indians & moonlights

[scottsbt1690]

hi guys,
can anyone tell me how to sex a pair of moonlight gourami's, and also a pair of indian gourmai's?.
i have got a pair of each in my tank at the mo, and also a pair of opaline gouramis, pair of bush fish and one single wee dwarf albino paradish fish.
if any of these are pairs, what is the chances of breeding them in a community tank?.

scott

 

[sylvia]

You won't be able to breed them in a community tank.

Anyway, sexing indian (I preffer the name 'banded' myself as it reffers to the scientific name - colisa fasciata) gouramies is very easy as the males have much brighter coloration, longer fins, a more streamlined appearance and you'll notice that the dorsal and anal fins are pointier. Also, females tend to be wider and deeper-bodied. If you look at them from above, this difference becomes especialy obvious - particularly in mature fish.

Moonlight gouramies are also quite easy to sex in that they have the same sort of physical differences - males have longer, more pointed fins, are more streamlined etc while females are deeper-bodied and wider when viewed from above. You may also notice that males have orange ventral 'feelers' while the females' are yellow.

I should now warn you that to keep so many large gouramies in a single tank means you need a LOT of space - I would say you need a pretty big tank... You'd also wan't lots of hiding places, tall rooted and floating plants and some ceramic pots for the ctenopomas especialy.

Just in case, do you know the potential size of each of the fish you have and are you aware of their territoriality and potentialy their aggressive nature? What size tank are they in and what other fish are in with them?