Gouramies not getting along?

[noclueman]

I bought an opaline gourami and a gold gourami about 3 weeks ago, at the time they were the same size.

Both of them eat plenty and both seem healthy to me. But the opaline has grown already almost 1.5 times as large, (they were about an inch when I got them) and the gold is still the same size.

I also noticed about a week ago that the gold one had some bites taken out of his fins, but I wasn't sure who was doing it. Just now I was watching the tank and saw the opaline chasing and nipping the fins of the gold one.

Is there anything I can do about this? Is it normal, and is the gold gourami going to be ok?

Thanks,
NoClueMan

 

[tstenback]

gouramis often will get aggressive with their own kind as they will both try to occupy the same space in the tank, the top. The larger fish will try to dominate the smaller fish so i would watch carefully and if it continues you may have to separate them or take one back. This behaviour is most often seen in males but some females can get pretty aggressive as well.

How big is the tank?

 

[noclueman]

It's only a 10 gallon tank, and I have max fish in there (or more).

3 zebra danios
3 Red Eye tetras
1 Chinese Algae eater
1 Angel
and the 2 gouramies

 

[Teelie]

I had Opaline, Blue and Gold gourami in a 30 and had to move the gold for aggression to a 10 on it's own. IMO a 10 gallon is far too small for a pair. I have two Blues in a 30 and they still squabble over space.

 

[Black_Tetra]

Just to let you know my bro had two males in a fifty five gal. and the one died because they did not get along....
>Liz

 

[Gourami Lover88]

They are probably both males, which cant be kept in a tank that small, you will have to seperate them, or take one back.

 

[ger87410]

I got rid of my opaline gouramis cuz they were to aggressive. Not just aggression towards each other but aggression towards other species as well. Even aggressive towards a Jack Dempsey that was larger then it. I'm never keeping gouramis again or if I do it's gonna be a species tank.

 

[Jae1525]

Get some floating plants on either side of your tank. They will keep busy building nests in them and ignore each other!

Thats what I did and it worked a treat. One has the left side of the tank, and one has the right! They still clash but not as often and it only lasts for a second or 2!

 

[njnauticalnut]

I have four dwarf gouramis and they are the most peaceful fish in my tank. They never seem to squabble. In fact when one of was dying, the others actually watched out for it, making sure none of the other fish bothered it. It was very interesting behavior to watch.

I know that some gouramis are semi-aggressive, but dwarfs are not.

 

[noclueman]

So do you think a female and a male would get along just fine then?

Do fish stores sell females? I don't know how to tell the difference. And the signes on the tanks at the store don't say.

Thanks

p.s. The opaline died

 

[Morrgan]

So do you think a female and a male would get along just fine then?

Are you still talking about gold/opaline gouramis? A male and female can get along, but it's never certain. Definitely not in a 10 gal, though. I wouldn't even put a single one in anything less than 40 gal, and would only try a couple if it was 55 gal or more. Blue/opaline/gold gouramis can be really nasty and grow big, up to 5-6 inches.

Males have longer fins, but the ones in stores are often so small that you can't tell the difference yet.