I have two dwarf gouramis in my 29g and I noticed tonight that one of them is suddenly missing half of his feeler! I suspect the other dwarf gourami is the culprit since they tend to face off every now and then. He seems to be acting normal, but will it ever grow back?
Gourami chomped!
- Thread starter FLNGroovy1
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Those long fins are really easy to break, and they grow pretty quickly. I would say that the other gourami did it... I don't know how well two male gouramis will do in a tank of that size, I had 2 blues in a 55 and they fought constantly and eventually had to be separated. Granted, blues get a great deal bigger than the dwarf varieties, but 29 gallons might be pushing it a little even for small fish. Bear in mind that gouramis and bettas are part of the same family of fish, and males will always fight one another (and females will fight with males as well, but not quite so fiercely with each other).
If it looks like one or the other is getting really beat up, I would suggest either finding a new home for it or transferring it to another tank.
If it looks like one or the other is getting really beat up, I would suggest either finding a new home for it or transferring it to another tank.
Agreee with pbq, with one exception...
Dwarf gouramies can actually be kept in what could be mistaken for a shoal...however, one of them isn't enjoying that fact and probably got the other one's fins...
Dwarf gouramies can actually be kept in what could be mistaken for a shoal...however, one of them isn't enjoying that fact and probably got the other one's fins...
I had three male dwarf gouramis in my 18G (along with 2 zebra danios and 2 male guppies) and everything seemed hunky dory. They continually seem to want to establish their hierarchy, but nothing too terrible and its heavily planted so there are lots of hiding places. I added a fourth last weekend and now I'm wondering if that's too many for the tank as it doesn't look to me like there is enough room for them to spread out and the new one is getting picked on a lot. So I may move him to another tank before he gets nipped up.
There is likely a maximum limit of Dwarves which is much less than what the tank's Dwarf carrying capacity is...especially if some get established and others are then added...I'd move him out and hope that the established ones don't then turn on each other...
I have had the same thing with Blue Gouramis and the "feelers" do grow back.
I have also tried having (4) Gouramis (2 Blue and 2 Opaline) in the same 55 gallon tank and it did not work out very well. They were ALWAYS chasing each other. After about one week, one of the Blue ones died and I gave one of the Opaline ones to my sister. Everything has been fine since.
I have read several places that (2) gouramis in one tank is more than enough. I didn't research enough when I started stocking my tank.
I'm not sure if Dwarf gouramis are any different.
I have also tried having (4) Gouramis (2 Blue and 2 Opaline) in the same 55 gallon tank and it did not work out very well. They were ALWAYS chasing each other. After about one week, one of the Blue ones died and I gave one of the Opaline ones to my sister. Everything has been fine since.
I have read several places that (2) gouramis in one tank is more than enough. I didn't research enough when I started stocking my tank.
I'm not sure if Dwarf gouramis are any different.
Blues and Opalines are likely the same species...
Big B, I'd heard that rule of thumb, too...but I'd also heard the max number of male bettas in a tank is one. Neither is completely true...under some extremely spacious circumstances, of course...a reader of TFH recently wrote in to explain that he had three male bettas in the same tank. The kicker: it's a 100g tank. I think that their propensity to fight in unfamiliar circumstances is not necessarily a fallacy, but they don't seek each other out necessarily and could be kept together in large surroundings.
As for the Dwarves, they are much more tolerant of congeners and conspecifics than their larger kindred, but caution should be taken when adding a newcomer to an established group.
Big B, I'd heard that rule of thumb, too...but I'd also heard the max number of male bettas in a tank is one. Neither is completely true...under some extremely spacious circumstances, of course...a reader of TFH recently wrote in to explain that he had three male bettas in the same tank. The kicker: it's a 100g tank. I think that their propensity to fight in unfamiliar circumstances is not necessarily a fallacy, but they don't seek each other out necessarily and could be kept together in large surroundings.
As for the Dwarves, they are much more tolerant of congeners and conspecifics than their larger kindred, but caution should be taken when adding a newcomer to an established group.
One thing on feeler growth...they are pectoral fins, so the same rules apply as to all fish fins: if they're severed too close to the base, they will not grow back. I imagine that yours were sheared about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way down, and that's probably not close enough to the base to make regeneration a non-existant possibility.