Gourami experts - a little help?

M

Max Taffey

AC Members
Oct 18, 2006
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I have 2 fire honey gouramis - a male and a female. When I first got these two, they got along fine and stuck pretty close to each other. As time went on, and they felt more accustomed to the tank, the male began to occassionally chase the female - but ONLY if she strayed into his half of the tank. And then he'd only chase her until she left his half.
As time goes on though he's becoming more and more aggressive. Anytime she's near the surface and he sees her he goes after her, and where before the chase was brief, now he follows until she shakes him off in the plants. It even seems that he goes looking for her rather than waiting until she drifts into view.
She has lots of places to hide, and doesn't seem the worse for wear, but it's starting to bug me! :mad2: I don't like the fact that she has to spend most of her time hiding from this a-hole. :)
I've been thinking about alternatives to dividing the tank and come up with this (maybe crazy) idea: What if I introduced a second female to the tank. I'm thinking that at the very least, he'll have to divide his time to chasing them, and maybe it will even wear him out and he'll stop bothering. Thoughts?
 
i could be a few things, from what ive heard (and i could be wrong) gouramis dont like the company of there own speices, or i could just be that he likes her but she doesnt like him.
 
Max Taffey said:
I have 2 fire honey gouramis - a male and a female. When I first got these two, they got along fine and stuck pretty close to each other. As time went on, and they felt more accustomed to the tank, the male began to occassionally chase the female - but ONLY if she strayed into his half of the tank. And then he'd only chase her until she left his half.
As time goes on though he's becoming more and more aggressive. Anytime she's near the surface and he sees her he goes after her, and where before the chase was brief, now he follows until she shakes him off in the plants. It even seems that he goes looking for her rather than waiting until she drifts into view.
She has lots of places to hide, and doesn't seem the worse for wear, but it's starting to bug me! :mad2: I don't like the fact that she has to spend most of her time hiding from this a-hole. :)
I've been thinking about alternatives to dividing the tank and come up with this (maybe crazy) idea: What if I introduced a second female to the tank. I'm thinking that at the very least, he'll have to divide his time to chasing them, and maybe it will even wear him out and he'll stop bothering. Thoughts?
Click to expand...


You sure you have a female? SOunds just like the behavior of 2 males. THey don't like each other but they usually tolerate the opposite sex, which is why it's strange how yours is acting.

Whatever you don't go adding more Gouramis into the mix. Two of them will probably just pair off and work a tag team to kill the extra female.
 
BucJason said:
You sure you have a female? SOunds just like the behavior of 2 males. THey don't like each other but they usually tolerate the opposite sex, which is why it's strange how yours is acting.

Whatever you don't go adding more Gouramis into the mix. Two of them will probably just pair off and work a tag team to kill the extra female.
Click to expand...

Definitely a male and a female. I can easily tell them apart by his more pointed, sharper dorsal fin, and much deeper orange colour.
 
You can try moving around the decorations. This will force the male to try to find a new territory. Or if possible, put the male and female in different tanks for a while so that the female can find a territory.
 
I know this won't help, but I have one gourami and I have tried several times to get him a companion. He's killed all of them within a week. I stopped trying. Perhaps get a different species? Or if your bioload can handle it, two or more females. I agree that just one more probably won't work. I would have tried this next, but my bioload would not have been able to handle it. So now he's the only one of his kind in a semi-aggressive tank. Nobody bothers him and he doesn't bother anybody.
 
Try moving around the decor so they feel like they are in a new tank and lay it out so theres hiding spots and thick planting etc. If its a male and a female get more females as its good to have a 3-1 or 4-1 ratio of females to males. If they are both males i advise taking the more aggresive one back to your LFS. Basicly gouramis are bettas. Aggresive to males and females but not if theres a little group of females.
 
I would not put any more gouramis in this mix. Generally gouramis do not like the company of other gourmais especially if it is in the confines of a tank. How big is the tank? If the tank is on the small side then that would explain why the one gourmai thinks that the whole tank belongs to him and has declared the whole tank as his. Moving things around might help but in the end the more aggressive gourmai will be up to his old tricks in no time. If this behavior continues when you have exhausted all of the other possibilities then I would return the more aggressive fish of the two.

Marinemom
 
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