Is it common for a female blue gourami to be more aggressive to a larger male?

Is it common for a female blue gourami to be more aggressive to a larger male (who is quite calm) esp during feeding?

Below is a picture of the bossy gluttonous gal.

I was just thinking ... I recently lost my smallest female. She was quite smaller then the others and the bearer of some abuse. Now there is only 2 females, 1 male. Would it be worthwhile to add more larger females... To disperse to aggression, or would I poss just be adding more aggression?! Any ideas to help my nervous male? He's the one I really care about, and want to see happy.

 

jinjerJOSH22?

 

I was just thinking ... I recently lost my smallest female. She was quite smaller then the others and the bearer of some abuse. Now there is only 2 females, 1 male. Would it be worthwhile to add more larger females... To disperse to aggression, or would I poss just be adding more aggression?! Any ideas to help my nervous male? He's the one I really care about, and want to see happy.

Hi, Females can be just as aggressive as males, so it can happen especially if your male is on the calmer side. Whether or not it’s common I couldn’t say, but males are usually the more dominant fish in my experience

I think it would be a good idea to add one or two more females.

 

Is the male younger ?

 

They can vary quite a lot in temperament. If I had an aggressive fish that I was keeping, I wouldn't add any more of that species.

This goes for Angels too which can behave similarly.

I keep both species singly now, it saves a lot of hassle and the fish thrive.

 

Is the male younger ?

No, older. Much bigger. I got him August last year. I'm not sure if he's past mating or just not interested in the girls I got. He was building bubble nests about a year ago (nov-aprilish) then slowly stopped and became withdrawn/ hiding/ nervous/ stressed before the summer.. Adding the females late july helped him come out of hiding, but within past 2-3 days I've noticed him glass surfing and opening his mouth wide. I thought it might be water quality. I tested, did water change, checked filter. But then I noticed last night after I put in a piece of broccoli in for the snails the female was attacking the other 2 over the food. And she's been doing that (hoarding) with the algae wafers... So it may just be a bully thing.?!?

They can vary quite a lot in temperament. If I had an aggressive fish that I was keeping, I wouldn't add any more of that species.

This goes for Angels too which can behave similarly.

I keep both species singly now, it saves a lot of hassle and the fish thrive.

Tried that. He was solo for about 6 mths. I also didn't want the stress for him of other semi- aggressive fish, and he became super nervous. Sitting in a corner, then darting around the tank when we'd walk by, then hiding from me constantly. I added 10 Rasboras, did nothing for his behavior. Once I added the 3 Gouramis things dramatically improved. But the largest female was always aggressive, and then I lost 1 of the 3 females, which might be amplifying her aggression towards the others. So that why I mentioned getting some larger females. My male stepped up at first (was more territorial, etc) when I added them, but now he's slowly letting her turn into the boss.

 

No, older. Much bigger. I got him August last year. I'm not sure if he's past mating or just not interested in the girls I got. He was building bubble nests about a year ago (nov-aprilish) then slowly stopped and became withdrawn/ hiding/ nervous/ stressed before the summer.. Adding the females late july helped him come out of hiding, but within past 2-3 days I've noticed him glass surfing and opening his mouth wide. I thought it might be water quality. I tested, did water change, checked filter. But then I noticed last night after I put in a piece of broccoli in for the snails the female was attacking the other 2 over the food. And she's been doing that (hoarding) with the algae wafers... So it may just be a bully thing.?!?

I had this issue with my Pearls(food aggression), I ended up just feeding at two spots in the tank(algae wafer, food tab) either use two or break one in half. It just kinda fixed itself after some time they just started eating together.

Sorry you lost your young girl.

 

Thank you, I was super sad to lose her. She was so sweet and such a fighter ( she really tried to carry her weight).

 

. But then I noticed last night after I put in a piece of broccoli in for the snails the female was attacking the other 2 over the food. And she's been doing that (hoarding) with the algae wafers... So it may just be a bully thing.?!?

Are algae wafers primarily what you are feeding them or is there some variation in the diet? Just wondering if some of the aggression could be hunger-related.

 

I had this issue with my Pearls(food aggression), I ended up just feeding at two spots in the tank(algae wafer, food tab) either use two or break one in half. It just kinda fixed itself after some time they just started eating together.

Sorry you lost your young girl.

I think the biggest issue is the food sitting at the bottom for the snails. Lol When I do pellets there is no fighting. And when i add wafers I do break it up, but they find it all before the snails get to it and then are super bloated the next day (so then I skip feeding them, which might be making them more aggressive w food). Maybe I'll just move the snails back to my 15 and add more gouramis. I want to add pearls SO BAD. Thoughts?!

Are algae wafers primarily what you are feeding them or is there some variation in the diet? Just wondering if some of the aggression could be hunger-related.

Poss. It's a feeding mess. See comment to jingerjosh. I feed them pellets, but I have snails, so then they eat the wafers I try to feed them, and they end up super bloated in the morning. Then I wait for them to poop it out and look healthy again... And then I feed them pellets, they're eating the zucchini, broccoli, wafers, anything for snails. I think I'll move snails, cause the variety of food and overindulging is def a problem.

 

I think the biggest issue is the food sitting at the bottom for the snails. Lol When I do pellets there is no fighting. And when i add wafers I do break it up, but they find it all before the snails get to it and then are super bloated the next day (so then I skip feeding them, which might be making them more aggressive w food). Maybe I'll just move the snails back to my 15 and add more gouramis. I want to add pearls SO BAD. Thoughts?!

Might be a good idea to move the snails if you're have that kind of issue, I also had issues feeding my more shy catfish with Three Spots around and ended up separating them.

I'd say just keep Three Spots, I've kept both together for a few months and they did well, but they(Pearls) did better away from the more boisterous Three Spots.

 

Might be a good idea to move the snails if you're have that kind of issue, I also had issues feeding my more shy catfish with Three Spots around and ended up separating them.

I'd say just keep Three Spots, I've kept both together for a few months and they did well, but they(Pearls) did better away from the more boisterous Three Spots.

Thx. Just saw your comment about community keeping from a few mths ago. I always see pics on insta of these gorgeous tanks with a variety of Gourami... But who knows if 'peaceful' is possible or means the same to 2 different hobbiest.

 

Thx. Just saw your comment about community keeping from a few mths ago. I always see pics on insta of these gorgeous tanks with a variety of Gourami... But who knows if 'peaceful' is possible or means the same to 2 different hobbiest.

It probably means something slightly different to everyone.

So most of my Gourami tanks were/are mixed, even my Three Spot community was mixed, with various species at one point or another. There's species I wouldn't personally wouldn't ever recommend mixing(Dwarf/T.Lalius) and I wouldn't suggest mixing Three Spots either. The forum promotes advice on the side of caution and mixing aggressive species can go very wrong.

It's doable but not advisable and not necessarily good, nor is it necessarily bad for the fish.

A big factor in my opinion for the relative success of my mixed tanks and also where I've had issues, is keeping them mixed but in groups of their own. They'll typically focus their attention on their conspecifics rather than other species and when I've had singles in the community they've had or caused some kind of issue to varying degrees. My Moonlight for example, was quite aggressive to the Pearls when she was on her own in a group of Pearls(and other Gourami) but when I finally got around to setting up my 50 with the idea of keeping both in a group, they lived in peace with each other and she focused her attention on the other Moonlights rather than the Pearls(this was also the case when I added a second Moonlight to the Three Spot community, despite there being 14 other Gourami her attention was focused on the sole other Moonlight).

Now having said all that, I still personally much prefer keeping a single species of Gourami in a tank. They typically don't interact with other species anyway and I think they look better as a species setup.