Female Only Groups For Golden Gouramis

[titus]

I saw a tank of golden gourami yesterday, and fell in love with them - they are stunning!

I asked a helper there who suggested that they are happy to sell them in M/F pairs, as they usually get on (my research today suggests this is not so)! He also suggested mixing a pair of golen with a pair of pearl and a pair of honey sunset (I also foud out this will prob not work from the advice already written here!!).

Anyway, what I would ask is rather than 6 as suggested, I might get 3 females only (to avoid overstocking). What I need to know is what size do the females reach? I know males will get to 6" - are the females the same or smaller. And do they need a male around to bring out the best in their markings? In the fish shop there was very little difference between the males and females apart from their dorsal fins. What I need to check is whether their colour will fade if there is no prospect of mating. If so then I would get 1M/ 3F. We are keen to avoid severe aggression problems - we are returning a pair of angels for this very reason, and are looking for a replacement for them (hence want to avoid males if possible...)

 

[fish mad]

I saw a tank of golden gourami yesterday, and fell in love with them - they are stunning!

I asked a helper there who suggested that they are happy to sell them in M/F pairs, as they usually get on (my research today suggests this is not so)! He also suggested mixing a pair of golen with a pair of pearl and a pair of honey sunset (I also foud out this will prob not work from the advice already written here!!).

Anyway, what I would ask is rather than 6 as suggested, I might get 3 females only (to avoid overstocking). What I need to know is what size do the females reach? I know males will get to 6" - are the females the same or smaller. And do they need a male around to bring out the best in their markings? In the fish shop there was very little difference between the males and females apart from their dorsal fins. What I need to check is whether their colour will fade if there is no prospect of mating. If so then I would get 1M/ 3F. We are keen to avoid severe aggression problems - we are returning a pair of angels for this very reason, and are looking for a replacement for them (hence want to avoid males if possible...)

Take it from me dont get a male and a female . Got mine yesterday and the male is so aggressive to her i think hes going to kill her. After advice on here im going to give him away as my lfs doesnt take back fish for any reason.

 

[sylvia]

If you are planning on putting these fish in a community tank, try to avoid male three-spots (golds being one color morph of this species).
3 or more females would work but, again, three-spots are rather aggressive regardless of sex so you may want to consider a different gourami species altogether.

To answer your questions - their color won't be affected by not having the prospect of spawning. Three-spots do color up more when breeding - but that's rarely evident in the gold morph anyway and this coloring-up doesn't occur until they actualy spawn (ie: the male's presence isn't enough - they actualy need to be spawning - which you don't want happening in a community in the first place as the male is highly likely to kill most of his mid-dwelling tankmates).

As for size, females usualy reach about 5" - they are slightly smaller than the males.

Going back to what I said at the start, perhaps re-consider your species choice. What is currently in your tank? If it's a peaceful community set-up, I highly reccomend pearl gouramies. A trio of these - 1 male, 2 females - woudl be dieal. They reach 4-5" and are very peaceful. Young LFS pearls rarely attract much attention but, once settled in, colored up and a little larger, they are stunning fish. They are almost as hardy as three-spots as a bonus and they happen to be my favourite fish

In order to persuade you, lol, here are some lovely pics I googled:

males

pair

females

stunning pair

male
Sexing young LFS pearls is a little trickier because the males won't be colored up and are unlikely to be old enough to have the characteristic lace-like extended anal and dorsal fin rays (hence the other common name 'lace' gourami). However, they can still be sexed in the same manner as three-spots - males have a longer and more pointed dorsal fin than females and females are wider and deeper-bodied.

The downside to pearls is that they can't deal with excessively nippy fish because of their amazing finnage. That's why I asked about what else is in your tank earlier on

Of course, there are plenty of other alternatives. If you do choose to go for something other than golds, let us know what you have in mind... I'm sure people here have their own reccomendations for community gourami species.

 

[titus]

Sylvia, sorry to take so long to write back - been away for a few days!
Thanks for your detailed reply - plenty of food for thought. And you are right, the pearls are stunning. Are they quite shy fish - the ones at our shop seem to be very much at the back of the tank and that was something which put me off as our baby loves to look at the fish when they are at the front of the tank (btw it is a good shop which has won lots of awards, so I do not think it is because of bad shopkeeping). Is there any way a couple of those would fit with the golden ones? Although the man in the shop said yes, my own research makes me less sure that that is possible.....any advice from you or anyone else wil be welcome.....


thanks again

 

[sylvia]

Pearls are only shy when first introduced to the tank. As long as it's peaceful, they'll be out and active quite suickly. mine aren't shy in the slightest and they'll even eat from my hand. I'm not surprised they look shy at teh LFS though - that always seems to be the case - it's usualy because they don't have many places to retreat to so they feel exposed and they aren't always kept with the best tankmates. you also have to consider all the stress they've been through with shipping and all.

As for keeping them with three-spots, it's possible to combine a male pearl with some female three-spots but I wouldn't attempt any other combination. Even female golds can be extremely aggressive while pearls are usualy very gentle fish. This difference is possibly at its most apparent when they are breeding - many three-spots come out of it quite bruised and with torn fins, while pearls are usualy unscathed and as flawless as ever .

That's not to say that's always the case though. Gouramies are all very individual and can be unpredictable. i've had my fair share of pearls and have come across a few quite 'evil' fish. One in particular, was quite rpepaired to kill most of his tankmates. I would go as far as to say he acted worse than a solitary three-spot male would.

If the only issue you have with the pearls is whether they are shy or not, I assure you they settle in quite quick if provided with a peaceful environment and they are less troublesome than golds in the long run. However, if it's simply a matter of preference, and golds are certainly stunning fish, I'd stick with the golds and not risk mixing the two species.

 

[titus]

Hi Sylvia,

I was probably less explicit than I should've been on my last post...since starting the thread we already have 3 gold ones - 2 females and a male. Now my wife has her heart set on 3 pearls - a male and 2 female of course. I am concerned that the male of each will start to fight. So although I love the golden ones, I suspect that either the male has to go back, or no pearls full stop. It does not help of course that my wife spoke to someone else over the phone today who said that 2 groups of 3 should get on fine.....

Pearls are only shy when first introduced to the tank. As long as it's peaceful, they'll be out and active quite suickly. mine aren't shy in the slightest and they'll even eat from my hand. I'm not surprised they look shy at teh LFS though - that always seems to be the case - it's usualy because they don't have many places to retreat to so they feel exposed and they aren't always kept with the best tankmates. you also have to consider all the stress they've been through with shipping and all.

As for keeping them with three-spots, it's possible to combine a male pearl with some female three-spots but I wouldn't attempt any other combination. Even female golds can be extremely aggressive while pearls are usualy very gentle fish. This difference is possibly at its most apparent when they are breeding - many three-spots come out of it quite bruised and with torn fins, while pearls are usualy unscathed and as flawless as ever .

That's not to say that's always the case though. Gouramies are all very individual and can be unpredictable. i've had my fair share of pearls and have come across a few quite 'evil' fish. One in particular, was quite rpepaired to kill most of his tankmates. I would go as far as to say he acted worse than a solitary three-spot male would.

If the only issue you have with the pearls is whether they are shy or not, I assure you they settle in quite quick if provided with a peaceful environment and they are less troublesome than golds in the long run. However, if it's simply a matter of preference, and golds are certainly stunning fish, I'd stick with the golds and not risk mixing the two species.

 

[sylvia]

In that case, you should avoid pearls altogether. You see, in theory, you could simply return the male gold and get some pearls BUT, because you already have the golds, any new gouramies - especialy more peaceful ones like pearls - are liable to be attacked by the gouramies that have already settled down. Having said that, it is possible to get round this if you can either isolate the golds and re-introduce them in a few days at the same time as the pearls and/or if you realy work on re-aranging the tank and making it look completely different to the golds just before you add the pearls. Still, to clarify, the male gold will have to go and the new pearls will have to either be the same size as your current golds or larger to avoid deadly disputes.