View Full Version : Agressive Gourami
I recently purchased 3 female platinum gouramis, one of them is slightly larger than the other two and seems to be getting more aggressive by the day. She is not only picking on the other gouramis but ruthlessly chasing ANY fish that gets in her way, EVEN THE DANIOS! I was wondering if there's any solution to this problem or any advice you may have to share, thank you!
Tank Specs:
3 Platinum Gouramis (female)
6 zDanios
5 Black Skirts
1 Red Tail Shark
2 Swordtails (1 male 1 female)
1 Albino cory
1 Dwarf Pleco
Moderatly planted 40 gal
amm 0 // NitrIte 0 // Nitrate 20 // PH 7.2 // temp 75
themadblimper
12-18-2005, 11:23 PM
Some fish are like that... You could take it back to the store and get some nice dwarf gouramis or honey gouramis. They're far more peaceful and keep to themselves.
Otherwise, she may be ready to breed, and has established a territory for which to do so. They're not known for being gentle about this sort of thing... And you may loose some fish in the process.
DeCoY
12-19-2005, 12:30 AM
So... Can i expect this period to end in any certain amount of time? or is this gonna go on untill she... ya know... gets some? :eek:
Ghost_knife
12-19-2005, 12:41 AM
I would estimate 2-3 weeks unless you have a male to get funky with that monkey
SnowHeart
12-19-2005, 9:52 AM
I've had fish behave this way occasionally (a cichlid and, actually, a couple of dwarf gouramis). I would usually move them to a seperate tank for a few days. Alternatively, I had a large Gladware container that I cut some holes in, floated that in the aquarium, and put the offender in there for a day. For whatever reason, that helped a little. I think it's because it broke the sense of territoriality (sp?). I did not feel good about doing it, though, because it severely restricted the fish's swimming space and reduced the flow of fresh water despite the holes that had been cut in the container.
themadblimper
12-19-2005, 12:02 PM
She'll stay like that until she dies. She's established her territory, and she likes it. What she doesn't like is all of the fish inside of it. Even after she um... er... "gets some," she will just produce more eggs and keep on attacking everything in her crosshairs.
Gouramis are nasty when they breed. Had a honey gourami (1.5" long) successfully fend of his nest from 5 FULLY GROWN ADULT ANGELFISH. The Angels took some damage, and they finally gave up. I had to give the gourami his own tank to prevent the loss of any angels...
stingray4540
12-19-2005, 12:11 PM
It could be just that fish and that's how she will be forever. In that case you might consider trading her in. I had a dwarf gourami that was being particularly nasty to a new gourami, I got pisssed and so I caught him in a net and let the bottom of the net hang in the water. He didn't like it too much, but he seemed to chill out a little after that. You discipline your kids, you discipline your dog, so discipline that fish. :laugh: Hey you don't want him to deal drugs and work at mcdonalds the rest of his life, do you?
Thank you all SO much for your advice, I've decided to put her in quarentine (a medium/large net situated at the top of the tank) for a few days to see if it will break the habbit. She looks very upset and i hope this doesnt stress her out to much. can this cause her a lot of stress? i dont want her to get sick or somthing, thanks
~DeCoY
themadblimper
12-19-2005, 8:15 PM
Its stressful, but if shes the way you described her (Extremely healthy) a time out will do her good. Wouldn't worry too much about the stress, but a few days might push it. She may be weak when she enters the tank again. And those she tortured wont be happy... gouramis are a vengeful species... :devil: