Opaline Gouramis

[amerz]

I have two opaline gouramis that I bought at the same time.

They were both the same size when I got them.

One of them is now 3 inches long, while the other is less than 1 inch. He seems to have gotten smaller!! I thought maybe this was a defense mechanism of some sort because it allows him to hide in the plants where the big guy can't chase him, but it seems that he's not getting enough to eat.

I also don't know how to sex the gouramis, so I don't know if they're both male or what.

Neither of the gouramis bug my other fish.

 

[jams.alaskan]

Even with the dif sexes there shouldn't be that big a dif in sizes. Sounds like the little one has a failure to thrive issue. Does he come out at feeding time? If not, perhaps you can target feed him at feeding time using a turkey baister (sp).

ALASKA

 

[FishSticks]

The same thing happened to me about a month ago, except I bought 2 gold gouramis at the same time (same size too). I found out that if you only keep two gouramis the stronger one will sometimes make the weaker one miserable. About two weeks after I got them I decided to add 2 more gold gouramis. The weak gourami started eating more, got his color back, and even grew a little. And they all lived happily ever after...

That's from my personal experience, but I don't know if it always works out that way!

 

[sojumonk]

It has worked the same for us.
When we got our first tank the beginning was kinda rocky due to lack of knowledge and poor advice from the store keepers, and we would lose fish due to sickness or water problems. Twice we got down to two Flame Dwarfs. Both times the larger would terrorize the smaller one. Both times we finally solved the problem by purchasing enough Flame Dwarfs so that there were 4 in the tank. They still badger each other but at least its not a personal vendetta.

 

[Gourami Lover88]

with my 3 spot, the larger female and the male are a pair and they tend to hog all the food from the much smaller female, but since I have started to feed live foods she has got a lil bigger.

I also don't know how to sex the gouramis, so I don't know if they're both male or what

View from above them a female will have a large head\breast area and it will slowly taper to the tail, Males will tend to be skiny and wont show any difference between the head and the tail.

View from the side, the female's dorsal fin will be short and round, the male will have a longer and it will end in a point.