Female Gourami Being Hassled By Male

[Jazee B]

I have 3 red honey gouramis, 1 male and 2 females. The male has always been after 1 female and he has spells of chasing her.

On saturday I noticed she was hiding behind the bogwood and she didn't come out when i feed the fish. On sunday she was swimming around a little she did have something to eat but she seems to be swimming in a corner at the back of the tank.

Her fins look to be all in order, she is still orange but a little paler than the other female. my water stats are all good and i did a water change yesterday.

Since I posted the above the male has been mating with the other female and the weaker one is now swimming around a little more.

Is this usual behaviour?

Becky

 

[backtotropical]

Gouramis can become aggressive amongst themselves, especially males.

What you are experiencing is one of your females has paired up with the male and they now consider the other female to be intruding on their territory.

It may pass but you should keep a close eye on them and if it continues or gets worse, you should maybe consider re-homing the lonely gourami or investing in a bigger tank so they have enough room to stay away from each other.

More live plants would be appreciated meantime for extra cover.

Also, keep an eye out for spawning too as you seem to have acquired a mating pair.

Cheers

BTT

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i agree with BTT, it may be best in the long run to re-home the 'spare' gourami who hasn't paired up.

 

[WillyRBeek]

I had the same problem with my trio of gouramis that featured 1 male and 2 females. What I ended up doing was taking the male back to the LFS and exchanging him for another female. Now with 3 females in the tank, they all seem to be getting along well.

 

[Jazee B]

I've had my first casulty. the first female that caught the gouramis eye has died. she was looking better yesterday, more colour and even ate but this morning i found her lying on the bottom of the tank. no visible marks to indicate a fight or scales missing.

The male is still chasing my last remaining female so I will have to keep an eye on her. if she also starts to go pale and hiding the male will have to go. He hasn't gone for any of the tetras i hope he calms down i don't really want to get rid of him.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

sorry to hear that hun

take it all your stats are still ok?

if so i'd consider re-homing the male, they vary a lot from fish to fish, seems you have quite an aggressive chap on your hands

 

[Jazee B]

sorry to hear that hun

take it all your stats are still ok?

if so i'd consider re-homing the male, they vary a lot from fish to fish, seems you have quite an aggressive chap on your hands

Hi, yep water stats are fine, i checked this morning pH 7.5 ammonia and Nitrite 0. He has grown loads compared to the females, he's almost double their size.
I think I'll end up taking him back to the aquatic shop. Do they normally take them back? I don't know anyone else who would have him.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes a lot of shops will take fish back, don't expect your money back but they may give you store credit or do a swap.

yeah tbh, i reckon that he's just gonna dominate the tank if he stays

 

[Jazee B]

Hi everyone.

Since the tragedy of losing sunny (female gourami) I've been keeping my beady eye on the last remaining female and male. The male has chased the female but nothing like he chased the last one. they do swim about together but both return to their different sides of the tank when they've had enough of each other.

I'm tempted to wait for another couple of days to see how they get on, I was all set to take he male back today but he does seem calmer. I'm in such a quandary can i trouble people for their opinions please.

 

[ALW]

sound like they have now settled down. hopefully they should be ok

 

[Bblou]

I have a boisterous male gourami to! I have two gouramis, both male... the boisterous one, when I first got him, was quite aggressive.

My betta kept going for him (betta is now in seperate tank) but it taught gourami a lesson and hes now much calmer.

Now my tetras chase him on occasions.

 

[Jazee B]

Well its a very sad day, Ive had to say goodbye to my male gourami. I just couldn't subject my female to anymore harrassment. I took him to my lfs and they have given me a credit note, they seemed very happy to welcome him in.

So I am now kinda back to square 1. I have a tank with 6 pristilla tetras and 1 female gourami. I would love some suggestions of which fish to go for. do I need another female gourami? i really need some 'feature fish' as my tank isn't really very colourful now.

Thanks for any suggestions, becky

 

[Miss Wiggle]

remind me what size the tank is Becky?

 

[Jazee B]

remind me what size the tank is Becky?

Hi Miss wiggle, hope you had a great birthday.

Its a juwel rekord 96, approx 21 gallons. I had a look at some fish at my lfs but after last time I didn't want to just buy! I would love a couple of feature fish then maybe some more smaller fish. thanks for the reply. becky

 

[Miss Wiggle]

thanks becky, what about a trio of apistogramma