English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

Hi, I have 2 male 3-spot/blue pearl gouramis, in my 55 gal tank. I added 2 female Bettas to the tank yesterday. The girls hold their own against the gouramis and the rainbow sharks, but it almost seems as though the gouramis are interested in more from the betta girls, than just fighting... That goes both ways too...

My question is, will a male gourami "court" a female Betta, and if so, could they breed? If everything's perfect in the tank, will the gouramis make bubble nests for the girls, hopeless or not? Or was it just a bad idea altogether to mix gouramis with bettas, no matter what sex mix?

I know betta males think of gouramis as opponents, because they're cousins, but these girls display (puff out) the same as the males do, but toward each other AND the gouramis. Of course, the big gourami gets jelous when the little one gets the girl's attention... lol

Anyone a Fish Shrink out there??? lol
Thanks for your answers!
;o)

2007-04-23 02:09:24 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets Fish

3 answers

Bettas and gouramis are related, but not close enough to breed. A female flaring is not sign of wanting to mate. (Assuming a head down position would be.) The flaring is just a threat display. The girls are just working out a pecking order. In a 55 gallon tank there is plenty of room for all 4 to establish territory. Normally they'd ignore most fish, but gourami have similar threat behavior. I'd avoid adding too many more betta or gourami to the tank. Maybe one more female betta, then some more peaceful fish. (Just avoid small fish like guppy, and neons.) If you like gourami try some pearl gourami. They are very peaceful for gourami, but won't let the 3-spot gourami bully them.

2007-04-23 04:57:14 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

First, they can't breed successful so that isn't going to happen. Second, the puffing up or flaring you are seeing from both sets of fish is much more likely to be a territorial response than a courship behavior honestly. ith as much space as you have available, the gouramis probably won't hurt the two new bettas, but I would keep an eye on them for a while.

MM

2007-04-23 02:29:40 · answer #2 · answered by magicman116 7 · 4 0

gourami are naturally aggressive and so are bettas. the puffing is a bluffing strategy to help them look bigger to fend the gourami . they can not as far as i know inter breed. might move one or the other species to another tank if you have it and the larger gourami will probably constantly pick on the smaller one for food and dominance. good luck

2007-04-23 02:25:50 · answer #3 · answered by Ringo's boss 1 · 0 0

fedest.com, questions and answers