Need Info On Moon Light Gourami

[Fizban]

i have 2 moon lights gouramis and i think both are male i no one is and the other one starting to act a bit like the bigger one wich the big one im shore is male cuz hes gather all bits of plant to a corner i think its hard to no wich is male and female with them so i go by how they act but the big one has started acting protive of the nest i have take the plants that he turned into a nest out but he still dose not like the other gouramis going to that corner and he chasers them off but dose not hurt them i want to at one stage breed moon lights gouramis so i want to keep the big male i gather one must go right? i want to no how to make the big male happy again so he dose not think a corner of the tank is his in other words lose intrest.........would adding females do the trick or make it worse ? any info on them is good cuz there seems to be a lack of info on moonlights thats of any help

 

[Fizban]

oh are there any sites where it shows the males from the females with pics i no the females ment to have a bit yellow fin at the bottem the male an orang red typ color but with colors on fish some times you get lighter or darker male and females so i want to be shore of what im looking for other then that there dose not seem to be any other way to tell with the moonlight ones well some females are a bit fater but again fish can just be fat evan if there male arrrrrrrr the three spots are so much easyer

 

[sylvia]

I would personaly suggest you remove any fish that are causing aggression regardless of whether you plan to breed in future or not.

Sexing them is like you said - by color and body shape. There's realy no other way. If you can post a single clear picture of each, taken from the side, it may be possible to help. I think you've posted some before though so I don't see why the replies would be any different.

 

[Fizban]

the replies last time was no one could say only that one was acting like a male i had 3 then now i have 2 and there older and the smaller one is near the size of the big one so if u can tell the sex it should be easyer now its more adult right? but as i said last time we only agreed that it was acting male and that is the one thats acting male still and chaseing the fish from a corner it dose not hurt the fish just pushers them a bit and he dose not stay there all the time its sort of thing he seems to do when he gets bored as i asked befor is there chance he would stop this if i got some females ? cuz three spots act that way right when theres only a male or 2 males ?i will try geting some pics of them in the next week? any more info in the mean time is good ...............

 

[sylvia]

Adding females will make things worse if the other fish is male as well. If the other is female, then adding females will help. It's best to decide what sex each is before you add any more fish.

Since we didn't settle a gender after all, and you're right - the older they are, the easier they are to sex, try posting some pics. All that's needed is one clear pic of each from the side. Try to get them so the dorsal isn't clamped down.

 

[Fizban]

i dont think u can tell a moon lights sex by its dorsal but i will try to get the pics like that .... i can tell the difrents with the three spots easy cuz of the dorsal fin i think for both male and female moonlight it dose not show with the dorsal .......................okay say both of them are male and i took one of them back to the pet store and got 2 females for the male i was keeping would that stop the problems?

 

[sylvia]

The dorsal isn't as evidently pointed in male moonlights as in three-spots but it is longer. I actualy remember, quite a while ago, that I did sex your moonlight gouramies - that was the very first time you posted pics to get your three-spots sexed - but I didn't last time when you posted specificaly about the moonlights (well, actualy, I can't remember whether I did or not but I'll go with what you said).

This, for example, is a female judging by the dorsal: http/www.molluscan.com/fish/exploration3...ightgourami.jpg
So is this by the looks of it (also note hte ventral fins are light yellow - not orange or red): http/www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/uploads/...-1095907552.jpg
And this one is also female, if you look at the body shape (the dorsal's not realy visible anyway): http/www.angelfire.com/ma3/shawnamoonlight2/
On the other hand, here's an obvious male (look at that dorsal - though he doesn't seem to have red ventrals - simply not in breeding condition or due to bad lighting): http/fins.actwin.com/fresh-pics/moonlight_gourami.jpg
Here's an immature moonlight (looks male if you look at body shape though dorsal isn't obviously pointed and he doesn't have any red/orange ventral coloration): http/photos.fishindex.com/tri/trichogast..._gourami318.jpg
Here's another male (dorsal is elongated though not particularly pointed and eyes and ventral fins clearly bright orange): http/www.aquarium-fish.info/graphics/Tri...rmicrolepis.jpg

Just to clarify, I'm not claiming to be an expert at sexing moonlights - I came across plenty of images I couldn't decide on and it can depend a lot on the particular photo. I do know that I can sex them in person so I should be able to from the better pics but there are some that I just can't handle.

Anyway, yes, removing one male and getting 2 females would work.
However, the gouramies you have at the moment will probably attack any new gouramies you add - aprticularly if the new additions are smaller or immature fish. You can get round this by buying fully grown females and re-aranging your existing tank before you add them to confuse the existing fish. While you're at it, get some more ornaments and/or plants to increase the number of hiding places in your tank ready for the new arrivals.

edit: spotted a spelling mistake

 

[Fizban]

oh okay thanks i will try to get the pics real soon and i no this is probly not the case but that kind of seemed like you were mad at me i spose your just agressive when gouramis are the topic ....hehe (rembers reading the hybrid messages hehehehe) so adding small gouramis is a bad thing hmmmmmmm about 3 weeks back i put a little one thats only just not a baby any more but still very small he was bullying the small brothers and sisters he had so i thort i would make him see how small he was by puting him in with my big gouramis for a bit to teach him how to act rownd others im going to put him in one of the other tanks some time soon but apart from not trying to show the big gouramis whos boss he acts like the rest no one bothers him he feed with them i will keep the moveing stuff rownd for next time in mind but i dont think i will have to worry much about size pluss the pet store dose not get them in till there middel size and middel moon lights are all most as big as three spots when there nearing adult hood at that stage

 

[sylvia]

Why would I be mad at you lol? Of course I'm not Sorry if I came across that way. I posted the pics above so you could try sexing them yourself as it's usualy easier to see the differences in person. If you'd like me (or other people) to try to help with that as well, of course, go ahead and post the pics - I like looking at gourami pics anyway

 

[Fizban]

i think every one here likes gourami pics .....i have see a fair few of your posts so i no you were not mad you just seem to come across very strong some times as i was saying befor its probly cuz you care alot for your gouramis u get realy passionate as you typ as for the pics befor i looked at them and i still am confuse so i will post some pics i would have posted today but camra i use it broken so i am going to borow a friends ...........oh and being passionate about gouramis or any thing is realy a good thing i hope in the last message i did not seem to sound like u were in the wrong i just thort i would coment on it cuz its intresting cuz i have seen u get like that alot in other posts hehehe .....

 

[sylvia]

Oh right, I see what you mean. I hope people don't think I sound angry all the time though lol
Yep, post those pics whenever you can

 

[Fizban]

hmmm i have not seen a post from Miss Dib Dabs for a bit ?? wonder if some things up cuz most of the times ether i get the info from you sylvia or Miss Dib Dabs wich i dont mind both of u seem to no lots hmm i spose i better add a gourami qestion in cuz this is a gourami site im a bit worryed about my three spots cuz on some of gouramis i can see realy small black dots on a fin here and there they dont look like any thing bad and the fish seem fine its like a dot of paint has changed its color its very small and i have try a few things like melfix and other things that cure many typs of stuff sighs the three spots always seem to worry me cuz i dont want a sickness in the main tank i thort it may have been fin rot but i dont think thats it cuz i treated the tank for that ...i have not seen fin rot befor but i guess if it was half my fish would be looking like there dieing by now right i want them back look like they should any idear what i may bey talking about oh and it dose not seem to have afected the fins of the moon light gouramis at all

 

[sylvia]

There is a disease known as 'black spot' which is occasionaly found in aquarium fish but I've never had it myself and it's quite rare. Still, here's what it looks like and a bit on how to treat it:

http/puffernet.tripod.com/blackspot.html - aimed at puffer keepers but basicaly the same applies to gouramies (except half-dosing isn't necessary)
http/www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/bla.../black_spot.gif - not the best picture but gives you an idea

From what I understand about this parasite, they infect an intermediate host before they get to the fish. If you don't have snails in your tank and haven't added any new fish lately, it's highly unlikely that your fish has black spot. Having said that, don't take my word for it - I haven't realy looked into black spot disease much because it's so uncommon in freshwater tropical aquarium fish and I've never personaly had to treat a case of it.

 

[Fizban]

hehehe snails you say ummm i like snail and have had alot of them over time and well from what i gather about the pet shop i buy stuff from i herd this not long ago from anuther guy who runs a small pet shop he said you should be carefull geting stuff from there cuz they dont take care of there fish that well and alot of times the fish get fin rot and thats where i got the snails from too as for if thats it i dont think it is but i cant rule it out ether so im going to try treating for that
..............it dose not realy look like a parasite to me i guess i will end up finding the right thing over time cuz it dose not seem like a fast moveing thing