Aggressive Gouramis

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Hi everyone...I think I've made a boo-boo with my latest fish selection.

I've got a 25g community tank consisting of a few guppys, corys, a sword and two male dwarf gouramis. The blue/orange dwarf gourami would chase the flame one a bit but nothing significant. I recently bought a pearl gourami (which I think is another male) and hell has broken loose! The pearl is on the blue's case big time. The aggressive behaviour seems to be escalating. It started with chasing around the tank, then the blue would suddenly stop and lay on its side which I assume is submissive behaviour? This morning I have been watching them and now they seem to be doing some sort of head on sparring and now "butting" each other with their mouths.

I'm quite concerned and wonder how bad this will get. I'm hoping the pearl will just establish that he's king of the tank and eventually leave the other alone...or will it continue till he kills the blue? How do fish kill each other anyway? Its not very pleasant and certainly not what I had in mind for my peaceful community tank.

And of course, the guy at the LFS told me it would be fine *sigh*

Any advice would be appreciated :)
 
The gouramis are close relatives of the bettas and can be very territorially aggressive. Some anabantids school, but I don't think the Pearls are in that group, so I don't think its a pecking order thing.

Its a territory thing. Given enough space and sufficient cover they may be able to coexist, but without a change I'd expect the violence to continue. Some plants (real or fake) and some driftwood might help divide the tank so they each can have their own space without having to see each other. Otherwise they'll need their own tanks. The two dwarves may be fine together.

I think that most of the damage with gouramis comes from the battering as opposed to the nipping, but thats just a seems-to-me. They are capable of killing each other.

If the dorsal (top) fin reaches the base of the tail its a male (shorter on females). The dwarves have a somewhat different body shape, so I'm not as clear about telling them apart. Males are generally brighter.
 
you can sex most gouramis by looking at their dorsal fin-- if its pointed at the end its a male, but if its rounded its a female. you can also generally tell by comparing coloration...typically males are brighter and flashier.

Gouramis are closely related to betas (aka siamese fighting fish) so its not suprising to me that you are seeing this kind of aggression.

Unfortunately I think moving the pearl gourami out of the tank is going to be your only option (whether to another tank or back to the lfs).

Fish that are about the same size typically don't kill each other through massive injuries. instead they are relentless in their minor "beatings" which leads to stress on both the antagonist and the recipient. Many times one or both are so focused on offending and defending that they don't even have a chance to eat. All this stress lowers the immune system and opens the door for disease. This is how fish die in these situations.

Fish are not like dogs in these cases - they will not establish dominance and settle down - until separated or one or both dies.

sorry to be the bringer of bad news.
hope this helps,
 
Wow I was going to say that you need a few more tanks,but then I notice the end of the link (overcrowdedtank2.jpg).Nice fish though.Thanks
 
Gouramis being surface dwellers (largely) may not have their territories adequately delineated by substrate features like rocks and bogwood.

You might be better either some floating plants or some thickets/large plants that reach the surface. These could be fake; the gouramis won't care. The problem at the moment is they can see each other all the time. Even if they hide out at the bottom, as soon as one goes up to breathe, the other sees it.
 
I would echo Faramir's advice.

What I've done on larger tanks is put a big bunch of plastic tanks straddling the cross support on the top of the tank. Your 25g tank may not have that, so what I would recommend is letting your water level drop down a bit, say maybe an inch in the tank. Get some aquarium sealant and put a dab at the very top of the tank just below the lip of the cover (you should be able to hide it from sight) on the two long sides, across from each other. While the glue is still wet, put run a length of fishing line from side to side to the glue. As I am thinking this through, you could do one dab of glue first, put the line through it and allow it to dry (24 hours) and then you'll be able to pull the line taught for the second dab of glue. Then you'll have a line so that you can hold the plants in place. If you don't have this anchor, the plants will float in the water and move about the tank, and what you're trying to create in the first place is a territory.

While you're trying to do this, you might need to separate the pearl gourami. You would need a new (no detergents or cleansers or paint) bucket, maybe 3 - 5 gallons and you can put the pearl in that one. For a couple of days, your fish would be fine without filtration. If you can get a tronic heater (50w) you should be able to heat it sufficiently. (I recommend Tronic in this case because they seem to set at the temp on the scale much better than Ebo Jagers, which is my heater of choice, but you don't have a lot of time to play with the heater.) Your pearl will do fine without food for a couple of days. Then,when you've got the plants, you can add the pearl again.

Of course, you could just return the pearl, if your LFS will take it back.

Val
 
Originally posted by goldfries
never had problems with pearl gouramis. but i've seen one or 2 being more aggressive than the rest.
Click to expand...

Neither have I, and I've kept them with Dwarfs, too. Of course, it dependds on the temperament of the individual fish and the tank conditions, but, in my experience. Dwarfs and Pearls are among the most peaceful.

Golds, on the other hand, can be mean buggers. :eek:

--Anthony
 
well i had one of each (gold, pearl, dwarf) and that proved to be the pecking order. when they were all together the gold nearly killed the pearl within 24 houes. the gold all but ignored the dwarf until the dwarf ate some of his food. then i seperated the pearl and dwarf away from the gold and then Pearl and Dwarf would have it out with the pearl winning most battles. the dwarf would do a bit of instigating but mostly it would be the pearl. they currently live together in a 29 gallon. i hope they can find enough space. i have been thinking of adding a female pearl to take his attention away from the dwarf...do you think this would work? and also of getting another dward to help share some of the abuse!
 
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