# Neon blue dwarf gourami



## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I got some neon blue dwarf gouramis today to live in my 46g freshwater community (which doesn't contain any bettas!).

Gouramis are anabantoids like bettas and make bubble nests. I think they're just as cute as they can be! Here is one peeking out from behind a plant.


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## djembekah (Feb 13, 2012)

very very cute


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

....how many did you get?


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

Love DGs.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I got three of them. I tried to pick out two females and a male, but after looking at them more closely, I suspect I got two males and a female.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Adorable! I also love DG's although unfortunately very susceptible to disease  But I had a powder blue that was with me until that darn Blizzard, Nemo ironically and he died shortly after because of the stress. My power had gone out but my aunt's house about 15 minutes down the road had power so we all convened there and I brought my PBDG and Remmy, he was the only boy I had at the time thank god, to keep them warm.

But other than that, I absolutely want another one! They're so cute! I think my mom wants a regular DG for the 29 we have to set up at her house ^^

EDIT: interesting! Generally they don't sell females, or more likely they had hormone therapy to make them into males! I know we don't sell females up here at all.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Deanna01 said:


> I got three of them. I tried to pick out two females and a male, but after looking at them more closely, I suspect I got two males and a female.


The difference is obvious at first glance, so I am pretty certain that you have 3 males. They are not sexed by the fins, as new people seem to think. Females are gray.

I hate to rain on your parade, but the chances are good that you will have aggression issues which will ultimately lead to the death of at least one of them, if not 2. A 29 is really not large enough for more than 1.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Huh. I had looked at several reliable sites that said they are most easily sexed by their fins. I have them in a 46-gallon, not a 29, and when I put my numbers into AQadvisor, it said I was fine. We'll see what happens, though. I'll keep an eye out and remove/rehome any number I need to if it comes down to that.

Every gourami in the tank--and they had well over 50--was this same color. It seems unlikely they would have no females at all.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

These are a few of the sites that said you could tell the sex by the dorsal fin shape:
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/anabantoids/neondwarf.php
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/fishqa/f/faq2060.htm


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

One would think it unlikely that they only sell males, but.... They only sell males. Any site that says you sex dwarf gouramis (T. lalia - which is what you have) by their fins is incorrect. There are quite a few sources that spread this misinformation, unfortunately.

You can trust aqadvisor if you like, but I prefer to pay more attention to people's actual experience. You're not the first to try multiple dwarf gouramis (I've tried it) and you won't be the last.

By the way, the second link is for sexing regular gouramis, not dwarf gouramis. And the fist link clearly says that the females have much less color. It mentions dorsal fin too, but that's a moot point because the primary difference is a lack of color.
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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Here are some pictures of the two together.

Tropical Fish: Red Dwarf Gourami

File:Male female dwarf gourami.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Aqua-Scape -- Dwarf Gourami


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Hm. Well, I'll stand ready to remove any if necessary. I do enjoy watching them!


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

That's how you learn  A lot of people are afraid of taking risks and pushing limits....but if you never test a "limit", then you have no idea what is and isn't possible. And you will learn more about what is and isn't possible by making "mistakes" than by doing what you are told, though the only mistakes are experiences that you did not learn from.


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## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

Not meaning to hijack or anything, but can single gouramis live by themselves? As in being the only fish in the tank. I've been curious about this, even more so now that I read here that males don't dwell well together.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Yes, they are like bettas that way.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

What I notice about them so far is that each seems to be keeping to a separate area in the tank. It's a very heavily planted tank with a good number of floating plants that tend to migrate to the right. One is mostly staying under the floaters, one is living amongst some cabomba on the left, and one seems to be venturing through the middle of the tank.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

> You can trust aqadvisor if you like, but I prefer to pay more attention to people's actual experience.


Honestly, I far prefer to pay attention to advice sources that collate the experience of multiple people, like AQadvisor and others. The problem with listening to individual stories is that you end up hearing so very many conflicting accounts, and then what it truly comes down to is that--often--you simply choose to believe what you'd like to believe rather than what may be the truth.

A great deal of that is simply ingrained in me, though, because a huge portion of my day job involves research. If I were to use individuals' experiences as the basis for fact-checking, I'd have gone out of business long ago!


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

The one that is moving about the tank is likely the dominant one. The fish are still new though, so it's too early to really say anything about their behavior. Typically though, aggression is felt before it's seen - outright attacks are the last stage, not the first. The lesser fish will try to avoid and submit to appease the dominant fish. This may work for a period of time.

Aqadvisor is a tool. It's good for some things, and not so good for others. I remember when the guy created it - I contributed information and advice.


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

I LOVE my dwarf gourami, Squirt! He is my avatar. I used to have two, but as you have heard they are very susceptible to an almost always fatal bacterial disease. 1 in 5 DG have it.


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

Iridovirus. Unforunately they can spread it to other fish, too, so it is vital to always quarantine your DGs.


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

I'm glad I got my dead DG out of the tank in time! I almost waited until I got home from school so I could take him down to the lake by my house (I found him in the morning), but I didn't want Squirt to be infected so I had to give him a hasty ceremony at the toilet.


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

Not a good idea to flush dead fish or in any other way allow them in to local water ways...


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

Where I live, the waste flushed goes into the sewer, so no harm done to the local fish!


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

It's not for that reason - water treatment plants are designed to deal with the ordinary contents of a toilet, and may not manage to eliminate all traces of medication and/or fishy disease. They can also cause blockages, as they don't break down the same way that waste does.


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## Jexx (Feb 2, 2013)

this may be a bit of a morbid question, but it is something we will all have to deal with at some point. What is the proper way to dispose of a dead fish?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Jexx said:


> this may be a bit of a morbid question, but it is something we will all have to deal with at some point. What is the proper way to dispose of a dead fish?


I was just going to ask this! I had also just been giving them the quick Flush Ceremony. But I'd certainly be interested in a proper way rather than harm something.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Bombalurina said:


> Iridovirus. Unforunately they can spread it to other fish, too, so it is vital to always quarantine your DGs.


I thought that it was not transmitable to other fish. Where did you read this?


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