Gourami Interacting With A Silver Dollar

[norbie]

I have a widowed male honey gourami and have recently added an also widowed silver dollar to the tank.

The two and following each other around, mainly the gourami is following the silver dollar and turning black underneath (possibly mating colours), and when chasing sometimes, is sticking out its feelers straight in front of itself, then swimming behind the dollar.

Are these sort of fish related at all? They're not trying to hurt each other, just chasing/swimming.

Maybe the similar shape has confused him!

 

[Somethings Fishy Here]

I have a widowed male honey gourami and have recently added an also widowed silver dollar to the tank.

The two and following each other around, mainly the gourami is following the silver dollar and turning black underneath (possibly mating colours), and when chasing sometimes, is sticking out its feelers straight in front of itself, then swimming behind the dollar.

Are these sort of fish related at all? They're not trying to hurt each other, just chasing/swimming.

Maybe the similar shape has confused him!

I'm not sure if they're trying to mate, though if I had to guess I'd say probably not. I can tell you that gouramis I've had in the past have used their feelers simply as a device to help aid their inquisitiveness, or in other words just to feel something theyve taken an interest in... again I dont know for sure if they aren't up to something but I can tell you that gouramis I have had have used those feelers whenever they approach a fish

 

[norbie]

Thanks, I think they're probably just getting along like friends at the moment!
It's nice to see actually, as the silver dollar does share the same kind of shape as a gourami!

 

[sylvia]

The darkening coloration is a sign of mating behaviour. Having said that, male gouramies do sometimes act like that - they'll 'flirt' with a different species The two fish cannot breed and no harm will come of it but it does suggest your male gourami would benefit from having a couple of female companions.

 

[norbie]

The darkening coloration is a sign of mating behaviour. Having said that, male gouramies do sometimes act like that - they'll 'flirt' with a different species The two fish cannot breed and no harm will come of it but it does suggest your male gourami would benefit from having a couple of female companions.

I had a female gourami before which died of an ulcer and was advised not to get another in case the same thing happened again.

I wouldn't mind getting him one, but he was bullied by the other before, and I'm never quite sure what type of gourami mine is! I was told that they were both 'red honey gouramis' whatever that means!

I will try and get a decent photo when I can if you would like to help me ID it.

Thankyou for your replies.

 

[sylvia]

How long ago did the female die? If it's been a while, it should now be ok to add some new ones. Posting a pic to identify the fish is probably a good idea as these fish are often mis-labelled. I'll do my best to help you out

 

[norbie]

ok here we go!

sorry for poor pictures, he is very camera shy!

He is probably about 5cm / 1 and a half inches long

 

[sylvia]

Your fish is indeed a honey gouami (colisa chuna/sota). Your LFS also managed to get the color morph right It is a 'red' honey because it's the darker red/orange mutation rather than the wild yellow-honey coloration. You may not be able to find red honeys but the natural color is the same species so as long as the females are colisa chuna/sota, they'll do. Females are almost translucent with an obvious horizontal stripe running along their bodies. They are also fatter and deeper-bodied and wider if you look at them from above. They have shorter dorsal and anal fins too. It may be difficult to sex juvenile fish though so try to get some that are of a similar size to your male.

 

[norbie]

Thanks Sylvia!

This was the supposed Female of the same species (It might be completely different!)

Does it look the same type? (Sorry for bad photo again - thats the ulcer she died of on the bottom of her)

EDIT: Better image found of the two of them.

 

[sylvia]

I'm not 100% sure. The 1st picture isn't clear and, obviously, the shape of her body can't realy be determined. In the second picture, I'm assuming she is the bigger one at the front. If so, she may have been a dwarf gourami (colisa lalia) - especialy if she was larger than 1.5" at the time - though she looks simply to have been a gravid honey. If you can find a picture where both her coloring and shape are evident, it would be better. As things stand, I would assume them to have been the same species if you bought both out of a tank containing only honeys. I should mention I remember seeing your post about her and I think I would have been the person who said not to add any more gouramies for a while. But, like I said before, if it's been a while (which i think it has been) and your male has shown no signs of disease, adding a couple of females should be fine now as long as your tank has room for them.

 

[norbie]

in the second image, the fish on the right is the male which is still alive and posted in a montage earlier in this topic.

the deceased is the one on the left in the second image, and was quite a lot larger.

the tank they were from had a mixture of different types of gouramis.

i think i will leave it for now, as the honey seems to be much more active now that the other one has died (i think he bullied her a bit)

thankyou a lot for your help, at least i know what type she is now!