Help with my gouramis!

[carfey]

Hi I have 4 three spot gouramis. 2 are male and 2 are female. They inhabit a planted tank along with a few corys, some SAEs and a few otos. The problem is, 2 of the gouramis rarely come out of hiding. The male who is always spawning it seems is always out and about. The other male is usually moving around too. The two females however usually just hang at the bottom. One isn't too bad but the other is terrified to move it seems! What should I do?:confused:

[Ger]

Just a couple of questions -- How large is the tank? How old/large were the gouramis when they were put into your tank? Had the females ever been out and about before?

I have found that when I get gouramis when they are small, they are more personable and out more. I recently moved a larger pair of Blue Gouramis into a larger tank, and they never came out from behind the Java Fern, except to eat. I think that I read something on Usenet about this, too (about moving older gouramis and subsequent shyness).

[carpguy]

I just have a single pair of pearls in my tank and they've been spawning lately. They have staked out a thick ambulia grove as their area and she would often hide in there when the male was on a tear. She also uses driftwood and other obstacles to her advantage during chases. She's been more visible since I planted a cluster of green hygro at the other end of the tank, which she can also take refuge in.

What Ger says about shyness and age is interesting, definitely have to file that away. Having enough cover that she can get to easily may help the females feel secure enough to be out in the open. I'd look at plants as an option, whether it be rearranging some or adding another group in a strategic area.

[carfey]

My tank is a 55 gallon and the fish were pretty much full grown when I got them but this aggressiveness only developed recently. They are all healthy but the more predominant male never stops buliding a bubble nest and they seem to spawn every couple of weeks. I would just like the others to feel more comfortable in the tank because they never move. Would removing the males for a couple weeks help?

[carpguy]

I've been keeping my tank a little cool (76) for the sake of my dwarf barbs, who prefer the low 70s. I was just reading that a large water change of slightly cooler water can induce spawning in gouramis by making them think its the rainy season. I don't-know-but-wonder if bumping the temps up a few degrees could reduce the spawning behavior and the associated aggression? (I'll let you know what happens after the barbs move to their new tank this weekend).

The only other solution I could find in my gourami book was having enough cover: "Hiding places are essential to the beauty of most Gouramis. …fish will not usually hide if hiding places are available, but will huddle behind a filter in the absence of hiding places… cover (may be) necessary if the hobbyist is to see the fish… (etc.)". She's not the most gregarious fish in the tank, but I'm definitely seeing the female out in the middle more often, now that she has good cover at both ends. When she had only the one grove she generally stayed in there.