Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => General Fishkeeping advice => Topic started by: Woodsie on June 23, 2020, 03:58:00 PM
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HI all, I currently have two 3 spot gourami in a understocked 245 ltr tank.
When I use the community creator it tells me 2 is a bad idea and I should have 1 or at least 5. I don't really want 5 and they seem to get on most of the time.
Now and again there is a bit of lip off as they nudge into other nose to nose but it doesn't seem to bother them nor last long. One or other will dive up and down quickly afterwards but then they settle again.
Do you think it's OK to just have the 2 and if not would it really have to be as many as 5?
I'm not doubting he community creator which seems an excellent tool but wondering if any one has a different experience to share.
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I have no experience with gourami at all and so the following is based more on hunch. However, I've checked the Thinkfish Fish Profiles and also another reputable source https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trichopodus-trichopterus/ and I'm wondering if the theory behind this is due to the tendency for males to squabble. Bearing that in mind, and that these fish are generally not considered good community fish, my inkling would be that sticking to the 2 you have would be preferable than potentially ending up with a large number of males and likely more aggression and also problems for other tank inhabitants. If need be or behaviours change, you can always add at a later stage - but I'd be inclined not to "upset the apple cart" if all's ok most of the time. Other may wish to correct me if they have more knowledge/experience on this.
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3 spots are at the more aggressive end of gourami behaviour. I know that this is a big tank but 2 males will probably come to blows at some point. Even females can be aggressive - i have heard of a female which killed all her tank mates and had to be kept alone. Even a male and female can be trouble if the male wants to breed and the female doesn't.
The usual recommendation for 3 spots in all their coloured varieties is 1 male and at least 2 females. And lots of decor reaching the surface to break up line of sight.
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Is one more dominant than the other? Do you know if they’re male or female? it’s hard to tell from the pictures.
Sue is right, but also peaceful coexistence isn’t unheard of so there’s also something to be said for not upsetting the apple cart.
If they’re not actually fighting, and if one isn’t having to run away from the other one, I’d probably leave them... but there’s always a chance you might have to separate them in the future.
Gouramies are related to Bettas and it’s that kind of “this is my patch” aggression that they have to a lesser degree. Adding a few more would crowd them, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.
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Thanks all, again. I think they are both females. One bothers the other slightly more than the other way round but it's not a constant thing and they spend most of their time quite happily close together behind a plant or ornament. I'll leave well alone for now and see how it goes. I'm a bit worried about how they'll react to anything similar I bring in like the, recommended rainbow fish but I'll cross that bridge when i come to it. 8) It's flipping hot by the way 30c in my garden, that's too much for me.
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I've been hiding indoors with the curtains closed. Luckily the tanks haven't got higher than 26 deg.
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Yeah, me too. My tank is in a coolish corner and is at 26.7 so i think OK.
I saw a good tip for cooling a room on an earlier post though. A lot of people think fans will cool rooms and indeed tanks but they don't . They just shift air and it blows away the hit air and sweat form your skin so feels cooling. But, if you have two fans, one blowing hot air towards an open door and one blowing cooler air into the room you can get it down a degree or two.
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Blowing air over a tank does cool it a bit - as long as the lid is open. The moving air evaporates the water; evaporation takes energy - in the form of heat from the tank water. Latent heat of vaporisation. But it won't cool the water by much.