tukituki

hopefully my two have sorted out their territorial business! they have both been pretty placid for the last 24 hours. they have two big amazon swords not java ferns, i wrote the wrong name before. there are plenty of places to hide in the tank.

are they expensive?! it was part of a bulk deal with a second hand tank! works well

females eh! good to know at last, their fin is pretty round but has a tiny point to it so i wasn't sure. once you see the other sex of fish you are able to make a simple comparison! hopefully they will settle down and stop their kissing! they don't seem to be hurting anyone, mainly just chasing and they seem calmer today. having said that the more dominant one really doesn't like the silver dollars and is currently chasing them away if they come near her...!

thanks peanuts, i think they are both male, they are definitely the same, here is a pic of one of them do you think he is a boy?! they are in a 140-150L tank with 2 decent sized java ferns, a few banana plants that are trying to establish themselves and indian fern that is floating throughout most of the tank. their tankmates include 2 pearl gouramis, a honey red dwarf gouramis, 2 female fighters, 2 angel fish, 3 silver dollars, a few flying fox and the rest are bottom dwellers. everyone in this tank gets along very well with the exception of the gold gouramis and the fighters taking an initial dislike to the dwarf gouramis (they are not bothered by him now). have you heard of them biting/kissing each other before? it does look quite aggressive. at the moment they are fine, it seems to be more in the evening when they behave strangely. sorry about bad pic i don't know how to turn the flash off on my camera!

I've had 2 gold gouramis for about a year, I got them when they were very small. They always have chased each other about but it has always looked non-aggressive. Over the last few days I've noticed that their behaviour has changed. One has suddenly darkened in colour and is being aggressive to the other fish, chasing them but hasn't hurt anyone yet... The 2 gold gouramis line up head to head and it looks at though they are either kissing or biting? Why would they do this? I assume they are reaching sexual maturity now and are becoming territorial. I think they are 2 males but I'm not 100% sure. I'm very fond of these two but they are the only troublemakers in the tank now and not fair on the other fish... I could separate them and put one in another community tank but its only about 100L and too small I think, plus the fish are all very small in there. What should I do with this pair?!

yes she does have an egg spot. they've been released and they're being watched. no head spinning so hopefully these two are a better match. it was a really gorgeous male i got off you adodge that died overnight now i'm having a go with my petshop male! he's not so bad though. i am really sure the guy i got the 2 females from wouldn't have given me a male as at the time i only had one tank and he thought it best not to get a male. is it best to have the filter on or off? its quite a strong filter and is off at the moment, it can't be turned down.

what is an egg spot please cam? she has made a line of bubbles along the edge of her glass vase, i'm not really sure i'd call it a nest. she looks the same shape as her sister (the eye eater) but her body is slightly darker.

thats what i'm worried about, i don't want to have another death... would she only blow a layer of bubbles if she was a male? they're just around the edge of the glass vase. i bought the two females about a year ago from a local breeder. they live in a community tank with gouramis, loaches, angels, silver dollars etc and only ever caused a problem when they didn't like a dwarf gouramis that was introduced. they left him alone after a few days though. she is flaring her gills & fins at him... sounds very silly but how would i know if she is actually a short finned male?!

my eyeless male died overnight the female in the chimney has blown a layer of bubbles along the side of the glass overnight, is this normal? the male hasn't blown any bubbles at all but is flaring up at her, and she is back to him.

i've put the other male in the breeding tank with my other female in the glass chimney. i hope she will not be as mean to him as her sister was to the other boy! i will release them tomorrow. they are both flaring up at each other. hopefully she leaves his eyes intact!

yeah very evil eh taking out his eye! you can never predict what will happen though. i do have another male that is a lot tougher than my beaten up boy (he lives in the community tank fine whereas the other one got really badly savaged). should i try him instead with her or set up him up with my other female? he is a bit bigger and definitely more dominant than my stunning looking male. my female is much fatter than her sister (who is the same size) and i'm pretty sure this has occurred overnight so maybe she is full of eggs.

things just got very bad, it looks as though she's bitten one of his eyes off... i've taken him out. is she likely to do this to all males?

so the spinning around is weird?! i didn't think it was such a good thing! all is calm at the moment, they are side by side beneath the poly cup, he is swimming around her rubbing against her it seems, she doesn't seem to object but definitely isn't head down. she is about 1cm bigger than him i think but its hard to tell because her body is very light in colour and he (along with his long fins) is very dark in colour. she also looks a bit fat at the moment. too big do you think? the male is about 6months old i think and got a severe beating up in one of my community tanks after i first got him. a danio was the culprit i think. he's had about 3-4 weeks to regain his strength in a different tank & is looking good again. the female is about a year old and is the mellow & better looking one of my two sisters.

she's nipping his fins now also. she is a bit bigger than him is it best to call it quits?

hi, i'm trying to breed my fighters for the first time. the male has been living in this tank for a few weeks and i introduced the female in a glass chimney yesterday. the male started to build a bubble nest in half a polystyrene cup. i released the female a couple of hours ago and all looked fine, he was chasing her but there seemed to be no aggression. all of a sudden she started to bite his head and spin him around in circles. this has happened at least two times. he seems fine and is still chasing her and trying to embrace her it seems. is the spinning normal or is she at risk of really hurting him?

does the indian fern take over & block out the light? maybe it was indian fern that i had not java fern... the fighters loved it but the tank become so dim it had to go! i'm not so knowledgeable about plants sadly! the banana plant appeals cause i can just snip off a "lilly" if there are too many, i might just have to try and find one.

quite a cool looking plant. perhaps my silver dollars will stop it from taking over completely! they just seem to nibble at my amazon swords but they're getting bigger with bigger appetites i'm sure!

Hi, Can anyone recommend a good floating plant for my 150L tank? We had java fern in one corner but it blocked out the light in the entire tank it seemed like! We have a few gouramis, silver dollars, bettas, angel fish, flying fox & loaches in there, some of which are missing the shade... we do have a plant floating on the top at the moment but its not supposed to be there...! Any ideas?

will have to see if i can make it, might be a bit tricky with a newborn baby!

true we have a fin nipper in ours, not sure who it is but some of my male guppies have had their flowing tails savaged... they grow back but so slowly!

once i find him i'll see how he goes in the community tank which is heavily planted. i'm on the lookout for another tank as it would be so good to have another (my obsession is growing!). i think 2nd hand is the way to go or else you buy the tank, pump, light etc and it all adds up! hopefully someone will answer my wanted add

yeah i've been to look at new tanks but think i'd get more for my money 2nd hand! might get a fairly big tank and divide it up... they had 2 male fighters at my LFS, one looked dead and the other seriously depressed and not so pretty, i will keep looking!

thanks Leroy. i've just read that post and found it quite useful, i also have those links in terms of genetics so i can figure out my ratio of the next generation, hmmm what sort of male to get! where should i be keeping the male though? on top of the tank in a glass container? in our baby's room which must be kept super warm but could be risky (no certainty of the temp of the water, wouldn't want him to get cold)? in a breeding net in the community tank? or loose in the community tank (but expect we could have problems there)? i haven't bought him yet s. i might just get still working out where will be best. what about a small separate tank for him as we have a spare heater, it might be easier do you think?

I have 2 very pretty female siamese fighters living in my community tank with several gouramis, catfish, loaches, silver dollars, guppies etc. These 2 females are quite characters and we would like to breed them. Where would be the best place to keep a male fighter? Would he be ok in the community tank or would it be better to put him on top of the tank in a little glass container like they do in some LFS? Seems very mean though I must say. We do have a separate tank that we use for breeding/fry but I wouldn't want him to be in there for too long at a time. Does anyone have any tips for breeding fighters? Thanks.