Sexing Opaline Gouramis

[DreamertK]

So I got my 20 gallon tank from the LFS, set it up, let it run for a few days. Obviously I'm a moron and didn't research anything, I just asked for some hardy fish to survive the cycle. The guy gave me two gouramis which I've had for about two weeks now. Over the past two weeks I've been going back and forth over what gender they are, because after I got them I looked into gourami's a bit more and found that males are actually somewhat aggressive. So it was important that I didn't have two males in this little tank. At first I thought they were two females because they were always paling around with each other. And then this week one of them has become the top gourami of the tank, and with this aggression I thought maybe they're both males instead. And now I think one of them is a male and the top gourami is a female based on the shape of their fins. They're still pretty young, but I'd still like to know. Its been extremely hard to tell since they can extend and contract their dorsal fin so that they take on different shapes.

Sorry for the weird colors. I know it's a common question, but each time I look at another thread or another website for answers it changes my mind. I'm putting down my foot on this one!

This one I think is a male. He's pretty chill. He very much likes to hang out and eat everything that'll go into his mouth including algea on plants and the plants themselves (little devil).

This one I think is the sassy mama. She likes to watch me sitting in my chair and chase around the male and do laps at the front of the tank. They're both around the same size though.

Would like your input! Thanks!


If you guys want to know, they're alone in the 20 gal (semi-planted), it's been exactly 78 ever since I set it up even when I do water changes. Dont really feel that it's necessary to get testing equipment, though I do get rid of the chlorine/chloramines in the water before it goes in the tank it's probably harder water while the PH is probably between 6.5-7. I do want to plant it some more though, I just think it needs to fully cycle first.

 

[Essjay]

I can't help with the sex of the guramis, but I am a bit concerned by your comment that you don't feel it necessary to buy a testing kit. How do you know when to do a water change if you can't measure the ammonia or nitrite levels? You should be monitoring them daily and doing as many water changes as needed to stop either of them ever getting above 0.25. Both are toxic, and if they don't kill the fish outright they will significantly shorten their lives.

 

[DreamertK]

I do one or two 10% changes a week. Surely with just two fish that is more than enough, I doubt that frequent small changes are going to affect the fish that much especially when every time the water temp remains the same. Though they do seem to produce a lot of waste, I watch them throughout the day sometimes up to thirty minutes a day and they dont have any signs of stress or waste poisoning in the tank (redness around the gills, hard time breathing, ext). You know, just proper maintenance of the tank and watching the fish for any changes to me feels like it would be enough. If I notice the poor little guys are struggling in the tank and it doesnt get better with more water changes (and its not something serious like swelling or rot or ick), I'll invest in one as some sort of desperate last resort to helping them. It just doesn't feel necessary when I already know the parameters of the water I'm putting in and changing it accordingly.

 

[Tuxyu3]

I can't help with the sex of the guramis, but I am a bit concerned by your comment that you don't feel it necessary to buy a testing kit. How do you know when to do a water change if you can't measure the ammonia or nitrite levels? You should be monitoring them daily and doing as many water changes as needed to stop either of them ever getting above 0.25. Both are toxic, and if they don't kill the fish outright they will significantly shorten their lives.

This.

Water testing kits are necessary at the best of times, never mind a fish-in cycle. As stated how will you know when ammonia levels shoot up? The fish could be dead well before you notice anything is wrong.

 

[DreamertK]

Wouldnt that imply that the tank hadn't cycled at all or had an obscene amount of waste/dying material building up? Is it even possible it could climb so high within a few days without some sort of catastrophe to occur beforehand? Its not like the tank isn't getting any water changes at all here, so even if the tank wasn't cycled an amount of it is being removed each time I do a change.

 

[RichardA]

Appears female to me.

 

[DreamertK]

Appears female to me.

Both or just the second one?

 

[RichardA]

Both

 

[Essjay]

So I got my 20 gallon tank from the LFS, set it up, let it run for a few days. Obviously I'm a moron and didn't research anything, I just asked for some hardy fish to survive the cycle. The guy gave me two gouramis which I've had for about two weeks now.

The filter won't have cycled in just two weeks. It takes more like two months. Letting it run for a few days before getting fish won't have cycled it either. So you are now doing a fish-in cycle, and until you have a test kit for ammonia and nitrite, you should be doing 50% daily water changes.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/224306-fish-in-cycling/

Read this.

 

[DreamertK]

So I got my 20 gallon tank from the LFS, set it up, let it run for a few days. Obviously I'm a moron and didn't research anything, I just asked for some hardy fish to survive the cycle. The guy gave me two gouramis which I've had for about two weeks now.

The filter won't have cycled in just two weeks. It takes more like two months. Letting it run for a few days before getting fish won't have cycled it either. So you are now doing a fish-in cycle, and until you have a test kit for ammonia and nitrite, you should be doing 50% daily water changes.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/224306-fish-in-cycling/

Read this.

Of course I wasnt expecting the tank to be cycled. I wasn't planning on getting new fish for at least 6 weeks, just trading one of them if they were both males for a female. And I was well aware I was doing a fish cycle. I've heard every between that you dont need to clean the tank at all the first month to you have to do major water changes every day until all the readings are 0. Well I definitely dont think that I should wait a month before doing a water change, but I do think that that often of water change is pretty excessive and potentially traumatic to the fish as the water temperatures would be highly fluctuating every day with so much new water even with a heater. I read the thread and there's nothing there I didn't know already. Your suggestion just seems excessive. I would do 10% every day just to not cause harm to the fish, but I just don't see how that much nitrate/ammonium/ext can build up to dangerous levels over the course of 3-4 days with just two fish and nothing crazy happening.

Ok ok, here's what's going on here, I'm saying I don't need a test kit as I know the parameters of the tank and the fish, and your saying yes I do but not telling me why I in particular need one. Not just because of chemical poisoning because I know about that and am taking every precaution I can against it, I mean chemically how are you calculating how often that the ammonium content is rising in my tank versus plant absorption versus the volume of water versus the changes of water? Is it by experience or someone else's research? Do you just think I'm a moron and have already poisoned my fish? The tester is all well and good if you need to know if you're not doing changes enough or want to add more fish, but based on my research it shouldn't be necessary if I'm already doing above and beyond what I should be doing (weekly) and dont want to add more fish at this time. Daily changes should be reserved for very small tanks or disease.

 

[DreamertK]

Both

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Essjay]

Yes, daily water changes are stressful for the fish, but having an ammonia level or a nitrite level above 0.25 is even more stressful. It's a case of the water changes being the lesser of the two evils. You need ammonia and nitrite testing kits to make sure your ammnia and ntrite levels never get above 0.25, and if they do, to tell you when to do a water change and how big it should be. You say you know the parameters of the tank, but how can you know if you aren't checking with a test kit.
The temperature shouldn't fluctuate because of a water change - you should be warming the new water till it matches the water in the tank.


I do 30% water changes every week on my fully cycled, mature tanks.

 

[jcabs100]

First one is male second is female