gouramis and fighters

[dylema]

Just curious, we have a male gourami madly building a bubble nest and chasing everyone in the tank... except for one pretty girl fighter we have who is showing off like mad to him. Would they try to breed? I don't think they actually could but would they give it a shot?

 

[Kiarra]

Hmm...I think they'd get about as close as you can get, and then realize that they have entirely different mating behaviors (as far as the fine details go) and then get mad at each other and tear each other to bits.

Yes...knowing Bettas, I think that could easily happen.

Of course, even if they DID perform mating rituals, he couldn't fertilize her eggs, so there would be no hybrids resulting. But I don't think it'd get that far before they realized they were incompatible.

 

[Ethos]

I think you'd get more help from the betta section....theres alot of knowlegeable people in there about bettas...

 

[sylvia]

I'm not convinced you are seeing mating behaviour.
Your gourami (actualy, what species is it?) is obviously defending his nest but your female betta may not actualy be displaying to him in order to mate but possibly because she doesn't appreciate being chased off like the other fish and is asserting her position.
On the other hand, gouramies and bettas have very individual characters so you never know They won't actualy breed though (if they do try, it would be very interesting and I demand that you describe it in detail ). Even if they do try to breed, they won't be able to produce fertile eggs.
It also depends somewhat on what kind of gourami you have...