GIANT gouramis

[Flying Fox]

Hello. Sorry for the delay in getting up new pics. Life sometimes gets in the way. I tried not using the flash to capture as much if his true color as possible and I think the third one down got pretty close to it. You can really see his brick red top and orange-ish bottom and see how blue his head is. Also, I re-measured him ( i guess it has been awhile since i did this last) and he is 16", not the previously stated 14". I tried getting different angles and what not. Enjoy!

 

[Yanbbrox]

Ok that's one freaking weird looking GG. This is not an insult just an observation.

It looks like a stunted yet over developed fish, if you understand, the head hump looks like an adult, and generally it's got all the characteristics of a old fully developed fish, the lips are the right size and the head is stumped forward, yet it's far too small to be an adult, if that makes sense.

Sorry to complain but the pictures are sill not quite good enough, the flash is still washing the colors out too much, could it be the mystical missing one, possibly but I've got no reference to go from. I know it's a pain but can you take a picture with the tank lights on with no flash??

 

[Flying Fox]

A very large tank, other than that theres no way to lower the aggression of any fish,especially a GG..When they decide they dont like a tankmate, you either remove it dead or alive, your choice..sorry but thats the bottom line with this species. It has been my experience that GG's do not like top feeders/swimmers such as aro's, they breath and feed from the top and anything swimming near the top is in their breathing/feeding territory, they will defend it against much larger fish.

I agree 100% here. My RTGG tolerates tankmates up to 5" it seems, after that , all bets are off. There is no guarantee once he decides he is done with that fish. I have also noticed mood swings, it seems he throws a tantrum and goes after anything that moves in the tank. Even objects, sometimes, are not beyond his aggression. He took a serious disliking to a powerhead I once had in there with him. There were two, but he hated one of them . Someone mentioned if they mellow with age. After 15 years, I have to say that is not the case. If anything, he has become more grumpy as time goes on. Now , I just leave him in 150gl all by himself. He seems to prefer it that way. He interacts with what is happening outside his tank regularly. He always seems to have an eye to what's going on.

Which brings up a question. Have any other GG/RTGG owners noticed their fish recognizing different people? My RTGG took a disliking to my brother, and would attack him through the glass. No one else, just him. Also, since he his spoon fed, he will not eat from other people, only from me. Found this out when I went away for 2 weeks and had my sister take care of the tanks. He refused to eat the entire time I was gone. When she entered the room, he would go to the bottom and stay there until she left. When I came back, he was all excited. I swear, if he were a dog, he'd be wagging his tail. He chowed down like nobody's business immediately.

Anyone else have similar experiences? Oscars are famous for doing stuff like this, was a little surprised from a GG (but not anymore).

 

[Flying Fox]

Ok that's one freaking weird looking GG. This is not an insult just an observation.

It looks like a stunted yet over developed fish, if you understand, the head hump looks like an adult, and generally it's got all the characteristics of a old fully developed fish, the lips are the right size and the head is stumped forward, yet it's far too small to be an adult, if that makes sense.

Sorry to complain but the pictures are sill not quite good enough, the flash is still washing the colors out too much, could it be the mystical missing one, possibly but I've got no reference to go from. I know it's a pain but can you take a picture with the tank lights on with no flash??

Yeah , I know the lighting situation suck at the moment. The tank lights ARE on (believe it or not), but they are (and don't laugh) over 20 years old. They still turn on ( God bless them) but not very strong. I just ordered some new lights for the 250gl. Its current lighting is not strong enough for the big tank but should be more than fine on the 150gl. When the new ones come in I will switch lights and take new pics.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Which brings up a question. Have any other GG/RTGG owners noticed their fish recognizing different people?

Anyone else have similar experiences? Oscars are famous for doing stuff like this, was a little surprised from a GG (but not anymore).

100% yes.

Are old boy RIP George used to loved the wife, we don't have a couch as such just two chairs(a bit like Joey and Chandler off of friends) and Geroge's tank was next to her chair, he used to swim all over the tank and interact with her all the time, she could make him swim and dance where ever she wanted. He hated me, never interested when ever I went near the tank.

BTW, if your into nutty Osacrs, here's ours:

[YT]KbXcKyetp0c[/YT]
[YT]psDshdS0ZHU[/YT]

Yeah , I know the lighting situation suck at the moment. The tank lights ARE on (believe it or not), but they are (and don't laugh) over 20 years old. They still turn on ( God bless them) but not very strong. I just ordered some new lights for the 250gl. Its current lighting is not strong enough for the big tank but should be more than fine on the 150gl. When the new ones come in I will switch lights and take new pics.

I guess this is a good time for the to MFK, we get lots of people joining and then asking a question, never to be seen again, nice to see you are still posting, we are all here to learn.

Love to see more pictures of you very strange GG, hope to get an answer for you, looking forward to the pictures.

Mods, I know this is a GG thread but there was a reference to Oscars and there is a embed facility hence why I used it for the vids, as opposed to a link.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Flyingfox, , here is the big guy for reference, taken the night before he died, 16.5'' and no hump , or fully developed lips :

Just to add a twist he was an elephant ear giant gourami, quite rare, but again nothing like yours.

 

[Tequila]

The pond is fine

About time, sheesh.

 

[Yanbbrox]

About time, sheesh.

Ok it may have took a couple of years to finish but hey it's done, I've had zero problems since the filtration upgrade in the spring.

Happy new keyboard

Get ready for the tank build, awesome times ahead to irritate me

 

[Flying Fox]

Flyingfox, , here is the big guy for reference, taken the night before he died, 16.5'' and no hump , or fully developed lips :

Thank you for the welcome. I have been keeping fish for 30+ years and it is usually through these forums that one gets the tried and true answers from hobbyists who've been there, done that. I am still learning new things all the time.

Sorry for the loss of your EEGG. I know how hard those can be sometimes. I can see where you get the impression about the big head small body. I was looking at bunch of youtube videos of GG and they all have a very deep body with relatively small humps and the big lips. My guy has a huge hump (by comparison) and a slender body. Much more oval rather than round. Maybe he is one those rare fast river streamlined gouramis, built for speed The mystery grows...

 

[piggy67]

Which brings up a question. Have any other GG/RTGG owners noticed their fish recognizing different people? My RTGG took a disliking to my brother, and would attack him through the glass. No one else, just him. Also, since he his spoon fed, he will not eat from other people, only from me. Found this out when I went away for 2 weeks and had my sister take care of the tanks. He refused to eat the entire time I was gone. When she entered the room, he would go to the bottom and stay there until she left. When I came back, he was all excited. I swear, if he were a dog, he'd be wagging his tail. He chowed down like nobody's business immediately.

My GG doesnt like my wife and will not eat when im on vacation. He will watch everything going on around his tank and DO NOT try to touch his tank, he flips out on anyone except me..