A dwarf gourami question...

[hevvyc]

Hi guys,
I have a female cobalt blue gourami and a new male dwarf (standard type blue with red stripes) in a 30 gallon with 8 neons.
The female was glass surfing as she was alone in there with just shrimp, so I added company which I intended to do anyway.
The male started making a bubble nest within 24 hours, whereas she mostly looks for food and occasionally blows bubbles.
He flares chases and chases her when she goes on his side of the tank, which I feel bad about. She doesn't seem very deterred though, she always goes back and gets chased again, but I don't want her to get stressed.
I also had someone inform me that she could actually be a he, as she is very bright blue. However her fin is round and she has a big round belly. She doesn't really look like the male.
However, she has stopped glass surfing and is acting like a normal fish which is great to see. Whether this is because of him or the neons I don't know.
I wonder if she is really a boy or maybe her bright colours are fooling him and he think's she a boy.
I don't like to see the chasing though, I was thinking of adding two females to see if that would help. And I'm also getting 12 more neons on Friday.
What do you guys think? I've attached a picture of her, and my tank so you can see.
Thanks , Heather

I was thinking of either taking him back to my LFS and adding two females.

I'm getting more neons at the weekend.

 

[Noroomforshoe]

Welcome to Fishlore!, you have a beautiful tank and fish!

Gourami are schooling fish, you should keep 6 or more. If you do not want to see any chasing, keep only females, chances are there will still be a little chasing, especially at first, but if you are lucky, not as bad.

 

[ProudPapa]

Welcome to Fishlore!, you have a beautiful tank and fish!

Gourami are schooling fish, you should keep 6 or more. If you do not want to see any chasing, keep only females, chances are there will still be a little chasing, especially at first, but if you are lucky, not as bad.

Other gourami species, like pearl gouramis and honey gouramis, are social fish and benefit from being in groups, but they aren't schooling fish. Dwarf gouramis aren't social fish, and keeping them in groups rarely ends well.

See My thoughts on Dwarf Gourami/Trichogaster Lalius for more information on dwarf gourami temperament (and health issues). It was written by jinjerJOSH22, one of our resident gourami experts, and long-time gourami keeper.

 

[hevvyc]

Other gourami species, like pearl gouramis and honey gouramis, are social fish and benefit from being in groups, but they aren't schooling fish. Dwarf gouramis aren't social fish, and keeping them in groups rarely ends well.

See My thoughts on Dwarf Gourami/Trichogaster Lalius for more information on dwarf gourami temperament (and health issues). It was written by jinjerJOSH22, one of our resident gourami experts, and long-time gourami keeper.

I did have a read of that, very helpful - thank you. Would it be okay to just keep one with other community fish?

Welcome to Fishlore!, you have a beautiful tank and fish!

Gourami are schooling fish, you should keep 6 or more. If you do not want to see any chasing, keep only females, chances are there will still be a little chasing, especially at first, but if you are lucky, not as bad.

Okay, maybe I will give the male back then. I'm thinking of just keeping the one with other community fish, what do you think? Maybe I could get some females if 'she's' still not happy.
Also thanks for your comment and compliments on the tank.

 

[Noroomforshoe]

This is a tough situation . If you keep only one will it go back to glass surfing? If you add more will they not function as a group like Proudpapa said? If you keep them as they are then they continue to tale chase a little which could lead to injuries. I can't tell you what to do. forget what i saidbefore and Dont add more! Now you have 2 choices instead of 3.
what size is your tank btw?

 

[hevvyc]

This is a tough situation . If you keep only one will it go back to glass surfing? If you add more will they not function as a group like Proudpapa said? If you keep them as they are then they continue to tale chase a little which could lead to injuries. I can't tell you what to do. forget what i saidbefore and Dont add more! Now you have 2 choices instead of 3.
what size is your tank btw

Yeah, that's the thing, it might do and just want her to be content. I was thinking of removing the male and putting him in a bucket for a while to find out. I'm getting more neons and maybe platies soon too so she would have other species around. My tank is 135 litres.(35 US gallons)

 

[ProudPapa]

I did have a read of that, very helpful - thank you. Would it be okay to just keep one with other community fish?

I wouldn't, but you might get lucky. I would recommend keeping a close eye on the tank and have a backup plan if it doesn't work.

 

[hevvyc]

I've now seperated the male and temporarily put him in a bucket. My 'female' has been blowing bubbles so I think she could actually be a very girly looking boy. However she's gone back to pacing and glass surfing since I removed him so I really don't know what to do.

I wouldn't, but you might get lucky. I would recommend keeping a close eye on the tank and have a backup plan if it doesn't work.

I wouldn't, but you might get lucky. I would recommend keeping a close eye on the tank and have a backup plan if it doesn't work.

I think I will take the new male back to my LFS so there would only be the one in there, and then try one o two females. I'm also going to add more tetras. If that doesn't work then I will have to keep it without the same species and just community fish. I don't know what else to do.
UPDATE: I took the male back to the shop and bought 4 platies.
The remaining gourami doesn't seem interested in them at all, not trying to attack the bag like they did with the male. It seems happy picking about and blowing bubbles and no excessive glass surfing ATM which is brilliant to see. So maybe they feel secure enough now with more fish in the tank.
The article posted and this experience has taught me a lot about dwarf gourami and their temperament, I think they are difficult fish to keep, much like their cousin the betta they aren't very nice to eachother.

 

[hevvyc]

Nope back to glass surfing since I took the male out and now I feel bad like I've done the wrong thing by taking him out., but he was chasing her whenever she went near him. Someone told me their gourami had been killed after 4 days so I didn't want to risk it. The platies didn't make any difference but I really like their colours.

 

[jinjerJOSH22]

Hello, how long have you had this fish?
I wouldn't worry about it too much. So long as he eats and looks healthy enough it should be fine. It would likely of ended much, much worse otherwise.

 

[Noroomforshoe]

I wonder wat would happen if you tried adding a mirror to the outstide of the tank?

 

[DoubleDutch]

You've got you two males, so not that strange they'll chase and fight.

 

[hevvyc]

Hello, how long have you had this fish?
I wouldn't worry about it too much. So long as he eats and looks healthy enough it should be fine. It would likely of ended much, much worse otherwise.

Thank you for about 2 weeks now. He is the picture of good health, loves his food - I've woke up this morning and he's doing fine no glass surfing so perhaps he just needed to get used to his new tankmates. I ordered 3 females as I worried he needed his own kind but I might cancel them tonight if he's still behaving normally.

I wonder wat would happen if you tried adding a mirror to the outstide of the tank?

It's funny you say that, as when you look inside the tank, the sides look reflective. and when I added the platies they also occasionally glass surf as if they are chasing their reflection. My water is perfect so I know it isn't to do with that.

You've got you two males, so not that strange they'll chase and fight.

Thank you, others were saying female, and I believed so too after seeing this webpage - Cobalt Blue Dwarf Gourami Female as they look almost identical.
But now I wasn't so sure, so thank you for confirming.
No glass surfing yet he's so happy! I'm really pleased to see him chilled out and loving life. There's only 8 tetras in there so I didn't think they'd break off but they're all comfortable swimming on their own now. And the platies are doing fine too. Will keep an eye anyway. Soooooo pleased.