Gold Gouramis - Agressive? *update*

[Hayley_W]

Hi

I'm after some advice, we have a 48ltr tank and have recently brought 2 gold Gouramis. They were fine for the first 24 hours but now one seems to be terrorising the other. It even appears to hunt the other down to chase it around. Is this normal behaviour? Please could someone advise. Is it because it could be hungry? They both always appear to be searching for food.

Any advice would be greatfully recieved.

Thanks, Hayley

 

[ajs2294]

Hi

I'm after some advice, we have a 48ltr tank and have recently brought 2 gold Gouramis. They were fine for the first 24 hours but now one seems to be terrorising the other. It even appears to hunt the other down to chase it around. Is this normal behaviour? Please could someone advise. Is it because it could be hungry? They both always appear to be searching for food.

Any advice would be greatfully recieved.

Thanks, Hayley

Male gouramis will be aggressive to other males, and all gouramis can be territorial. Also a 48l tank seems way to small for two gouramis, even 1 is pushing it, It may be easier take them back and maybe try 1 dwarf gouarmi

 

[Hayley_W]

[/quote]
Male gouramis will be aggressive to other males, and all gouramis can be territorial. Also a 48l tank seems way to small for two gouramis, even 1 is pushing it, It may be easier take them back and maybe try 1 dwarf gouarmi
[/quote]

I am surprised you say the tank is not big enough. I was advised by the manager of the shop that the tank would be sufficent and they recommended they were sold in pairs. He didnt think my tank would only be big enough for one as we did go through a number of fish that i liked and they advised which ones would grow too big for the tank we have.

Is there anyway of telling if they are both males other than the behaviour?

 

[Littlemonkey]

Male gouramis will be aggressive to other males, and all gouramis can be territorial. Also a 48l tank seems way to small for two gouramis, even 1 is pushing it, It may be easier take them back and maybe try 1 dwarf gouarmi
[/quote]

I am surprised you say the tank is not big enough. I was advised by the manager of the shop that the tank would be sufficent and they recommended they were sold in pairs. He didnt think my tank would only be big enough for one as we did go through a number of fish that i liked and they advised which ones would grow too big for the tank we have.

Is there anyway of telling if they are both males other than the behaviour?
[/quote]

Males dorsal fins are pointed, females are more rounded, Gouramis are normally sold in pairs but the most ideal situation is 1 x male 2 x females because of the harrassing. Sorry to say this but the Manager is going to tell you this is fine just to sell you them in the first place. I learnt the hard way when I started out, but research and using this forum I have healthy and happy fish. Good Luck

 

[Hayley_W]

Males dorsal fins are pointed, females are more rounded, Gouramis are normally sold in pairs but the most ideal situation is 1 x male 2 x females because of the harrassing. Sorry to say this but the Manager is going to tell you this is fine just to sell you them in the first place. I learnt the hard way when I started out, but research and using this forum I have healthy and happy fish. Good Luck

Thank you, I will have a look. I got them from pets at home and they seemed very helpful, as i say they did advise me agaisnt a number of fish as they would grow to big so i'm surprised that they didnt say anything about the gouramis. Would of thought if they were just after the sale they'd have given me the others.

I am finding the sight really helpful thank you. Do you think 48ltrs is too small or do you think there is room to add an extra (once i work out the sex)?

 

[boeingtech]

i would agree gold gourami's get quite large, although they are quite peacefull fish in a small tank like 48ltrs they will nip at each other and stress each other out.
I have 2 in my 250 ltr tank there were a few nipped tail's and a little squabiling to begin with but know they are fine but i probably wouldn't wait that long in a tank your size.
See if you can take them back and get some dwarf gouramis, also get plenty of plant's they love load's of hiding place's. Good luck

 

[Hayley_W]

thanks eveyone.

After reading a few posts on here i'm not convinced that they are gold now. they maybe honey? would this make any difference?

Will try an work out how to upload a picture. Ive Been trying to find the receipt to check which they are but i cant find it. sorry.

 

[Hayley_W]

View attachment 59102

hope this works.

guess not ive put a pic in the photo topic if someone could help identify which type i have.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/1680-how-to-upload-pictures/page__view__findpost__p__2644361

many thanks

 

[ajs2294]

View attachment 59102

hope this works.

guess not ive put a pic in the photo topic if someone could help identify which type i have.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/1680-how-to-upload-pictures/page__view__findpost__p__2644361

many thanks

Those are gold gouramis unfortunately, though they are both female. Which pretty much ensures the aggression is due to being in a small area and getting stress, it would be the easiest option to return them or get a larger tank unfortunately. If you really must keep them in that tank try and add hidding spaces and keep on top of water quality as those two alone would be a decent bio-load. Ideally gold gouramis and standard size ones in general need about 20 gallons. You could probably get away with a pair of dwarf gouramis pretty easily

 

[Hayley_W]

View attachment 59102

hope this works.

guess not ive put a pic in the photo topic if someone could help identify which type i have.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/1680-how-to-upload-pictures/page__view__findpost__p__2644361

many thanks

Those are gold gouramis unfortunately, though they are both female. Which pretty much ensures the aggression is due to being in a small area and getting stress, it would be the easiest option to return them or get a larger tank unfortunately. If you really must keep them in that tank try and add hidding spaces and keep on top of water quality as those two alone would be a decent bio-load. Ideally gold gouramis and standard size ones in general need about 20 gallons. You could probably get away with a pair of dwarf gouramis pretty easily

ok thanks guess they may need to go then as i cant afford an upgrade anytime soon shame because they get on most of the time, just at feeding time. i shall be having words with pets at home for not advising me properly.

 

[Hayley_W]

Gold Gourami had to go, he/she was a menace, it managed to stress the other to the point of no return so we gave it to a friend, it was cruel to see the poor thing never got a second alone. we kept one which was fine for a while until we were given 2 corys and it then started to torment one of them.
has anyone heard of this before? i'm really annoyed with pets at home as they said they were community fish.

 

[MrNiceGuy]

Gold Gourami had to go, he/she was a menace, it managed to stress the other to the point of no return so we gave it to a friend, it was cruel to see the poor thing never got a second alone. we kept one which was fine for a while until we were given 2 corys and it then started to torment one of them.
has anyone heard of this before? i'm really annoyed with pets at home as they said they were community fish.

Pet store employees like to bend rules in order to sell fish. The term "community fish" is pretty vague. Gold gouramis aren't the most vicious fish in the world, but if you put them in a small tank with peaceful defenseless fish they'll probably take advantage of them. Even my dwarf gourami does on occasion. In a large tank with semi-aggressive tankmates the gold gourami would be more likely to keep to herself.

All gouramis are territorial to some extent. In the future, its best to add fish to the tank in order of aggressiveness... starting with the least aggressive. The real lesson here is never take a pet store employees advice. Not only because they bend rules... but also because a lot of the time they don't know what the hell they're talking about. Do your own research online, you'll get much more accurate information. good luck.

 

[crazychris]

Pets At Home are right that gold gouramis are community fish but in a fairly large tank. Yours simply wasn't big enough for two. I had two female moonlight gouramis and had to take one back as they were fighting all the time. One is fine though. I've never had a gourami attack a cory before.

 

[Inchworm]

I've never had a gourami attack a cory before.

I've seen it happen. In this case it was a full grown male pearl gourami. He was a very nasty fellow.

 

[MrNiceGuy]

I've never had a gourami attack a cory before.

ha all i have is a dwarf and he hates corys. after the gourami discovered the bottom-feeder food it was downhill from there. he pecks at algae wafers and eventually at the corys and loaches too. now he chases the corys on a regular basis. not everytime he sees them but a few times a day he'll go out of his way to nip a cory. this isn't my first dwarf gourami to do this by the way.