Helllllp

[Twinklecaz]

I bought my 2 Golden Honey Gouramis on Saturday. They seemed fine at first, looked after each other in the tank etc and were really inquisitive. I think I may have some sort of illness in my tank that the little one may have but that's a different thing.

They are supposedly both female but last night the bigger one was chasing the small one around for quite a bit and then I found her hiding behind the filter looking not atall well. She came out eventually and looked a bit happier today but she's still resting under the Frogtbite leaves quite a lot.

My question is do you think this is the illness (which I am hopefully getting treatment for today) or do you think the bigger one is bullying her? I know this is unusual with 2 females so my worry is that I have 2 males or a male and a female. I don't know which is worse?

How would you suggest I tell and what can I do? She's the sweetest little thing, easily my fav and I don't want her to be unhappy.

 

[Harlequins]

From what i've read
Females:
Usually larger and plumper, honey's have a brown horizontal stripe, short rounded dorsal fin
Males:
Long pointed dorsal fin, smaller and more slim, usually much more vibrant in color.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Hmmm right now it does look like I have a male and female. There's beeen no bullying behaviour since I posted this though. I think it's hard to tell right now coz Ruby is much smaller than Scarlett, I think she's probably just a bit younger.

The both have kinda rounded points

I'm gonna try and post some pics tomorrow so you might be able to tell me

 

[Twinklecaz]

This is the bigger one, Scarlett. I'm impressed what a good photo this is actually!





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and this is the smaller one, Ruby. You can see her red gill in this photo. It's not actually THAT red. The camera shows it up slightly worse than it is.

Soooooooo what do you think?

 

[ian]

they both look male to me, i have kept these in the past and have got a bargin pair a few weeks back for £1.50. The females have a really pronounced black lateral line running through the middle of the body. I did keep 2 males successfully in my old tank. The top photo is a definate male.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Ahhhhh no you think? I had become pretty sure the top one was a male. Its colour is a lot more intense that the other one. Bum, I don't know what's better now ........if it turns out the bottom one is a male or female? I mean, whatever fight they had they seem to be over now. But then if they're not both mature then I guess I won't see their true temprement yet. But then if Ruby IS a girl she's gonna get harassed isn't she? Not to mention the fry issue.

I suppose what I'll have to do if it turns out it's a male and female is to get another female isn't it?

Do they have a lot of fry? I guess there'll be warning signs won't there?

Thanks for yor help by the way.

 

[ian]

thats ok mate. I'm 99% about the top one, if the bottom one isn't yet sexually mature you will see a faint line. A male and female are fine, i find the female more dominant of the 2. I would keep it as it is for the time being and see how it goes. As for fry, you'll need some floating plants, and wait and see if the male builds a bubble nest. I have never had fry, i have had nests but never fry. They are great little fish though. When they get propper settled they almost look marine like to me. I much prefer the original honey gourami like yours than the reds or other off spring.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Oh I was wondering about that,they're orginal are they? I noticed they didn't have the bright yellow colour I see in some pics. I do love them, they're such lovely little fish Do you think the grey colour the little one has round her head and head end of her body is normal then? I was worried but now I'm thinking it might just be normal unmessed with fish colouring.

Will the male (I'm still gonna call him Scarlet ) only build a bubble nest if the other one is female? I have floating plants, Amazonian Frogbits. Actually of all my plants (that have been in there all of 7 days) that one is coming along the best, it has loads of new sproutings coming off it.

I guess I could just destroy the bubble nests if it happens? Seems mean though. If I could be sure I'd only have like one baby at the end of it I'd let them do it but sadly it doesn't work like that

Mind you, this is assuming Ruby is in fact a girl. We shall see ha!

 

[Twinklecaz]

Oh dear god.........they've done it!

I saw a couple of days ago bubbles but thought nothing of it, I just thought it was air bubbles collected (this on the underneath of one of the Frogbites. Then just now I was looking and thought it looked a bit like jelly.......then it dawned on me. I googled a pic and yep that's exactly what it looks like.

Er help, what do I do now? Does this mean the little one is a female or could they still be 2 males?

 

[waterdrop]

They both look pretty healthy to me in the pics and of course its normal behavior for a bigger fish to chase a smaller fish to some extent regardless of sex. Nearly all gouramis do a certain amount of this as part of their everyday behavior. As the fish adjust to the tank, the plants grow and provide more cover and the fish all get used to each other, you may find that they will settle down and really like their home. Part of being healthy and well-adjusted for a gourami is to do a certain amount of chasing and housekeeping I think.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Essjay]

I've had honey gouramis spawn in a community tank before, and the eggs rarely hatch - they get eaten. Even the few fry I've had hatch were eaten before they became free swimming. And you do have a platy in the backgound of the first pic.......

I currently have a pair of yellow honeys. The female doesn't have a solid black line, more of a broken brown one. But the male has a blackish throat - not as much or as dark as the wild coloured ones, but it's still there. Did you see one of the fish displaying to the other? The male swims in front of the female with his nose in the air, as it were, then tries to get her to follow him back to the bubble nest.
I find these fish are fine as a male/female pair. Male honeys aren't nearly as bad as dwarfs. The worst damage I've ever had has been the female's tail being nipped, but it soon grows back. In fact a few years ago I had worse problems with 1m/2f as one female continually picked on the other. She did far more damage than the males have ever done. But I suppose I could just have had a rogue female.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Thanks for your help guys.

Yeah I have 3 Platys. They'll prob eat it will they? I haven't seen any displaying but then I wasn't looking out for it till today. Interestingly the female (she is we can conclude yeah?) rests under the Frogbite at night, I don't know if that's relevant?

I think I'm just gonna see what happens. I have space to house 1 maybbe 2 fry as adults but that's it. But then it looks like it prob won't be a problem anyway.

Ha I am kinda interested though.....