maddygirrl

Hi everyone,
I bought a blue coral dwarf gourami from the fish shop the other day but he was just moping around sitting on the bottom of the tank but he was still feeding and everything. So i thought he might be lonely so iu went back to the fish shop with plans of getting a female, turns out the females are "too ugly for them to supply", so i asked if a dwarf gourami would be alright with my blue coral and they said they would be fine when i put the dwarf in the tank blue coral was certainly showing some interesting behaviour: he was chasing the dwarf around the tank with his fins flared occasionly nipping the dwarf. Then he would swim on his side next to the dwarf, i've read on the internet that this is typical mating behaviour for gouramies. I'm not sure what to do as the nipping was getting rather aggressive when the dwarf wouldn't cooperate with his beckons. At this moment they are sitting on the bottom of the tank at opersite ends, looking as lonely as ever. Please I desperately need help! I dont want one to be killed.
Thanks in advance!!
P.S. Does anyone know where you can get female coral blue gouramies as i haven't seen any in the local fish shops

sirdarksol

Mating behavior and dominance behavior are often very similar. Chances are the one is trying to show dominance over the other.

As far as getting a female, is your fish store not willing to order one? They're not ugly, they're just not as brightly colorful. If all your fish store is willing to stock is colorful fish, I would be concerned that the place is catering to impulse buys rather than well-informed buys. Such places often have other problems that go with them (ask anybody from North America who's purchased a large number of fish from PetSmart)

capekate

when you have two male Gouramis in the tank, this is how they act. They will challenge each other for dominance of the tank. Hopefully they will not hurt each other and if it gets really bad you may have to separate them.

maddygirrl

Sorry i didn't read that last post
at the moment they are still sulking on the bottom of the tank..miserable
i hope they work out their differences!

sirdarksol

It very well could. Many of the labyrinth fish are very territorial.
I would suggest taking him back and asking them if they can order a female. If they can't you might be able to find one on Aquabid (or on a more local fish site. Many aquabid folks ship world-wide, but it would be more expensive. A local site would have local shipping)