The amount of advice I've read on honey gourami is all over the place. I thought I'd create my own thread and see what advice I can get in one place.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 30
Temp: 25C/77F
Tank size: 110L/29G
I bought 2 honey gourami about a week and a half ago. The behaviour I was seeing concerned me on day 2. One was being very dominant over the other one. The dominant one would patrol the entire tank and chase the other one back behind the filter. It created a large bubble nest around the back of the tank. The submissive one pretty much wouldn't come out. This continued for a couple more days, so I contacted my LFS. They told me to bring the dominant one back and they would swap him for a female. I'm unsure if the new one they gave me was female.
The next day, the one that was getting bullied before was now the new bully. He would chase the new one back behind the filter. This one was a little more brave and would hang out around the Java Fern, but it still didn't want to come out much. I kept watching them for a few more days and the behaviour continued.
I went back to my LFS and he gave me two options. To return both for store credit or add another 2 and that would allow any aggression to be dispersed between them all. I asked if having one on its own would be okay and he said no. I read a lot of different opinions on this topic. Some say they can be alone and others say they're social fish and need to be with others of their kind.
I went with the 2nd option and bought 2 more. I'm still seeing very similar behaviour with the added 2. The bully is still a bully and chasing the other 3 to the corners of the tank. Based on what I was told by the LFS, I thought this behaviour would at least decrease, but it has continued. I'm now on day 3 with 4 honeys.
The first gourami picture is the bully. The second gourami picture is the one that was sold to me as female. I think it's male, but it has slightly less colour than the other 3.
My question is do I need to give them longer to sort out the issues? My assumption is the behaviour from the bully is going to continue. I hate seeing these fish cower on one side of the tank.
The main options I've been considering:
- Take them all back to the LFS
- Take only the bully back
- Take 3 back and keep one to live alone
Any help and advice would be appreciated.
Posted by NathanMUFCfan
6 Comments
My initial reaction is you need to give it longer. Gourami males are territorial though and you aggression regardless of sex isn’t uncommon when fish are newly introduced to a tank. Females don’t get the black underbelly, that’s a male only trait so… I’ve only ever kept a single male gourami in my tank.
Pretty sure you have 2 males. 1 male and multiple females usually works in my experiance but I haven’t kept a lot of honey gourami. Mostly dwarfs and pearls. Hopefully somebody with more experiance in honeys can chime in.
Hmm I’m almost positive they can be kept solo. Males can be a little territorial as well. They aren’t schooling fish either so Idk what the issue would be. The males are the ones with the dark underbelly (I think) so it looks like from the pics it’s 3 males with 1 female which is why there’s a lot of bullying going on. They might sort themselves out on their own but I’d return the 3 and just keep the 1. Someone else will probably be able to give u more solid advice tho!
I have read that they are best in trios with females outnumbering the males. Males tend to be more aggressive than females. Also it seems they are ready for mating which makes them territorial of the area around their bubble nests. Your safest bet would probably be to keep one for now or add 2 when you’re 100% sure they’re female. I wish I could give you mine. I love her but I wanted a male. She was misgendered by the fs which is easy to do with them.
Imho the best option would be to return the bully or keep one alone
A lot of people claim gouramis are social and need to be kept in pairs/groups, but most of the ones sold in stores (including these guys) are male, which tend to be more aggressive and territorial, and it’s usually best to keep only one male by himself or one male with several females if possible (ie, have a large, well-decorated tank to minimize any aggressive behavior)
Ah, well the solution is to get two MORE honeys.
(sorry. 🙂 )
This might not help either, but gourami behavior is just odd. My minnows act like fish, my platys act like puppies (dumb, always eating), and my two gouramis I’ve had for a week are shy and spent the first three days hiding behind rocks and plants. I was worried they wouldn’t get any food, but now I see one is courageous enough to nibble on moss occasionally. I **think** I have two females, but unsure because they’re so young. So like others, I would probably give it another week or two and see if they change.