Help sexing, and cause of aggression (gouramis)

[FishPal]

Can someone help me sex these 2. I think the blue is a female and the red is a male. But I'm not 100% sure. The red one is quite aggressive, which keeps the blue one by the filter all day. Anyway to help that as well? Thought about another dominant fish to try to balance it out, as I read that can work, but not sure about adding more since it's only a 10 gal and already has them 2 and 3 mystery snails. The snails don't seem to add stress, but waste, and adding another fish will add more. But if any good recommendations, I can always up the maintenance slightly to balance that out. If aggression is due to gender, do I need to separate? Or is there a way to make it work?

 

[DoubleDutch]

You're right about the sexes, but gone wrong with the tank. A 30 or even a 40 G comes first for this species. He might kill the female in this small tank.

 

[Essjay]

These gouramis are colour variants of three spot gurami, one of the more aggressive species. A few years ago we had a member with a female which killed every other fish put in the same tank. The only way to stop this was to keep the gourami alone.
These are big fish, growing up to 6 inches, and as DoubleDutch pointed out they need a bigger tank than 10 gallons.

Trichopodus trichopterus (Three-spot Gourami) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[itiwhetu]

The male will be wanting to spawn with the female, but she is having nothing to do with it. When she is ready, she will let him know. He is just a little frustrated. Have you seen him trying to build any type of bubble nest? If you put a lot of floating plants on the surface of the tank, he will start to build a nest which will occupy his mind for a bit and will give her a rest.

 

[FishPal]

The male will be wanting to spawn with the female, but she is having nothing to do with it. When she is ready, she will let him know. He is just a little frustrated. Have you seen him trying to build any type of bubble nest? If you put a lot of floating plants on the surface of the tank, he will start to build a nest which will occupy his mind for a bit and will give her a rest.

There was a point where there were a lot of bubbles, and majority being on his side he likes to stay, but after research, it seemed to be from protein rather than a nest. They were kinda all over, but a bunch in his corner. But that is also the stillest spot on the surface where everthing would get pushed to cause I haven't slid my filter to the middle yet. Next water change I'll do that when I can rearrange a bit to make it work until I can upgrade their tank. Can they breed being that young? And is it safe/healthy?

 

[itiwhetu]

How large are these guys if they are around three inches they will spawn?. Floating plants. Ten gallons is large enough for them to do their thing. They will need a larger tank at some stage.

 

[FishPal]

He might be 3 and she might be around 2.5.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Funny how in a few posts we are diverted from an issue cause of an unsuitable tank(size) to a possible breeding attempt in (which 500-1500 eggs would be laid and the female possible would be killed if it would have laid eggs).

 

[GaryE]

The key point here is that in a 20 inch, 10 gallon tank, a fish that grows to 5-6 inches and is an aggressive (ish) species is going to be very touchy. I'm a pretty easy going person, but put me, as a member of an often aggressive species, in a small room with one other person, and he/she and I are not going to get along well. It's the prison cell scenario.

Breeding behaviour doesn't matter. It would fail anyway. @itiwhetu says they have room, and they might if you put them together for a couple of days just to breed. The point this is your main tank for them is zipping right by that post - you aren't moving a pair and managing aggression short term because you want fry. This is a maintenance question. They're your pet fish and that's your tank.

The answer is that you need either a larger tank or smaller fish.

 

[FishPal]

I agree. I am not going to attempt to breed them, but was more curious on that in case they did while I'm waiting to get the new tank. Just to know what to do. I have no intentions rn to breed as I'm still learning a lot just about the basics. That's a possibility in the future, but not rn. I know I gotta know my place.

 

[itiwhetu]

I was trying to find a way to calm the male fish down. These fish are fine where they are at the moment. The only problem is that the male is bored, and the female has nowhere to go. I was trying to deal with that immediate problem.