Pear Gourami Male Aggression

[Werwa]

I thought I was getting one male and three female pearl gouramies for my heavily planted 120 gallon aquarium. They were little when I got them and now it looks like I have 2 males and 2 females. I am too attached to exchange a male for a female so would the aggression be very limited if I just added 2 more females?

 

[Simon Cole]

Your tank has ample space, and they do well in groups, so I do not think that there is anything to worry about. I tend to find that pairs work fairly well. They live to a really old age, so don't tie yourself down with these pets unless you want to.

 

[tiger15]

Pearl Gourami is not Betta and males don't fight to death. To spread out aggression, semi aggressive PG are best kept in group of 3 or more males. As with most gourami, female PG are rather drab in color and you may want to keep another male to make 3.

 

[Werwa]

Thank you for your answers. I am okay with the females being less attractive if the fish will be happier. I honestly didn't consider the third male. Does anyone else have similar experiences with three males? If I wanted to be absolutely sure, would adding three females pretty much do the trick? Two males and 5 females.

 

[AlecF]

Sometimes I wonder if the key issue to gourami aggression – and they are feisty – isn't so much space as cover, in particular thick areas of planting. I'd almost say that the aggressive fish desires this as much as the "weaker" – both need places that the less dominant fish can hide and have a smaller territory to go to. My sparklers will go through periods of coming out to joust together, sorting out who gets to mate, but they do really like thick cover and blind spots, so that they can ignore one another. They like to hide, or to be able to hide – to not have to display and engage. Adding wood, java moss, a nice thick mass of floating hydrocotyle, can all help.

 

[mort]

Males can be a little rough on the females but most of the aggression will be directed at other males, so more females probably won't solve the problem (they may distract some of it though). Pearls are quite quiet for gouramis and the key can definitely be as Alec mentions above, cover. I agree with Simon and tiger as well, your tank has space for more if you would like to up the numbers but I'd also try and grow some thick vegetation and see if that helps. They should have the space to get away from each if they wish.

 

[tiger15]

Having female will bring out the best color of male whose courtship display is mesmerizing and protracted. But courtship also brings out the worst male aggression. Courting male has bright orange throat and trailers on anal fin. Many aquascapers keep male only PG colony for color and to diffuse aggression, and shops often sell male only gourami or else the left behind become all females. I haven’t kept PG since my childhood time, but recently I acquired 3 males growing out in separate tanks for introduction to my community planted tank when they reach comparable size.

 

[Werwa]

Thanks everyone. Very helpful comments.