kissing gourami

Question
I have one kissing gourami fish. It digs holes in the gravel, picks up gravel and moves it arround or puts it in the leaves of the plastic plants.IT ALSO moves shells arround. Could you tell me why it does this? Thank-you

Answer
Hi Andrea,
  Are you absolutely sure it is a kissing gourami?  That behavior is perfectly normal for lots of kinds of fishes particularly cichlids, but seems a bit out of the norm for kissing gouramis, though I could be mistaken on that.  
Basically, the fish is nesting, or at a minimum, reshaping his territory in hopes that a female will come by to mate.
Think of it as spring cleaning...

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>