Pearl Gouramis

[Majjie]

I have a pair of pearl gouramis Malcolm and Minnie - or at least I think of them as a pair - they possibly don't.

I've had Minnie for more than two years, she's one of the first tropical fish I bought. I originally had two females but Minnie persecuted her "friend" to death - before I realised that was common behaviour amongst tropical fishes (the books don't warn you ...) and I didn't separate them quickly enough.

I still believed that gouramis should be kept in at least pairs, if not groups (the books say so!) so I bought Malcolm. I had by then worked out the difference between the sexes.

After Min had pinned Malc flat to the gravel several times I separated them until Malc had grown up a bit. They've now been living together for well over a year.

Until a few weeks ago Malc was the boss and if he was out and about then Min retreated to her corner of the tank. Recently though, the tables have been turned and Minnie reigns supreme in the main part of the tank. Malc now lives behind the bogwood except at feeding time or when they are doing their impression of kissing gouramis. They spend a lot of time pushing each other back and forward by the mouth (I believe it's agression - and not love )

I'm a bit worried about Malc who seems to have lost a bit of weight and about both of them because their mouths look kind of greyish. Is this due to excessive "kissing"? Is it slime from stress (they've both suffered from slime disease in the past - when I've been treating the other fish in their tank)? Or what? I don't have room to separate them again.

Malc, by the way has three feelers, not two. I thought one feeler was split and it would heal but 18 months later he still has three. Is that common?

See pic - where they're squaring up for some intensive "kissing"

 

[sylvia]

Three feelers lol - how weird I've never seen that before except in injured fish so I'd assume it's quite uncommon.

Is your picture recent? If so, it doesn't look like you have too much to worry about. Both fish look quite healthy. If Malc is looking skinny, it's probably just down to him not eating as much due to Minnie's aggression. However, I assume there's been no sign of white or stringy poo from Malc right? That could be a sign that he has parasites.

Actualy, Minnie being more aggressive is quite unusual in itself but is probably down to her having been established in this tank for so long. The only thing I can suggest, besides isolating Minnie for a while, would be to re-arange your tank, perhaps try increasing water flow in the tank just a tad (to put her off), adding some more hiding places for Malc, perhaps a few more floating plants to encourage him to act more like a male and set up a territory and - perhaps the most obvious thing - try feeding your fish smaller amounts but more often and feeding at opposite ends so that both gouramies have a chance to feed. You may also want to try feeding something more substantial than just flake (if you're not already) to help Malc re-gain his weight.

Oh and, BTW, the kissing behaviour is indeed agressive and, if you are seeing white marks on their mouths, there's a danger that this might be bacterial or fungal - as a result of their injuries becoming infected. Try some of things I suggested to discourage the aggression and, as long as it isn't getting worse, they should recover. However, at the first sign of the 'white' becoming more intense, treat with an anti fungus and finrot med. (as these infections are usualy caused by the same stuff ).

If you had another tank I might have suggested getting a couple more females (provided this tank is large enough) and growing them to the same size as these two. You see, like with most gourami species, the more you have the less aggression you see because it's all devided amongst the individual fish so that no single one recieves all the attention. With goruamies, it's always generaly a bad idea to keep them in pairs because the more dominant bullies the other. You are lucky you have pearls as the issue is less severe with them - if you had had something like three-spots, one might now have been in serious danger of being killed over-night.

Good luck with them anyway - I hope you find a way to sort things out between them soon

 

[Majjie]

Sylvia

Thanks very much for all that info. The pic was taken about ten days ago, when the kissing was in full swing but Min has got more aggressive since then. There's no stringy poo though and, apart from the mouths and Malc being skinny, they do both look healthy.

I do feed frozen brine shrimp - which Malc likes (Min spits them out) and live daphnia but neither seem to like these (the guppies in the same tank adore them). They both love dried food of any sort - but as soon as Min sees Malc at the surface she tries to chase him off. I'll try some sinking food (the guppies will track down any they don't eat)

I'll keep an eye on the mouths and will try re-arranging the tank. I could also squeeze in one young female (with the platys I have in another tank) and transfer her in with Min and Malc when she gets a bit bigger. Would one more be enough?

 

[sylvia]

Yes, one more would help but you have to take care when adding her because both the other two will become aggressive towards her - you'll need to do more tank re-aranging then when you add her and/or buy one that is larger than either Malc or Min currently (if you can find an adult one and Malc/Min are not yet fully grown) as they won't be as aggressive towards her then.

If you can manage to add two at once, that is better than adding just one simply because there won't be just one 'intruder' for Malc and Min to target.

Anyway, try re-aranging the tank a bit before you try adding any more gouramies and, perhaps, if the platy tank has enough room, take Min out for a while and move her back in after a few days - Malc may have managed to re-claim the tank by then and that may well solve the problem. And feeding more sinking foods is a good idea - most of my gouramies will search for food off the bottom anyway so I wouldn't worry too much about leftovers even if the guppies were not there.

 

[Majjie]

Thanks Sylvia. I'll try that

 

[Rafael Dilone]

I have two pearl gouramies(two females) in a 10 gallon tank. They normally go around in circles and bite on each others pectoral fins. When they do this they seem to loose there black spots. I think this is aggresion. I have seperated them before. But they later do this again after they have been seperated. But these days they usually dont do it. Anyone knows why they may be doing this?

 

[diburning]

I have two pearl gouramies(two females) in a 10 gallon tank. They normally go around in circles and bite on each others pectoral fins. When they do this they seem to loose there black spots. I think this is aggresion. I have seperated them before. But they later do this again after they have been seperated. But these days they usually dont do it. Anyone knows why they may be doing this?

its gourami nature

you shouldn't keep more than 1 gourami in a 10 gallon because they grow to 8-10 inches

 

[Rafael Dilone]

I have two pearl gouramies(two females) in a 10 gallon tank. They normally go around in circles and bite on each others pectoral fins. When they do this they seem to loose there black spots. I think this is aggresion. I have seperated them before. But they later do this again after they have been seperated. But these days they usually dont do it. Anyone knows why they may be doing this?

its gourami nature

you shouldn't keep more than 1 gourami in a 10 gallon because they grow to 8-10 inches

My gouramies are very small. They are only 3 inches. When they grow big I am going to give them away, sell them, or move to a bigger tank.

 

[sylvia]

Pearls grow to about 4-5" but the problem with keeping them in a 10 gallon is not their size. The behaviour you've been seeing is aggression and their losing their black spots is indicative of stress. Fish that are stressed are also prone to disease. A small tank also means that conditions can fluctuate easily (eg: heat loss results in a decrease in temp.) and this can also make fish mroe susceptible to disease. Luckily, pearls are quite a hardy species but they will now be nearing maturity and you should either return them or get a larger tank before they stress each other to the point where they catch a bacterial infection. The problem is not so much the hierarchical aggression you are seeing itself (it tends to be relatively mild amongst female pearls) but the fact that the subordinate gourami has nowhere to hide. In a larger tank, she would be able to escape the attention of the dominant fish. Note, also, that if one were to become ill, the rest of the fish in the tank would also be exposed to the disease and would far more likely to catch it than before. Pearl gouramies are not suitable for 10 gallon tanks unless they are single males (as males set up a small territory and tend to move around less and do fine entirely alone). They need room to establish a territory, maintain hierarchy and to swim around - the size they actualy grow to is entirely irrelevant in this case.