Can Gouramis Stop Growing If

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im going to be geting anuther tank sooon i am slowly seting things up to breed them at the moment i have alot of gouramis in one tank 9 three spot and 2 fool grown moonlights they dont seem unhappy and they dont fight they seem to like being with each other but i need to put about half in a second tank my qestion is the females in the tank i dont think are growing any bigger any more i think they still have a bit to go befor they are as big as they should be when i put them in the breed tank the female dont seem intrested at all in any of the males i have tryed .....could it be they wont breed cuz they may have stoped growing befor they were size to breed ??and if so dose that mean they will never get any bigger and i wont be able to breed them?
i no the males will breed fine i had one female some time back that got as big as full size maby a little bigger she was breeding all the time if i put her in with a male in the breeding tank any way any info will be help fulll :good:
 
Just how big are they?

Also, how big is your tank?

Do more frequent water changes. If there's a problem with crowding, this'll correct it.

Also, your problem with breeding them is probably nothing to do with size. What you need to do is raise the temperature in your breeding tank and start feeding all your fish more live and frozen foods. Also, try seperating the male and female you want to cross for a week before trying to get them to spawn (so maybe move the female into the breeding tank for this period and move the male in after the week is up).
 
as for the size of the tank im not shore i dont have a ruler and mathmatics is some thing i suck at any way but at a guess there should probly ony be about 6 in there maby 7 for some reason they dont seem to have territory cuz they would have killed each other if they did cuz 0ut of the 11 i have 4 are female the reast are male i only got anuther female the other day the small gold one that i plan on growing and breeding the other three females are bigger and i have tryed breeding them and each run from the male and after a week the male tends to start doing to much damage to leave her in any longer the males i think are full growen or at least a few are i dont have a ruler so i cant say how big the females are hmmmm okay how about this has nuthing to do with how long they are realy im just useing this next thing to show the amoutn of difrents in the size the male wich is full size if full size in gouramis was 4 inchers for the males the bigger of the females i have would be rownd 3 inchers as i said befor the inchers here have nuthing to do with real size im just showing the difrent in size between male and female im probly going to confuse you with that any way 2 of the females are fat so i thort they would be ready but no luck ......i think males are ment to bigger then female size wise right the female i had that died and it was breeding was bigger then my males ....as for needing to raise the temperature in the breeding tank and start ing to feed all the fish more live and frozen foods. and trying to seperating the male and female i want to cross for a week before trying to get them to spawn i tryed all that i cant get my hands on live food but some time i will be able to the pet shop guys going to start breeding brine shrimp in the shop i have messaged about this befor and most of that info was what i got told ............im more wonder about the if they have stoped growing cuz i have herd fish tend to grow to the size the tank will allow im wondering if due to tomany fish the tanks not leting the get any bigger after my snails have growen and i give them to the pet shop im going to try again so i thort i would ask all this oh i will get some pics to post soon
 
I'll have to say again that you need to increase the frequency of your water changes.

Here's a way to measure the length of your fish - your middle finger is about 1cm wide. Take a peice of paper and count 15 middle fingers and draw a line. This is about 15cm which is the same as about 6 inches. This is how big your males should/will be when fully grown (including tail in this case as your finger will probably be just a little larger than 1cm). The females should be about 5 inches (which is just over 12 middle fingers in length ;)). Don't worry if they are about a finger or two under - it's just because of the innacuracy associated with measuring with fingers :p

The reason you don't have too much aggression is that you have so many - so the aggression is devided and they can't settle territories anyway. Actualy, this could be why you're having trouble breeding them as males need to feel they've got a territory established before they'll spawn and females need to be getting lots of rich foods.

I can't think of a way of working out the size of your tank except to suggest you take a piece of A4 (standard-sized) paper and see approximately how many fit the length, width and height of your tank. A piece of A4 is about 29.5cm in length (just under a foot) but don't worry about that - just tell me how many A4 pieces approximately and I'll work out an approximate volume in gallons for you :)
 
i dont no if this is 100% its about 4 and half foot long cm 35 wide and cm 46 high i think i rember it was rownd 43 gallons but i could be wrong there easy cuz it was about a year ago that i got help working the gallons out befor arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr trying to get a fish to stay still is crazy and is driveing me nuts i can only make a guess at there size i would say males or the biggest 2 arr arownd 11 cm the females arownd 9cm thats a guess they could be a little bigger or smaller 15 seems big for a male my female that died i would guess now probly got to its full size ..................oh and as for wanting to breed they dont seem in the big tank probly the reason you said but when i put 2 in a smaller tank the males want to breed they make bubble nests and try to along near the female but she swimms off as fast as can and wants nuthing to do with it looking at the size of my fish and 15 cms if thats true im wrong in thinking the males are full size they just seemed to stop growing as welll just i thort it was cuz they were full growen cuz they had fry with the one that died ........i think they should be bigger then what they are by now as well by that i mean they probly been this size for 3 munths now maby a little longer when i got them you could at least tell they were geting bigger by now :look:
 
If your measurments are correct, your tank is about 50-55 gallons. This isn't small so, if your fish aren't growing, it's probably down to not performing enough water changes. BTW, what else is in this tank besides the gouramies? Perhaps you are over-stocking (as opposed to simply over-crowding).

The size you've said for the gouramies is about right - like I said before, there's a good chance they'd be smaller. Also, you need to consider that three-spots become sexualy mature when they are about three quarters their full size and their growth slows as they get older (as is the case with most fish).

The behaviour you're describing from your females suggests to me that they are simply not gravid/ready to breed. They need to be conditioned on live/frozen foods and seperated into a tank with a higher temp. and no competitive or aggressive fish. They then need to be watched until they develop quite plump bellies (signifying that they are full of eggs). They would then be ready to spawn and can be put into an appropriate breeding tank (the male should already have been introduced a couple of days earlier) with a male.

BTW, what temperature have you tried spawning them at? Try increasing it even more (80-82 deg F) very gradualy next time and see if this makes a difference.
 
i think in the breeding way of things i have tryed every thing right when i try breeding them i get the idear what females look like when they are gravid/ready i think i have 2 of them out of the 4 females cuz 2 have plump bellies but i have tryed breeding them befor with no luck and i do seperated them into a tank with a higher temp. and no competitive or aggressive fish(other then the male gourami in there with her lolol) i aways have the spawning temp (82 83deg F) ...oh and i ruther thort the tank was over stocked with just the gouramis i had that was more what i ment by the reson they may have stoped growing but i do have 5 cory and 2 eel tail catfish (oh and i feed my fish frozen food alot of the time and a flake food call flake frenzy it have stuff to keep them health and brighten there color i realy only feed it too them cuz they realy like that typ and i no its better if you feed fish a few difrent typs of foods i give them a sinking pellet typ food as well that the pet shop makes up for tropical fish all the fish love that oh and some time in the future the little pet store in my towns going to start breed brine shrimp :good: on first feed the gouramis willl first go :huh: then :sly: then :drool: and after :hey: any more :unsure: serching the tank in a :shifty: manner they have never had live food cuz i could never get any
 
By seperating the female I mean to put her in a tank alone, with no other gouramies at all for about 5 days. The tank needs to be cycled, of course. After about 3 days, the male should be put in the breeding tank and the female added as well another couple of days later.
 
okayyyyyyyy :huh: are u saying i need 2 tanks with no fish in to start with and put the female in one of the tank alone for 5 days but after the first 3 days put the male in the second/breeding tank and then 2 days later take the female from the first tank and put it with the male in the second/breeding tank?........i just want to be shore thats what you mean cuz i have not herd of that way befor i have herd of leaveing the female in the breeding tank a few days then puting the male in with her...................my gouramis are turning into pigs i spoile them by feeding them lots of times a day they eat all the food as well and now when i go passed the tank i get followed as they hunt for food :lol: heres anuther gourami that must be well trained on food http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNN_6IMd2PU
 
Yep, that's exactly what I mean. The way you said you normaly hear it's done is exactly how I do it as well. However, it obviously isn't working for you and I think your gouramies need a little more conditioning and isolation. Males are generaly far mroe interested in breeding anyway if they feel they have control voer a territory (because your tank is quite crowded in terms of territories as you know because you don't have lots of aggression, your males may not be as interested in breeding as they could be). Seperating the female means she has a chance to rest away from other gouramies and gives you an excellent chance to feed her up on frozen/live foods and get her used to a higher temperature so she's confortable when she's moved in with the male. Again i should remind you to make sure the tanks are cycled before you add the fish or else they'll get stressed and that completely defeats the purpose and they won't spawn 9even if they do, fry can't survive in an uncycled tank).
 
as for haveing territories in my main tank as u said aggression is not a problem thank god as for the males not being as interested in breeding as they could be ummm thats kind of wrong when they get put with a female in a singel tank they become aggressiv and build bubble nests near right away most times if they could be a little less intrested they may have better luck instead of scairying the female to have a nervus break down as for frozen/live foods all i can try at the moment is frozen food flakes and sinking pellets but its strang when theres only the 2 or one they never seem intrested in the frozen food or the pellets ........i think the reason why the other female that is dead had no problems was cuz she was bigger then evan the males so i dont think she would get as scaired......she was an easy girl as well :lol: .................why do u want an Osphronemus Goramy?
 
That's exactly the point I was making - the lack of aggression in your main tank is because the males are not establishing territories and are thus not itnerested in spawning. This is because they are crowded.

When you mvoe them to another tank, weher they are alone, they are free to establish a territory (which is why they become increasingly aggressive) and this also makes them more interested in spawning.

So even if you could raise gourami fry within this community setting, you would be better off seperating the breeders as they are unlikely to spawn otherwise. :)

You are probably right about the dead female. Being also large has other, less direct, benefits as well - like you are better able to compete for food which means you tend to be in better condition than other females which means you are more likely to be prepaired to devote energy to spawning.

I love, love, love the Osphronemus goramy :wub: I think they are beautiful. Besides, they are the largest gourami - you've gotta love them :p Seriously though, they are incredible characters and they seem particularly intelligent. I saw the gourami video you posted BTW - isn't that fish amazing?!!
 
well it sounds like im on the right track so at some stage i should have some luck in breeding them and i think after the females breed the first time it seems to be easyer to breed them after that ........ :lol: youtube has some other vids of the realy big gourami typs as well that you would probly like i wish 3 spots could get that big cuz i like the shape the three spot has the realy big ones i have seen dont tend to have the same shape ........i saw a realy big white one in perth i think it was an Osphronemus goramy that was near to its full size and i agree they realy do seem very smart heres a few vids i found of them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD-s30Weup4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok-wFxxR0Jo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVaEP3_IOYY...ted&search= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d_ZIBd7Cf4
 
I think I'm going to have to start searching youtube ;) They're lovely :wub:.
 
my gouramis have a problem i am not shore what it is and they dont seem to mind it i thort it was fin rot but im not shore on that any more cuz the meds i have used that are for fin rot dont seem to afect it the fins dont look damaged or any thing they look like some one rubbed there tails in black dirt u no kind of like when you get a dirt stain on your cloths ? dose that sound like fin rot if it dose i will keep trying to treat it as it and try other things to get rid of it
 

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