Gourami Advice Needed

[Ch4rlie]

As some of you may be aware, I very recently aquired 4 Honey Gouramis, Trichogaster chuna, for a planted 15 gal tank (30 x 12 x 15)
 
And I got what i thought was 3 females and one male honey gouramis.
 
Now that they have been in my tank awhile and are settling well,  true colours are now showing.
 
Well, it turns out one of the 'females' is actually a male. Colours now bigining to show. I could have sworn there were 3 females as i double checked at LFS before leaving the store, can only surmise that the stress of being moved made him extremely pale and looked like a female.
 
Anyway, what I'd like to ask, what would be the best course of action to take with this situation?
 
I have read that males can be territorial and be aggressive towards each male.
 
So while that is not ideal, the choices are simply, take the male out and replace with a female OR get more females?
 
I dont mind having more of these gouramis if not pushing boundaries of this tank too much and they are real nice to watch.
 
Currently the tank has - one Whiptail Catfish - Rineloricaria lanceolata and 2 amano shrimps, so i reckon there is space for more fish and I originally was planning to add a small shoal of small specie such as maybe 6 or 8 Forktail Blue Eye rainbowfish - Pseudomugil furcatus.
 
But due to this, that plan may need changing, so would be great if can get some input
 
Thanks in advance.
 
This is the male thats starting to show true colours
 


    Original male                                                              One of the females
 
     

 

[Ch4rlie]

And to prove its not the same male, there are two males in this pic, sorry its not the best pic 
 
But you can see both amongst the vallis plant, and have the telltale black markings on underbelly as well as the orange/red colouring on main body.
 

 

[Byron]

In a larger space (say a 3-foot or larger tank), you might have no serious issues; this species is somewhat more docile than certain others.  But the confines of a 15g (presumably 24 inches in length) is pushing things.  I certainly would not recommend more gourami, so that leaves the option of removing one of the males.  
 
I was going to suggest that you could wait a bit and see how things play out; while one would expect the fish to each exhibit normal behaviours and thus the two males will not tolerate each other, it might play out differently.  The problem with this is that the store might exchange the male for another female now, but not after a few weeks.  But more importantly, the fish will likely form a pair and spawn, and then I doubt the "unwanted" male would live long.
 
To be safest, and probably kindest to the fish, I would remove one of the males.
 
Byron.

 

[Ch4rlie]

In a larger space (say a 4-foot tank), you might have no serious issues; this species is somewhat more docile than certain others.  But the confines of a 15g (presumably 24 inches in length) is pushing things.  I certainly would not recommend more gourami, so that leaves the option of removing one of the males.  However, you might wait a bit and see how things play out; while one would expect the fish to each exhibit normal behaviours and thus the two males will not tolerate each other, it might play out differently.  The problem with this is that the store might exchange the male for another female now, but not after a few weeks.
 
To be safest, and probably kindest to the fish, I would remove one of the males.
 
Byron.

 
Its actually a 2.5 feet tank, 30 x 12 x 15 as mentioned in my original post, however think that does not alter anything by much.
 
I was hoping that I could add 2 more female honeys perhaps so that it may be more compatible for the gouramis but now considering that it is not ideal and may be asking for trouble by keeping 2 males in the same tank of these dimensions.
 
Ah well, a pity this has happened.

 

[Byron]

My apology, I missed the dimensions earlier.  That is the length of one of my tanks, a 29g, and I would not risk two males in there.  I would consider 4 honey gourami max for a 15g, with just one male obviously.  I would hope the store would exchange for you.  B.

 

[Goggy]

There really cute! i love the color and the black streak on the eye, and as Byron said, you really should return or move one of the males to a different tank
Also, these gouramis do really well in pairs, you could move a male and female to a different tank

 

[NickAu]

I would remove one of the males.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Hmm, i do have a fairly well palnted 3 foot tnak, i could move one of the males into that tank, along with perhaps another female. That tank has Celestial Pearl Danios and Harlequin Rasboras (espei) as well as some amano shrimsp and RCS.
 
Though the gouramis may pick off the smaller shrimps but hopefully leaves the larger shrimsp alone....
 
Will think about that one.
 
But thanks for the comments guys

 

[Ch4rlie]

Just realisedsi made a mistake in my tank size, its not 15 gals its a 20 gal long.
 
30 x 12 x 15 is 23 US Gals or 88 litres according to forum calculator.....

 

[Byron]

Just realisedsi made a mistake in my tank size, its not 15 gals

its a 20 gal long.
 
30 x 12 x 15 is 23 US Gals or 88 litres according to forum calculator.....

 
I took you at your word on the volume, but the 20g doesn't change any of my previous suggestions, just so you know.  B.

 

[Ch4rlie]

 

Just realisedsi made a mistake in my tank size, its not 15 gals

its a 20 gal long.
 
30 x 12 x 15 is 23 US Gals or 88 litres according to forum calculator.....

 
I took you at your word on the volume, but the 20g doesn't change any of my previous suggestions, just so you know.  B.
 

 
Yes, i figured as much, always good to get 100% confirmation to be sure before doing anything. Thanks
 
Think its time to try and rehome this guy and maybe a female as well to make it easier to rehome rather than take back to LFS which would be cruel imo.
 
We will see what happens and will get 2 females to make up the numbers to 4 again, maybe even.
 
I did consider putting a male and female into my 3 foot tank but it has RCS and would rather not risk that and prefer to keep the tank as is with the CPD's and Harleys.
 
Will update as soon as have done anything

 

[Munroco]

FWIW I make it just under 17 gals, not taking hardscape into account.

 

[Ch4rlie]

FWIW I make it just under 17 gals, not taking hardscape into account.

 
Can I ask how did you come to that figure?
 
always interesting to see how folks do their calculations.
 
As I mentioned earlier I used the forum calculator to get figure of 23 is gals, basically making this a good 20 gals after substrate and plant addition to the tank.

 

[Alasse]

I got 23 USgal also.

 

[Munroco]

I knew a 36*15*12 was 20 gals, 5/6 of that is just under 17 gals.