Will a gourami eat a full grown dead or sick guppy

[SusieJG]

I can't figure out where my poor guppy went! This is the second time this has happened in about a month. In each case I have had an adult guppy (last time male, this time female) showing some signs of exhaustion and hiding one night, although no other visible signs of injury or illness, and the next day the fish is GONE. I mean no body, no bones, nothing. Each time I have checked in the tank very thouroughly and around the area in the unlikely event that the fish managed to jump out of the tank (pretty much impossible because I have a full hood but I check anyway) but there are no signs of ANYTHING. I check the filter, even though it is not large enough to suck up a carcas, but NOTHING.

Other than guppies the only fish I have in the tank are dwarf Gouramis (about 3 inches each). Although neither is very aggressive, they do eat all the baby fish if I don't rescue them first, so I am wondering if they can be the answer to the riddle. It seems unlikely that there would be no bones or anything, and that between the 2 gourami they could fully devour an entire grown fish in under 12 hours, but thats the only thing I can think of. Is this possible?

 

[impur]

You betcha!! Two dwarf gouramis could get rid of a guppies remains in maybe an hour.

 

[Kitt_81]

Ooh boy... okey I didn't know about gouramis eating other fish.... I got 2 blue (3 spot they're called for some reason) gouramis male and female (I think) along with some other fish awhile ago and since then two of my baby neons out of 5 dissapeared without a trace is this what is likely to have happend to them as well?

 

[impur]

If they will fit in the gouramis mouth I wouldn't doubt it in a second. In SusieJG's case, the guppy probably was on its last leg, or fin as it may be , and the gouramis took advantage of that. They most likely just picked at it until there was barely anything left.

3-spot gouramis are much larger and can be quite aggressive IME. I wouldn't put any fish that are small enough to be eaten in with them. They are much slower, so it would take some time before they could catch the little guys, but they will eventually.

 

[Kitt_81]

3-spot gouramis are much larger and can be quite aggressive IME. I wouldn't put any fish that are small enough to be eaten in with them. They are much slower, so it would take some time before they could catch the little guys, but they will eventually.

Heh oh noooo they won't! My oldest tetras are about 12cm long and seem to protect the last remaining ickle one by rounding it up while they move about the tank but to be honest the two I have are pretty peaceful they swim about and mingle with the others without being chasing/going for them besides I'm planning on moving my smaller fish to another tank once it's cycled to avoid any munching from my baby angelfish!

Cheers for that though I'll remember that in future!

Are mine blue, 3spot or Opaline gouramis or are they all the same Also how do you tell if they're male or female I'm presuming the female is the one with less markings? Have I got one of each as I suspect? See pic

 

[Fawke]

One is a blue opaline gourami, and one is a blue 3 spot IMO.

Hence three spots - 1 on tail, 1 in middle and his eye..... = 3 spots.

The other one deffo looks like an Opaline one... (as opposed to 3-spot), but i maybe wrong...... not a great pic....

In both cases-
Females have a more rounded stomach area and a more round dorsal fin.
Males have a more intense colouring, pointed dorsal fin and a larger trelace of an anal fin...
The male is also the builder of the bubble nest.

HTH