fish stress?

[aquariumhobyist]

hey! i have three blue gouramis and the one that is biggest has a light blue tinge to it. then once it starts chasing and harassing the two other gouramis the bigger one always changes its color from being a light blue all the way to a very dark deep blue. is this ok what is happening to the fish or is this some kind of fish stress? :huh:

 

[Jericho]

Usually the change of color is stress.

Now for a few questions:
-How big is your tank
-What sex are your gouramis (this is determined by the shape of the dorsal fin the pointed fins are males and the rounded fins are females)
-what are your water paramaters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates)
-are there hiding places for your fish (it is recomended that you only have one male gourami in a tank). That being said I have 4 gouramis in a 60 gal and three of them are male. They all get a long and do not chase each other, they even hang out together at times, but have enough places to hide and they can all claim their own area of the tank.
-how long have you had these fish, the may be claiming their territory.

 

[Roan Art]

Just a thought, but with fish of this type it is usually recommended that you have either 1 or 4 or more, never 2 or 3 of them. They tend quiet down some if they are in numbers of 4 or more and there's less chasing. Course, you need a decent sized tank for that as they all need their own territory, as Jericho pointed out.

Also, blue gouramis -- I assume you mean the 3 Spot (Trichogaster trichopterus) blue -- are more territorial than the gold or opaline colored ones.

Not a gourami, but another labyrinth fish -- I've noticed the same type of color change in my betta fish when he is displaying dominance. Whilst I had Fu, one of my corycats, in his tank he was a VERY dark blue all over his body and harassed him unmercifully. Fu is out of the tank and Molly Maid, my tank travelling pl*co, is there instead. The betta is his normal light rust color with Molly around. Molly slapped him with her tail a few times, so he leaves her alone.

IMHO, I don't necessarily think it's a sign of stress, I think it's more of a way of showing dominance to other fish.

Roan

 

[aquariumhobyist]

Usually the change of color is stress.

Now for a few questions:
-How big is your tank
-What sex are your gouramis (this is determined by the shape of the dorsal fin the pointed fins are males and the rounded fins are females)
-what are your water paramaters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates)
-are there hiding places for your fish (it is recomended that you only have one male gourami in a tank). That being said I have 4 gouramis in a 60 gal and three of them are male. They all get a long and do not chase each other, they even hang out together at times, but have enough places to hide and they can all claim their own area of the tank.
-how long have you had these fish, the may be claiming their territory.

well i got a 20 gallon. the biggest is the male and the 2 others are female. my ph is 7. and my ammonia is 0. i got 1 hiding place and its the shape of a bell and its farely big. ive had all 3 fish for 2 months.

 

[Jericho]

Your male may be trying to mate with the females and the color may be a mating thing. Do you have any plants in the tank, fake or real? They use plants to hide also. I see your fish are like mine with the male being the largest, my tank the males are larger than the female and everybody says it should be the other way areound. I would think that as long as they are not chasing each other all day, there is not fin damage, and they are all eating they should be fine.

 

[aquariumhobyist]

Your male may be trying to mate with the females and the color may be a mating thing. Do you have any plants in the tank, fake or real? They use plants to hide also. I see your fish are like mine with the male being the largest, my tank the males are larger than the female and everybody says it should be the other way areound. I would think that as long as they are not chasing each other all day, there is not fin damage, and they are all eating they should be fine.

ya there alot of plants in my tank but there fake. no the male isnt doing any harm like maybe nibbling at the females fins but not any damage to the fins at all and the male isnt always constantly chasing and harrasing the females either and the three of them are eating just fine.

 

[Jericho]

Then they are fine. Mine chase each other a little also but as long as they are eating and not do any damage let them play. Fake plants are fine, they are the only ones I can keep alive. Mine like to hide on the back wall behind the plants.

 

[aquariumhobyist]

ya mine do that too. but when im in the room sitting in the desk beside them they always hang around the corner of the auarium at the top closest to me. i think there really smart and intelligent fish in my opinion and when there hungry they will stare at you and wait up top till you feed them.