Thick lipped sunset gourami changing color

**Nephalem** · 09-16-2012, 02:29 AM

So we just recently picked up two thick lipped gourami of the sunset coloration. When we got these little guys they were both bright orange. We THINK one is male and one is female, but are unsure. It's been about two days since we brought them home. The tank is running with cycled media from another tank. Just checked the params (0/0/trace). Temp is at a steady 79*F. The substrate is really sparse because I'm still in the middle of building the tank, but there is some water sprite, a huge moss ball, and a couple handfuls of fairy moss floating on the top of the water to help these guys with bubble nest reinforcement.

SO, the question is, today we came home, did the normal rounds on our 14 tanks in the rest of the house, and then came into the bedroom to check on these gourami and set up a new 40g we picked up. My wife looks in on them and for some reason one of them has completely changed colors. It's apparent in the pics, but in person the color difference is drastic.

So does anyone know if this is normal? I am really hoping that this is a stress reaction or a mating behavior and not something much, much worse. I have yet to deal with an outbreak of something like velvet but if someone could tell me definitively that this isn't it I would feel much better.

Thx in advance.

**ekfishlover2011** · 09-16-2012, 07:57 PM

It looks like the one that is turning brown might be the male, so it might be a mating thing. Is he still acting normal otherwise?

**Nephalem** · 09-16-2012, 09:50 PM

Yeah they are both acting great. Both eating really well, both sleeping normal. One of them is a little shy but it's getting better every day. Spent the first day hiding behind the filter, but that's totally normal considering I only have the substrate and plants half in and they are the only fish in the tank. It wasn't because of bullying cuz the other one would go over and check on the shy one every couple of mins, and now they sleep and eat together.

That's good to hear. Thank you for the response. Sometimes these sub forums can be dead for days at a time, and I was really worried this was velvet or some other form of nasty that I haven't had to fight off yet. I will keep an eye on them and if anyone else has any ideas let me know.

**ekfishlover2011** · 09-17-2012, 09:54 PM

Yea the way it looks it appears to be natural coloring. And it is pretty to me. n_n If you are worried about velvet shine a light on him at night and see if he shimmers with a gold dusty look. And in light of day he would be kinda slimey.

**Nephalem** · 09-17-2012, 10:12 PM

He is kinda rusty gold, but deff not slimy. He actually looks really healthy to me. I really think you are right about the mating. He just made a huge bubble nest last night too. And he is chasing her around now biting just above her anal fin, which I know with DG is something they do while mating. We will just have to go get a divider as soon as I get a spare couple of bucks so I can separate them after she spawns, since he will beat her up after he gets the eggs in the bubbles.

**ekfishlover2011** · 09-18-2012, 01:42 AM

Never heard that part about the beating up. My mom let them have their babies in the communtiy tank, and the only ones that got beat up were the innocent mollies that got too close. But thats probably a good precaution. :)