I made my first big blunder a few weeks ago. I was researching the Neon Blue Dwarf Gourami and saw that they were listed as a peaceful fish that was easily compatible with the other fish I had in my 55 gallon tank. I went into a local pet store to pick up something (don't remember what) and they had some Opaline Gouramis in stock and I found them to be very much to my liking and made a decision to go ahead and buy two of them based on the info I had found on the Dwarf Gouramis. That was where I went wrong. I got home and got the acclimation process going and got busy with some other stuff and had them in the tank before I had the chance to sit down and look them up. I saw the semi-aggressive tag and got nervous but everything seemed ok. Then I saw that the males tend not to like each other but they seemed to be getting along well enough. I thought my blunder would work out concerning the males not getting along because the web site said that as long as there was around 20 gallons of water per male they are usually ok. Alas the nightmare began after lights out on the first day. I saw alot of activity in the tank which was unusual after the lights go out but thought nothing of and the next morning my school of neons was short by 2. I suspected the Gouramis but they once again seemed to be behaving peacefully with the lights on. during the next night I lost another neon and a guppy cutting my neon school down to 3. Again I watched the gouramis closely through out the day and they behaved very nice. One of them even started playing cute in front of the glass as I was sitting there observing. The next day nothing had been killed or eaten and I thought the bad times were in the past but then in the middle of the day out of no where the darker colored of the two started attacking the one that was playing cute but I was not at home when it began my wife told me about it when I got home and as I sat at the tank to observe I noticed the lighter one had several wounds in its side and was no longer swimming well. I figured the wounds were fatal and took the aggressor out of the 55 gallon tank and put it into a small 2 gallon tank (the tank that started my interest in the hobby believe it or not) to keep him seperated. The wounded gourami died and I considered letting the other stay in the 2 gallon until I could find a way to get rid of him but since there was no filtration on the small tank I decided to put him back into the 55 and hope for the best. A week went by and he seemed to be getting along just fine nothing was getting killed and everyone was happily hanging out so I began think that maybe the one that got killed was the killer and decided to get five more neons to get the school back on the rights (3 neons just looked sad) and while I was at the LPS I also picked up 5 painted platies to add more color and variety to the tank, which is still fairly understocked with only 2 goldfish (I know they dont really fit in but they seem to enjoy it), 5 guppies, 3 neons (at the time) and the opaline gourami. I got them fairly early in the morning and went through the acclimation process and had them in the tank fairly early and they were swimming around the gourami and everything seemed peaceful. Then the lights went out for the night. The next morning one neone was completely gone another had pieces taken out of its stomach and one of the palties was missing an eye and had nips in its fins. I had a small beta tank that I was setting up for my wife and I tossed the gourami into it telling myself that it was the end of the road for him. When I went into work that night I talked about it with a friend (the one I bought the 55 from) and he said he still had a 29 gallon he was looking to get rid of so I got it to put the gourami in. Now he is all alone in a 29 gallon tank. Which brings me to my question. Anyone have any ideas on what I can put in there with him that he might not go after? I dnt want to put fish in there with him just so he can terrorize them but at the same time I think he looks a little sad in there all by himself.
Sorry about the length of the post but for some odd reason I had to tell the whole story. Didnt realize how long it was till after I posted it. Bad thing about posting after a 12 hour shift.
Sorry about the length of the post but for some odd reason I had to tell the whole story. Didnt realize how long it was till after I posted it. Bad thing about posting after a 12 hour shift.
