lighting and agression

M

Mark Miller

AC Members
May 15, 2007
22
0
0
First of all, I know I am a little bit overstocked.

11 gal.

1 neon blue dwarf gourami
3 red eyed tetras
8 small neon tetras
1 spotted cory catfish

The gourami is extremely territoral, of course. I have noticed, however, that when I turn down the overhead light, he becomes less territorial, and more interested in his surroundings. When the light is at its brightest, he seems more inclined to chase the red eyed tetras. He always leaves the cory catfish alone.

I have four species of plants doing very well, and two small snails who hitchiked in, who also seem to be doing well. There are no signs of fin nipping or injury, and all the critters seem to be healthy.

I do frequent and regular water changes, vacuuming the gravel once every two weeks. I feed them sparingly but regularly.

The only "problem" is the aggressive behavior of the gourami.

My question is, do brighter lights trigger aggression in the gourami? I guess it make sense that they would...

Any experiences?
 
What going is, 90% of fish "sleep" when the light is turned off in their tank, to them it's how they know it's time to relax and save energy for the day. Not all fish do this tho, my 3" Jaguar Cichlid is more active when the main lighting is off. So most fish when the tank becomes dark slow down to save energy.

It's not the lighting thats making your fish aggressive, it's because he knows he's the most dominant fish in the tank. Basically there is no one there to challenge him over it. Also yes the tank is to small for the fish, I recommend at lease a 29g tank for them and adding a 2nd gourami(sp)
 
I had two gouramis initially, before I got a little "overstocked", and it was a big problem - the red one keeping the blue one corralled - so much so that I returned the red neon. Are you sure it is OK to have two gouramis together?
I do plant to get a larger tank and move several of my current stock into it.
 
1 neon blue dwarf gourami

Dwarf Gourami tend to be more agressive then a regular one,
I would recomend getting a bigger tank (at least 20g) then adding one more Dwarf, i know getting another may seem like a bad idea but then again
the first one would have a companion. I do not think the lights have anything to do with it.
though you should keep them off for 8 out of 24 hours....
 
I'm going to lightly disagree with the previous posts.

One, you're not all that overstocked. It is a little tight, yes but not to a point where I would be telling you to get a larger tank; especially if you're feeding properly and maintaining the tank regularly. Plus the plants help with water quality.

These are all very peaceful fish except for the gourami so being a smaller quarters isn't going to trigger aggression.

Everyone always says that corys need friends. To me the jury is out on that one. Why? Well for one thing we can't ask them if they are happier that way. For two, many people (myself included) have kept a single cory in a tank happily for several years. So until a cory dies of obvious loneliness or tells me they're unhappy, I'm chalking that up to the board of old aquarium wives' tales. This is not to say that I don't keep my corys in schools, because I surely do. But for me it's more about the cool factor of a large group of corys swimming about and being cute; not about any perceived necessity.

Don't add any more gouramis. What you have right now is an easy balance of power. I had that in my 10g that became a 20g. One blue gourami who ruled the house. She chased people away when they annoyed her but never truly hurt anyone. It kept everything in a very tight order. The last thing I thought of doing was adding another to annoy her and cause real fighting to take place.

Go ahead and flame me for all this. I know people will. But I'm used to it. It's part of being the fishkeeping maverick. And I will continue to see things the way I see them so long as my tanks remain success stories, which they have.
 
I have to say that the single Cory seems just fine, very active, and entertaining to watch as he goes about his business. Corys are fun to watch in larger aquariums at my local store as they school together, but, as you pointed out, does that make them "happier"? I think too often we project human emotion on these little critters. The criteria I look for is overall health (lack of fin nipping, disease, loss of stock, brightness of color), activity, and a clean environment with plenty of "dark time" for them to rest. The best news for me, is, since I added the little Cory, the neon blue dwarf gourami really does seem less aggressive in general. The pugnacious looking Cory certainly is not intimidated. The two almost bump into each other at times as they go about their routines, and just 'sidestep' each other with no interaction at all. And the gourami is definately chasing the red eyed tetras less. There is no way I would add a second dwarf gourami, even in a larger space, as it didn't work out the first time I tried it.
Anyway, I am somewhat new at this, and I appreciate all the feedback on this excellent group! I am learning a great deal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom