tukituki Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 i have 2 female fighters in my community tank with gouramis, lots of bottom dwellers, silver dollars etc. today i introduced a few new fish (a few clown loaches and 2 dwarf honey gouramis), the bag was floating in the tank and one of the female fighters instantly came over, her fins and some of her body became a deep red colour (my fighters are very pale pink coloured usually with light red fins) and she kept staring at these new gouramis. when i released the new fish into the tank she has since been stalking one of the new gouramis and is still the same colour. she is just following him around not doing anything else. the other fighter showed a bit of interest but is the same colour as normal and has since just acted normally. i have had these 2 girls for 6 months at least and never seen them behave like this before. do you think she thinks this new gouramis is a male fighter perhaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitzy Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 To my understanding fighters and gouramis can not go together, I could be wrong but im sure someone told me that or i read it somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tukituki Posted April 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 my 2 fighters have been in with 6 other gouramis though since i got them without any problems at all. the 2 new dwarf gouramis are new additions after a couple of gouramis died over the last few months. she's stopped chasing him now, or maybe he's managed to loose her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tukituki Posted April 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 both of the fighters will chase the dwarf gouramis if they bump into them. it could be a size thing as these 2 dwarf's are about the same size as the fighters, if not a bit smaller. they are a similar shade of red too! they are not attacking just chasing, at this stage anyway. having said that i do have a very small pearl gouramis that the fighters are not interested in, nor do they go for the large pearl gouramis or 2 glowlight gouramis (i was sold this pair as dwarf glowlights, they are my largest fish by far - definitely not dwarfs! still lovely looking fish that love to chase each other around the tank but seems just playful). are the fighters resentful of the arrival of the new dwarf and invasion of their territory? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 I would think that she was just hopeful that it was a male fighter Seriously though she was probably just being territorial although females do go darker when they think a male is around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tukituki Posted April 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 if she's being territorial do you think she'll accept the dwarfs with time? its only been a few hours so far so still very early days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 yes I'm sure she will. you also have the option of enclosing her in something or removing her from the tank for a few days and then putting her back in. this way she will be the 'new' fish and is guaranteed to pull her head in and behave :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tukituki Posted April 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 i could do either of those as have a breeding net or else she could go in with my killies for a few days, i don't think its a size thing as she's certainly not picking on the guppies or blue tetras in the tank, or the tiny gobi so i don't think she'd pick on the killies. i'd probably move her and her sister then put them back in after a couple of days, but will leave it for a day or two and see if they become more accepting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashzbetta Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 siamese fighters get jealous of fish that have better colours than them or fish that have the same colours as they do ashley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tukituki Posted April 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 interesting! she must be one jealous girl as she just chased one of the dwarfs across the tank then went back to hanging out amongst the plants, then chased her sister away too! now she just seems to be a bit possessive about her "spot in the plants" and doesn't want anyone near her. very strange. lucky that often when she chases them they go behind the silver dollars which makes her turn away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 I have some females that are incredibly possessive in my females tanks. They flare and chase and carry on. The other thing that makes them very stroppy is when there is a cold front passing through with unsettled weather like tonight. I went out there a couple of hours ago and they must have been fighting amongst each other judging by the state of their fins. Most of the time they are fine and I'm sure yours will settle or the gourami will learn to stay away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenriswolf Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 I don't know about multiple gourami with bettas but I have 10 female bettas and one male gourami in a lightly planted 180L who all get on wonderfully. There is minimal pushiness with my girls and no issues whatsoever with Trogdor the gourami. But then dwarf gouramis are supposed to be both shy and prone to disease right? My boy is extremely confident, active and out there in my tank, and despite some serious issues with my tank has been 100% healthy and in good colour since I've had him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tukituki Posted April 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 hopefully they will settle down, they seem a bit calmer today. my gouramis are far from shy! the glowlight ones are very confident, dwarfs pretty social and its the pearl ones that can be a bit shy from time to time but usually no problem. the tank has lots of plants and caves so hopefully the bettas and the dwarfs can decide upon separate areas to hang out in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarFish Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 I've always been of the understanding that gouramis and betas werent that good together mainly because they occupy the same swimming space and betas are territorial, however I would think this was more applicable to male betas rather than females. In saying that fish are like people in the same way they decide that they just dont like someone :lol: even though fish have generalised natures there is always that one that goes against the grain I agree with the suggestion of taking her out for a couple of days and then putting her back in as to be the 'new' fish, but even then this may not work... SO GOODLUCK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tukituki Posted April 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 thanks starfish. do you think she'd take the same disliking to my killifish? they are about the same length as her (apart from my youngster that appeared at random after we got back from xmas holidays, he's still a little short) but only about 0.5cms wide! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarFish Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 I think any fish that swim close to the surface are a potential target for Betas, that is my personal opinion. You really would just have to test it and see how it goes. Try the take out and put back in a few days method and see if this makes a difference, if you are going to add killifish then put these in first before you put your female back in, I have found since having my male Beta I have automatically avoided getting any more gouramis and close to surface swimmers because in the past I have had these problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.