IDIOT honey gourami

I have 2 honey gouramis a female, who is bigger and stronger than my male, but quite good natured and leaves him alone as long as he leaves her alone, the problem is he DOESN'T leave her alone, as soon as I run on the light unless there's food in the tank to keep him occupied he IMMEDIATELY goes to try to pick a fight with her and he ALWAYS loses and ends up being the one with a torn up tail at the end. Is this a dominance thing? Is he just annoyed that he used to be able to just chase her around and she'd just let him and now she finally stood up for herself but he wants to be the Alfa? He keeps picking fights and getting beat up I'd prefer not to have to separate them but am worried I'll have to, I'm honestly surprised he doesn't just sink to the bottom he's so dense. Any ideas?

 

What size tank is it? I have noticed that my male homey gourami is EXTREMELY territorial. He needs his entire corner of the 20 gal tank, and sometimes the whole half of the tank. If a female (I have two) ventures into the corner he will chase them out very aggressively, but does not fin nip. If the girls stay out of his corner he is very peaceful. Does your male have enough area to establish a decent territory and also have room for the girl?

 

What size tank is it? I have noticed that my male homey gourami is EXTREMELY territorial. He needs his entire corner of the 20 gal tank, and sometimes the whole half of the tank. If a female (I have two) ventures into the corner he will chase them out very aggressively, but does not fin nip. If the girls stay out of his corner he is very peaceful. Does your male have enough area to establish a decent territory and also have room for the girl?

It's a 20 gallon tall, 24x12xi don't know exactly how tall it is probably 18 or something inches , and he's fine with her in his space as long as she lets him be the Alfa and chase her around, but you see he wants the tank all to himself, but she doesn't really care about dominance she just minds her own business, not avoiding him but no chasing him either, until he tries to pick a fight/chase her around and then she just bites him on the tale and now it's all torn up but he keeps going after her. I'm starting to consider just moving him to a 5 gallon tank where he will have no one to fight and then just get a couple more female honeys for the 20 and have it be an all females tank for them.

 

It's a 20 gallon tall, 24x12xi don't know exactly how tall it is probably 18 or something inches , and he's fine with her in his space as long as she lets him be the Alfa and chase her around, but you see he wants the tank all to himself, but she doesn't really care about dominance she just minds her own business, not avoiding him but no chasing him either, until he tries to pick a fight/chase her around and then she just bites him on the tale and now it's all torn up but he keeps going after her. I'm starting to consider just moving him to a 5 gallon tank where he will have no one to fight and then just get a couple more female honeys for the 20 and have it be an all females tank for them.

Honeys cannot be kept in a 5 gallon they need a 10 gal for one, minimum. Do you have any plants? Male honeys really like floating plants. Mine has a nice corner full of floating plants and tall rotala coins. I have a piece of driftwood set up right in the middle of the tank and he uses it to “mark” the end of his territory. I think using decorations to help them set up territories is very helpful. It breaks up their line of sight so they can’t actively defend the entire tank.

It was extremely difficult for me to find real honey gourami fish. Most of them now are mixed with dwarf gouramis. Do you 100% know this is a pair of honeys? Sometimes even the LFS labels them wrong, so don’t trust the store. If you want to double check you can add some pictures and I can try to check for you Dwarf mixes are very aggressive fish.

 

It's actually a Thick Lipped Gourami(saw picture on another thread)
They're a little more aggressive and get bigger. A 20 tall is on the small side for these and ideally you'd keep them in a group.

 

It's actually a Thick Lipped Gourami(saw picture on another thread)
They're a little more aggressive and get bigger. A 20 tall is on the small side for these and ideally you'd keep them in a group.

I had a feeling it wasn’t a honey!

 

The one with a torn fin also looks like a female.

 

Following this thread and thought this was weird. My honey gouramis are like docile cows. Glad to hear you got a proper ID for your gourami. My poor honey male is the last of a group of 8 and he is lonely by himself.

 

Following this thread and thought this was weird. My honey gouramis are like docile cows. Glad to hear you got a proper ID for your gourami. My poor honey male is the last of a group of 8 and he is lonely by himself.

They are very social creatures. I love watching them touch each other with their little feeler things. I can’t imagine keeping one alone

 

Are you SURE this is a thick lipped gourami and not a honey gourami? I'll post some more pics to make sure

 

They are very social creatures. I love watching them touch each other with their little feeler things. I can’t imagine keeping one alone

I love them too - but my females all got egg bound and died (or humanely euthanized). I'm going to get some more honey gourami companions for him, but I sure would like to know how to prevent this problem in the future.

 

I love them too - but my females all got egg bound and died (or humanely euthanized). I'm going to get some more honey gourami companions for him, but I sure would like to know how to prevent this problem in the future.

What is egg bound?

 

What is egg bound?

Egg bound is when an egg-laying animal (or fish) cannot get the egg out of the tube, it gets stuck. They die from the eggs not being able to pass. I'm not really sure how to prevent it, I have dealt with it often in my vet tech career for chickens and ducks. I would think something to do with the genetics / the way the anatomy formed. Probably would just buy from a different vendor next time.

As for those images, they are way too blurry and the light is causing the fish to look like a blurry white blob. I can't tell based on these pics what kind of gourami it is.

Edit: the coloring and rounded fins do look like you have two females though.

 

What is egg bound?

Egg binding is when The females cannot release their eggs for some reason. Some people suggest manual stripping, but in my case, it didn't work. Neither did epsom salt baths. When this happens in birds, liquid calcium is the prescription. So I'm going to try keeping my honey gourami tank dosed with liquid calcium to see if I can prevent this problem in the future.

(edit) I am definitely open to others suggestions on this matter!

Egg bound is when an egg-laying animal (or fish) cannot get the egg out of the tube, it gets stuck. They die from the eggs not being able to pass. I'm not really sure how to prevent it, I have dealt with it often in my vet tech career for chickens and ducks. I would think something to do with the genetics / the way the anatomy formed. Probably would just buy from a different vendor next time.

As for those images, they are way too blurry and the light is causing the fish to look like a blurry white blob. I can't tell based on these pics what kind of gourami it is.

Edit: the coloring and rounded fins do look like you have two females though.

did you use calcium for the chickens and ducks? I only have experience with canaries

 

Could you try and get a clear picture? (I know how difficult it can be).
I'm usually good at identifying Gourami, although I keep doubting myself. If that tail is always a white colour it's a Thick Lipped.
Here's a picture of one of mine....

 

Could you try and get a clear picture? (I know how difficult it can be).
I'm usually good at identifying Gourami, although I keep doubting myself. If that tail is always a white colour it's a Thick Lipped.
Here's a picture of one of mine....
View attachment 719804

Maybe also post a pic of the aggressor?

 

Egg bound is when an egg-laying animal (or fish) cannot get the egg out of the tube, it gets stuck. They die from the eggs not being able to pass. I'm not really sure how to prevent it, I have dealt with it often in my vet tech career for chickens and ducks. I would think something to do with the genetics / the way the anatomy formed. Probably would just buy from a different vendor next time.

As for those images, they are way too blurry and the light is causing the fish to look like a blurry white blob. I can't tell based on these pics what kind of gourami it is.

Since FishLore doesn't support video I will upload a YouTube video to and put a link. This video is from before he decided to be a jerk and they got along fine.

Maybe also post a pic of the aggressor?

The one with the ripped tail IS the aggressor the other gourami only fights back when this one attacks it my other gourami just happens to be stronger than this one.

Guys here's the video

 

Definitely NOT honey gouramis. That’s why you are having aggression issues. Looks like two females to me but I’m not sure if other gouramis have a different way to sex (I only have honey gourami)

did you use calcium for the chickens and ducks? I only have experience with canaries

I’m not sure what the vets used I’m sorry i didn’t work with exotics for long and most people opted for euthanasia instead of treatment since they’re farm animals. But adding calcium to the water column doesn’t hurt, especially if you have snails! Just make sure to watch your kh and ph so they don’t get too high.

 

Definitely NOT honey gouramis. That’s why you are having aggression issues. Looks like two females to me but I’m not sure if other gouramis have a different way to sex (I only have honey gourami)



I’m not sure what the vets used I’m sorry i didn’t work with exotics for long and most people opted for euthanasia instead of treatment since they’re farm animals. But adding calcium to the water column doesn’t hurt, especially if you have snails! Just make sure to watch your kh and ph so they don’t get too high.

So the orange fish isn't a honey gourami? I'm 100% sure the yellow one is a honey gourami though, it looks very much like a honey gourami although I guess the orange one is I thick lipped apparently.

 

Guys here's the video

The Orange one is a Thick Lipped, the other is a Honey

 

So the orange fish isn't a honey gourami? I'm 100% sure the yellow one is a honey gourami though, it looks very much like a honey gourami although I guess the orange one is I thick lipped apparently.

The first one (orange) is a thick lipped and the second (yellow) is a honey dwarf mix. You can tell because of the white tail fin. Let me post you the video of my 100% honeys.

Here's the video. My male is very obvious as his tail is a nice bright orange. The two females are completely yellow.

 

The first one (orange) is a thick lipped and the second (yellow) is a honey dwarf mix. You can tell because of the white tail fin. Let me post you the video of my 100% honeys.

The second is just a "Gold" Honey

 

So the yellow one, the real honey, i think it's female but want to check, what sex is it? just to be sure as i'm pretty bad at sexing fish.

 

I’m pretty sure it’s a female

 

Female

 

Definitely NOT honey gouramis. That’s why you are having aggression issues. Looks like two females to me but I’m not sure if other gouramis have a different way to sex (I only have honey gourami)



I’m not sure what the vets used I’m sorry i didn’t work with exotics for long and most people opted for euthanasia instead of treatment since they’re farm animals. But adding calcium to the water column doesn’t hurt, especially if you have snails! Just make sure to watch your kh and ph so they don’t get too high.

Thank you - this is good advice!