Shy Dwarf Gourami?

It’s been just over 2 weeks since i got my new babies into my tank. They all look amazing and are doing very well healthwise.

That being said, these past couple days i’ve noticed my very small blue dwarf gourami has been hiding. I have 2 powder blue dwarf gourami, one is adult and full size, and then i have Squirt, who i’ll assume is very young still because he is currently similar in size to my black mollies. He usually hides behind my big driftwood or inside the croc skull (picture of tank provided below) and will only come out to say hi when i spot him, or shall i say, when he spots me. I just finished feeding and they all ate plenty of food, including Squirt. He looks and behaves normally when he knows i’m around, he’s swimming actively and isn’t showing any signs of weakness.
I know oftentimes when fish hide it is often due to them being weak because of an illness, but could it be that little Squirt is just shy? I have a hospital tank ready in case of emergency but i’m not quite convinced that it’s necessary unless someone thinks otherwise. I haven’t noticed any aggression from my other fish towards him either, and I’ve been looking very closely because i do have some big opaline gourami as well.
I hope someone can give me an answer! This is a very odd behaviour i’ve never seen in all the years i’ve had fishkeeping. Squirt is very excited to see me, and like i said, hides whenever he can’t see me. Just looking for an alternate opinion here!
Below i’ve provided a picture of the tank, Squirt, and a size comparison between him and my adult blue gourami.

 

Are they both male Dwarf GouramI?

If so, I’m guessing the problem is stress from having more than 1 in the same tank. The smaller one is likely being bullied.

What size tank?

 

Did I read right that you have two dwarfs and multiple opalines? Agree with dunk on this one and would also be curious as to tank size. The smaller fish doesn't always have a good outcome in those circumstances. The tank doesn't look big enough to support that many gourami. Lovely fish though.

 

Yep. As stated above. Not a lot of cover either. Nice looking fish though.

Night time is the worst, you’d be surprised how crazy some fish can get. He could be getting bullied big time at night.

 

Yep. As stated above. Not a lot of cover either. Nice looking fish though.

Night time is the worst, you’d be surprised how crazy some fish can get. He could be getting bullied big time at night.

Thanks for the input everyone. It’s a 50 gallon tank and i only have 4 gourami total, 13 fish altogether. (sorry, wasn’t clear before on the amount of gourami) Not too many for the size of the tank, but it likely does look smaller in the picture because it’s a bowfront. Just went to check on them again (it’s 11pm and dark) they seem fine and the little gourami was out and about swimming with the big blue gourami! Both opalines are female, not sure about the big blue dwarf though.
It could just be circumstantial that i catch Squirt in hiding spots. I may transfer him until he grows a bit, but he isn’t showing typical signs of stress that many of my previous other fish have in my experience, he eats like crazy for such a little guy.
Nonetheless, I appreciate everybody’s replies! Helps a lot, thank you! I’m considering isolating Squirt the more i read over your posts, just in case it is a weird sign of stress.
Is there any way to tell between male and female dwarf gourami?
I might add that when they don’t see me, the gourami are very peaceful. they like to nibble at bits of leftover food on the driftwood. I’m very doubtful that there’s any aggression, but i am aware that 2 male gourami can cause issues.

 

Morning update: Turned the light on and he’s still out swimming. Spent about 45 minutes standing far away from the tank observing any possible aggression. I’ll continue to do this in random periods during the day and night to check, but so far so good. No bullying detected.
In a previous batch of fish i had only 2 dwarf gourami and I was still fairly inexperienced so I had no idea about the male-male aggression. Both gourami were beautiful colours and got along well, they ended up living their full lifespan.
I’m going to assume, although still young, that Squirt is a female. He/she is much more silvery than the adult, who i’m thinking is male due to the long pointed dorsal fin and much brighter colour. Squirt’s fin is also looking curved so far, but still hard to tell considering he/she is still so young. Will continue to update if anything changes.
I may have posted too early about this, I could have just caught him (or... her?) in hiding spots completely circumstantial.
Here’s the adult dwarf.
The same adult is my profile picture which actually shows his colours better.

 

Hi everyone,
I’m returning back to this thread because the little guy is hiding out again. My big blue gourami has recently passed from DGD a week ago. he was quarantined, but there’s still the concern of the disease reaching the little dwarf.
He’s the only other dwarf I have, and the other gourami are 2 pearl gourami (not opaline as i said earlier, oops. I’m new to keeping these gourami), who are not susceptible to DGD.
So far the little dwarf hasn’t shown any common signs of the disease, but i know dwarf gourami typically like to swim at the surface due to their useful labyrinth organ. My pearls are frequently swimming at the top. This little guy is staying and hiding at the bottom just as he did while the big dwarf was alive, but he still swims around occasionally and does show himself to the front of the tank at times.
I’ll note that i have yet to see any aggression in the fish.
Water parameters are optimal. I’m not sure if this is stress or something different.
What should i do?

 

Nothing. I have the same fish in a 55 gallon peaceful community tank as the only gourami and he spends almost all of his time in the bottom third of the tank. Pearl gouramis are peaceful but they are likely the more dominant fish and the dwarf knows his place. As has been mentioned, this is reasonable behavior when gouramis are mixed. It's usually not advised but I've done it and so have others. Adding some more cover might allow him to feel more comfortable. As long as he is swimming and eating normally I don't see a reason for concern. Although with the virus you may see no symptoms, unfortunately. Having lost a couple in the past few years to the disease it's frustrating to find a pristine tank and a fish lying unexpectedly on the bottom. Hopefully, that does not happen here.

 

Nothing. I have the same fish in a 55 gallon peaceful community tank as the only gourami and he spends almost all of his time in the bottom third of the tank. Pearl gouramis are peaceful but they are likely the more dominant fish and the dwarf knows his place. As has been mentioned, this is reasonable behavior when gouramis are mixed. It's usually not advised but I've done it and so have others. Adding some more cover might allow him to feel more comfortable. As long as he is swimming and eating normally I don't see a reason for concern. Although with the virus you may see no symptoms, unfortunately. Having lost a couple in the past few years to the disease it's frustrating to find a pristine tank and a fish lying unexpectedly on the bottom. Hopefully, that does not happen here.

Thanks for the reply. This is good to hear. I’ve never had problems with having several gourami in a tank, except for this little dude so this feedback helps plenty.
I’m planning on getting some live floating plants at the same time as i get my betta in the near future, since gouramis tend to love them and the coverage they provide. I’ve never had live planted plants before, i’ve stuck to plastic but have heard so many times that live plants are the way to go. I may start planting some live plants among the plastic ones unless that’s not recommended. But live floating plants are a for sure thing i plan on getting for my tank.

 

Floating plants (hornwort, frog bit) are a fantastic idea. If you'd prefer you can purchase driftwood with ferns or anubias already attached...may have them where you purchase your fish. If not, the aforementioned plants or jungle val are easy for those of us without green thumbs. You could also just add another ornamental structure or two to give your fish some shelter. Whatever works! Good luck.

 

I like Water Sprite as a floating plant. It's easy and fast growing and all the roots hanging down provide additional cover for small fish to hide amongst. Btw I'm pretty sure Squirt is male. I don't know a lot about Gouramis but AFAIK female Dwarfs are plain silver without any colour.

 

Floating plants (hornwort, frog bit) are a fantastic idea. If you'd prefer you can purchase driftwood with ferns or anubias already attached...may have them where you purchase your fish. If not, the aforementioned plants or jungle val are easy for those of us without green thumbs. You could also just add another ornamental structure or two to give your fish some shelter. Whatever works! Good luck.

I’ll keep the plants you mentioned in mind! I definitely would purchase driftwood if i didn’t already have (what i think is fake since it’s off the shelf at pet smart) a “driftwood” that takes up a lot of my tank at the bottom. it’s got plastic plants sticking out of them and is constantly covered in algae which my black mollies, pleco and red tailed shark love. I don’t have any room for it anywhere else lol!
Thanks so much

 

I like Water Sprite as a floating plant. It's easy and fast growing and all the roots hanging down provide additional cover for small fish to hide amongst. Btw I'm pretty sure Squirt is male. I don't know a lot about Gouramis but AFAIK female Dwarfs are plain silver without any colour.

I think this might be a female actually. The powder blues are the exception to that rule and have very similar colouring to the males. It's more subdued colouring and faint colouring in the fins as well as size of finage would to me sugest it is a female.

 

I like Water Sprite as a floating plant. It's easy and fast growing and all the roots hanging down provide additional cover for small fish to hide amongst. Btw I'm pretty sure Squirt is male. I don't know a lot about Gouramis but AFAIK female Dwarfs are plain silver without any colour.

Fair enough. I assumed squirt was female because compared to my late adult powder blue dwarf he was a lot less colourful, and more silver than him. I’m still watching his fins develop as he’s still very young and very tiny. Squirt is the cutie of the tank!
Btw thanks for the plant suggestion!
her* i guess not him^^

 

Fair enough. I assumed squirt was female because compared to my late adult powder blue dwarf he was a lot less colourful, and more silver than him. I’m still watching his fins develop as he’s still very young and very tiny. Squirt is the cutie of the tank!
Btw thanks for the plant suggestion!
her* i guess not him^^

Yep I defer to jinjerJOSH22 in that matter, it seems that I have a bit more to learn about gouramis.