Dwarf Gourami aggressive at feeding time....what should I do?

entropy311

entropy311

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Nov 23, 2006
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Well, I followed the suggestions of a couple of other posters in my last post, and purchased four bronze cories....everything seemed great until a couple of days ago. My dwarf gourami is very fond of Hikari algae wafers...the cories eat both shrimp pellets and the wafers. My white clouds have also taken a liking to shrimp pellets as well.

This results in EVERYONE crowding the bottom 1/4 of the tank after I've finished feeding them flakes/floating food. The gourami then proceeds to alternate between eating wafers and charging at the other fish, but mostly at the catfish. Sometimes he spends more time chasing them than he does eating. These aren't small brushes, either...he's very persistent at times, chasing them halfway across the tank.

While I haven't seen any actual physical damage as of yet, I did catch the dwarf gourami actually nipping a cory right on the head (this was at the start of the very first chase). I'm afraid that at the very least, this is stressing out my cories a good deal.

I think this might be for a number of reasons:

1. Overcrowding during feeding time. The bottom of the tank just looks very packed with a dozen white clouds, 4 cories, and a dwarf gourami there all at the same time. The tank is a 20 gallon long, by the way. I've tried placing wafers/pellets all over different points in the tank so that one fish can't defend all of them at the same time, but to no avail.

2. The gourami is just being territorial. The cories are recent arrivals, so the gourami might just be annoyed at their incursion in his territory (which might be the whole tank).

3. The gourami is trying to protect his food. This doesn't really make sense as I'm slightly overfeeding while I figure out exactly how much the cories eat, but fish will be fish, I guess.

Here's a list of the tank's inhabitants:
1 Dwarf Gourami
12 White Cloud Minnows
4 Bronze Cories
6 Ghost Shrimp

Water Parameters: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, <20 nitrates (as of 20 minutes ago).

I have two caves set up as possible mini-territories for the gourami, but he hasn't really taken a liking to either of them; I also have plants set up on both sides of the tank to break up line of sight. There's a small clearing in the middle.

Is there anything I can do to stop this behavior? Do you think my cories will eventually get killed? They are very small (~1 inch) and the gourami is pretty big (~2 inches). Are there any other solutions that I might not have thought of?
 
well thought-out post!

I would suggest trying to change foods perhaps, or maybe just hold the food at the surface, where these fish eat. this may be of use to you.

http://fishquest.proboards80.com/index.cgi?board=freshwaterprofiles&action=display&thread=1172433949

I know that it deals with honey/sunsets, but you may find it to be useful in your situation.

Also, have you tryed feeding the cories at night and the gourami during the day?

i have a feeling that this may work for you.

Hope this helps!

Black.
 
It's a 20 gallon long. I thought I might be borderline overstocking, but after asking in another post, it seemed acceptable since the fish listed typically occupy different strata within the tank. I also have decent filtration (Magnum H.O.T. 250 combined with a Whisper 30), so I thought that would alleviate things a bit.
 
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I have a gourami who loves the wafers too and he will chase the tetra/danio but my corys he just sorta nudges gently; he doesn't harm anyone.

But because of the similar issue.. ie, everyone loves the wafers and they crowd around them... I suggest you do what I do: Break the wafer in half and drop the 2 parts in away from each other. The gourami can claim one of his own and the gentler fish can eat off the other.

Is that what you mean you tried when you said you placed them in different parts of the tank?

I have a 20g long also and our stockings are similar. I don't think you are overstocked, imo.

Since the corys are recent additions, it sounds like to me your gourami is probably just being territorial around his food, which seems natural to me. This may change in the next week or two as everyone gets settled... its been my experience so far that when you add fish, it can throw the balance off and take a week or two for everyone to get used to each other.

Watch your corys carefully to be sure he's not actually doing physical harm to your other fish... otherwise, I would watch and wait.
 
To BlackWolf

Interesting post; I usually turn off my filters while I'm feeding floating food. No matter how much flake food I put in, all the fish eventually descend to the bottom to eat the sinking food. On a happier note, I noticed that my gourami is now ignoring everyone in favor of swimming laps back and forth across the tank; I'm guessing that he is just trying to defend his food after all. For their part, the other fish are still all around the bottom eating the sinking food.

I'll just try rearranging the tank a bit and see if that helps things during feeding time. Thanks for the suggestion, though.
 
pharasalia said:

But because of the similar issue.. ie, everyone loves the wafers and they crowd around them... I suggest you do what I do: Break the wafer in half and drop the 2 parts in away from each other. The gourami can claim one of his own and the gentler fish can eat off the other.

Is that what you mean you tried when you said you placed them in different parts of the tank?
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I do, pretty much. Then I drop 3 shrimp pellets in random locations throughout the tank.
 
My dwarf gourami does exactly the same thing, except he patrols the surface water. I soak my flakes before I put them in the water so that some of them will sink down for my blue ram and tetras. This way, the gourami can "guard" the flakes that are at the surface, while the others can pick at the sinking flakes.
 
Feed the cories at night... problem solved... when you turn off the lights at night, drop in afew pellets... none of the other fish will bother the food, and the cories will easily find it!
 
you should feed more. a couple algae wafers and three shrimp pellets doesn't cut it, IMO. double that amount, give them ten minutes, and retreive the leftovers if necessary. cories need some time to work at the shrimp pellets, and if they're being bothered by the gourami and others they may not be getting enough to eat.
 
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