It's my male that is hiding and he is like twice as big as the female and the biggest fish in my tank also.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Dwarf gouramis can be kinda wussy, even the males. As far as feeding him, you can just dunk a pinch of flake food into the water and let it go... it'll stay sunk. Or, you can soak a little flake food in tank water until it sinks, and then feed it, but just dipping the food into the water is much easier. If you want to entice him to eat, you could try some frozen mysis shrimp or other frozen foods, since they sink too.

I forget what size tank you've got, but unless it's very large, I wouldn't try adding more gouramis. Another male will terrorize the resident, especially since he's already skittish and not eating that much.

 

[Toggil]

I have a 55 gallon, thanks for the advice.

 

[Lorazoo]

With a 55 you could get another male of the same species if you can get a few more females to go with it. Maybe it would wake your first male up. Do you have plants? They like alot of plants, especially on the surface of the water. they like a calm surface so the males can make the bubble nests. Maybe describe your tank a bit? What else is in there? Plants? Filter?

 

[Toggil]

Well I don't have any plants that reach the very top of the water, I bought one I thought would but it comes up like one inch short, it was the biggest plant at the store so I don't know what else I could do, it was an aquascaper hornwart I think. My filter is a HOB it's a marineland emperor 400. I have plenty of plants of all different sizes.

 

[Toggil]

Oh yeah my other fish are 2 dalmation molly's 3 red wag platy's and 2 golden alge eaters. I would love to be able to have more than one of these guys in the same tank, how many females do you think I would need to have though?

 

[Lorazoo]

That hornwort can be left to float on the top and not rooted. What is your lighting like? What about fertilizers? If you get 2 males (I wouldnt do more than 2) I would go for at least 4 females. You could do 6 if you wanted. Then everyone would be happy.

 

[Toggil]

Sorry I wasn't more clear but all my plants are fake.

 

[Lorazoo]

Well, you can still get plants that rest on the surface. The Gouramis may not be too happy with those, unfortunately. they need real plants to make bubble nests. It is quite fun to watch them going around the tank picking up bits and pieces of plants to make their nests. maybe we can get you to go planted?*BOUNCINGS

 

[Toggil]

I'm not sure how much work is required for planted tanks, I've never had one before. Also I'm leaving for college in a month, and I'll only be coming home every 3-4 weeks to clean it up.

 

[Lorazoo]

Well, then I wouldnt recomend any more fish. Gouramis are very sensitive to water quality and you may wind up killing them if you are only going to clean the tank every 3-4 weeks. To have a healthy tank you really need to do water changes every week of 25-50%. Otherwise all of the waste builds up and the fish will start to die off. The ones you have may not make it either. All it takes is one Nitrate Spike and they can start to get sick.