Gourami help! They don't get along

kamikaze_fish

kamikaze_fish

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Aug 18, 2008
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Kansas
I'm fairly new to all this, I got my 3g tank a month ago with a cherry barb. Thats where it all started for me. Now I've got 1-20g, 1-10g, and the 3g. In the 10g I have 2 male dwarf gourami, one is a sunset (I think that's what it's called) and the other is just a dwarf. I read originally, or so I thought, that male gourami are territorial and will fight if they're the same kind, but of different kinds, they'll steer clear of each other. I'm wondering if mine are too close alike maybe? They fight constantly. The Dwarf I had to put in the 20 cuase he stressed himself and he's the aggressor. I don't know what to do but I don't want them in seperate tanks. Suggestions? A recent article I read said they're fine unless you only have 2, in other words, that it is best to have 3 to prevent the fighting. Also, I read to have several plants, but how many is several? I'm just really confused. Wife and I are considering a paradise blue gourami to see if that helps out, by adding a 3rd. Right now we have 3 plants in there, all are tall reaching to mid or top of the tank and they're kind of spread througout the tank.
 
DGs are DGs - they tend not to get along no matter the variety.

Visual barriers in a large tank can allow multiples to co-exist, but none of your tanks are large enough to benefit from this.

I suggest splitting them up.
 
I agree, coloration has nothing to do with it. A male DG is still going to be seen as a threat to the other. In a large enough tank with enough plants to break the line of sight it could work, unfortunately none of your tanks are large enough for both to coexist peacefully.
 
Forgive my ignorance on this.

So in the 20, adding a 3rd wouldn't balance things any? Would any other semi aggressive fish help? Right now all we have in the tanks is 2 barbs, a dg, and a pleco in the 20, an otto and a dg in the 10, and 2 guppies in the 3g. We would willingly rearrange who is in what tank, such as the barbs in the 10 and the gourami in the 20. It's a 20 long if that makes any difference.
 
Nope - I'd keep a DG in the 10 and one in the 20 w/ the barbs. I'd rehome the Pleco unless it's a bushy-nose or other small species. Common plecos want to grow to well over a foot in length - way too large for a 20g.

If the Barbs are getting pushy, adding more might confine aggression to the Barb school, so they'd be more likely to leave the DG alone, but a 20g tank is also too small for a school of barbs (IMO). Maybe you could trade the barbs & the pleco in for a pair of Rams and/or 6-8 small Tetras or Rasboras?
 
I said wrong...they're cherry barbs. I'll just rehome the cherry barbs in the 10 with 1 dg and just keep an eye on the pleco. We're going to get a bigger tank at some point so that'll probably just depend on the pleco. Any suggestions on other species to put in with the soon to be lonely gourami in the 20?
 
What often confuses people are the different color variation of Dwarf Gouramis. Even though they look like they are different species they aren't, so none of them are going to get along, especially not in a 10 or 20gallon tank.

I would seperate them and there are several tetra species that do well with DG and your size tanks such as neons, cardnials, lemons, black-skirt, or glowlight tetras.
 
You could try (smaller) tetras such as neons or cardinals.
 
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