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View Full Version : Separate my honey gourami? Aggression....


sallywally
12-27-2010, 06:36 AM
My two honey gourami both seem to be males (pointy dorsal fins and actually both are displaying their fins a bit) though I thought I was getting a pair. One of them has built a bubble nest, which I found yesterday during a water change. Can't get photos to upload. Will keep working on this. both have strong yellow color with deep orange at the beginning of the tail

One of the two has been staying near the bottom of the tank for several days. After I found the nest, I put some plant foliage around it and both gourami went up to examine. One has kept near the nest guarding it, apparently, since the water change yesterday. He has intermittently chased the other, who has stayed near the bottom of the tank, although he has been swimming around a bit.

The guard gourami has also snapped at one of the 3 three-line pencilfish who are tankmates.

Fluval Edge (6 gal), good water parameters - nitrates 30, nitrites 0, pH 7, chlorine 0, ammonia 0, hard water; same as they have been for the past several weeks.

Tank about 10 weeks old, no fish lost so far, the gourami have been in the tank for about 3 weeks with no problems until now.

I can't see that either of them is damaged, but it's possible they do have a slight indent above their gills (haven't examined this closely before)....Eating ok and swimming around.

Wondering if I should move one into the 30-gal very planted tank which has 3 each of diamond, neon, bloodfin and redeye tetra. same water parameters, nitrates slightly less. Tank also 10 weeks old.

If so, move the dominant or nondominant one? Plans for that tank are to increase each of the tetra types to a 6-8 shoal. If all goes well, I would start a gal tank to replace the Edge and put one or two of the shoals in it.

Or destroy the nest? Get the Edge more heavily planted? There are several hiding places at opposite ends of the tank, but the tank isn't all that big.

Again, no problems until about the past several days.

HELP!

Dave66
12-27-2010, 09:34 AM
The male that built his bubble nest is defending it, so removing the other male/fishes is a very good idea. If you destroy the nest he'll just build another one.

I doubt that's a honey goramie, Colisa chuna, since males are pretty mellow when they build their nests, given thick plantings so he can 'hide' his nest. Also a very uncommon species in shops.

Dave

sallywally
12-27-2010, 04:54 PM
Thanks, David. Will he be like this permanently? You think it's ok with all those tetras and more to come? would I just put him in water from his tank and then into the other tank - same parameters, would he need much acclimatization?

Right now the "guardian" is more laid back, I'm not seeing defensive attacks.

I have been trying to upload jpeg images but I don't know why they won't take. They aren't any more complex as far as I can see than the ones of people's aquariums on this site, so I'm not sure how to manage it. You could look at them and see what fish you think they are - if I can ever upload them!

Sara

Dave66
12-27-2010, 05:06 PM
Since there's no females, the male will eventually get tired of maintaining his nest and go back to normal.

What you have to do is copy and paste the ULR that ends with .jpg into your post. That should work if you've already uploaded your photos to one of the free photo sites, like photobucket. If they don't show up it means the file is too large.

Dave

sallywally
12-27-2010, 08:20 PM
OK, thanks. I was trying to upload from my computer - Picassa and then in my pictures file. I'll check on photobucket.com.

sallywally
12-27-2010, 09:02 PM
I'm trying to upload from my Photobucket album, but they keep saying the URL is invalid. Any chance this will work:

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

or if not, what should I be doing when I click on uploading function on Photobucket?

sallywally
12-27-2010, 09:22 PM
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sallywally
12-27-2010, 09:50 PM
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Here's one of my 30 gal tank, too:
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:sbiggrin:

sallywally
12-27-2010, 09:57 PM
Once more with feeling;