Lone female gourami

[fish_face]

Hello everyone,

I just lost my male dwarf blue gourami, sniff, he'd been looking a bit off for the last week. I couldn't see anything particular wrong with him, if anything he just seemed old (I have had him a few months or so but he was adult size).

My question is do I need to get the female a mate? I'm not really interested in breeding, but I don't want her lonely. However, there are other fish i'd like to get instead if i'm honest, but I wanted to check first.

The male only ever chased her round the tank and they never really coupled.

 

[sylvia]

You are probably better off not getting another male. She'll be fine on her own. It also seems risky to me to be adding any more dwarf gouramies when one just died (well the same would apply to any fish but dwarfs are especialy susceptible to disease). Also, dwarfs can live up to 7 years so I doubt it was old age that got him. An internal infection of some sort is more likely. Have you also checked your water params for any fluctuations?

 

[fish_face]

Yeah, it all seems fine. I lost the other one not long ago to what I think was an internal parasite problem. This one didn't have the same symptoms, but I think they are quite prone to illness, which has put me off getting any more. They are lovely though

 

[Grouchy]

I also have a lone female gourami, a pearl gourami that I inherited when my neighbor moved away. It shares a 10 gallon tank with two corys and a very young pleco.

Recently, the gourami has grown in size around the belly. I've had the fish for about five months now.

My question would be: should I get her a mate?

Around April or so I'm bringing in a 50 gallon tank, should I wait until then?