New dwarf gourami pair, do I have two males?

[Wino]

Hello all, new here so first Hi!

I ordered some fish online, arrived Friday and all looked in great health.

I got them on ebay from a reputable seller.

I bought a 'pair of rainbow dwarf gourami', expecting one male and one female.

Today I noticed the smaller of the two has chunks out of its fins. I watched for a while and the larger attacked it several times.

I have a 120L long tank.
Other fish
12 lemon tetra
10 pygmy cory
6 kuhli loach

Everybody else seems to be getting on fine.

After looking again I think the smaller might be a blue dwarf gourami male. When it arrived it looked paler but now a blue tint is coming out. Could anyone have a look at the photos and see what you think?

If it is then I'm a bit annoyed as the tank was going really well until now and the dwarf gourami were the final addition.

I've got some CPD fry in my 30L hospital tank at the mo and they're too small to move into their parents tank yet. So I'd have to move one to

Other tanks:

Dwarf Puffer tank - definately not

Stream set up 110L with 12 penguin tetra, 4 akysis vespa, 2 German blue rams, 6 sterbai cory - I think this would be too much flow and the penguins can get nippy too

60L with about 20 ember tetra and 6 asian stone catfish - some of the embers are tiny and I'd worry they'd become lunch

60L with 8 CPD and 10 rosy loach - a few CPDs are a bit small too but if I had to risk it then this would be the safest bet but not sure.

I could get another small tank if I bad to but I'm a bit short of cash and tigh on space at the moment. If it's a female then I think I'd try and get 1-2 more females to spread the aggression.

So, just to clarify after my rambling:

1- Is it a male?

2- Which tank would it do best in if I moved it out?

3- Is there another solution I've not considered?

This is my first endeavour with gourami and after looking around online I'm still not sure. I'd appreciate your help.

Thanks!

 

[hobby5]

Welcome to TFF

Outch. Hard to tell for sure with the missing parts, but I would assume it to be a female. Did it arrive intact? Those injuries seem a little too much to be caused by the male. Especially, because the tank looks suitable to house a pair. There are broken lines of sight and hiding places. Maybe it got stuck somewhere?

 

[Wino]

Hi, thanks for the welcome and reply.

They arrived in the same bag without injury. Both looked beautiful.

When I put them in the tank they swam around together. Now they keep their distance.

I hadn't thought of getting stuck. I don't think so though. Unless it was stuck whilst being chased and was really munched on.

I watched them for at least 30 minutes and the larger attacked it several times. It got worse when I fed them. I dropped some algae wafers in for the bottom feeders. The gourami loved them but every time the smaller wanted some the larger would chase it nipping.

Today I broke the algae wafers up and scattered them around the tank to reduce competition but didn't have time to watch the outcome for long but they were feeding in seperate areas.

Do you think it could be a territorial issue. I've notice the larger spending a lot of time around the area I drop the feed. Maybe he's claimed it as his territory? He ignores all of the other fish, though the lemons look a bit cautious around him. You can see this tension build up when the gourami come together. It's quite interesting but I don't want them to fight or be hurt.

 

[hobby5]

It is pretty normal for a male dwarf gourami to claim a territory and act aggressively against any other dwarf gourami. But with the size and structure of your tank I had imagined it possible for the smaller one to avoid it's bully. You need to invest some time and watch what is going on in your tank. If those injuries are indeed by the male, it would be better to separate both.