Gourami bully in my tank...

M

moboe

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Feb 17, 2004
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Greetings,

I've just added 2 blue dwarf gourami to my 20g tank. They are in there with 6 white cloud minnows and 1 Leopard danio.

I've had them for about a week, and each day one of the gourami is getting meaner and meaner. He (?) leaves the minnows and danio alone, but makes the other gourami stay in a corner of the tank behind some slate rocks and in the plants. If she (for discussion purpose) comes out from behind there, he chases her back. If she comes out to eat, he gets really mad, and chases her back, nipping at her.

She is beginning to act unhappy...dorsal fin down, not daring to venture out from the corner. I'm afraid she will starve and/or be unhappy in my tank with this bully in there.

I was thinking of adding 2 more gourami (maybe honey?) to the tank, to see if that will get the bully off his high horse. Is this a good idea? Any other suggestions? My other tank is a 6g with a betta...I don't know if this would be a better environment for the hiding gourami, as my betta used to bully his cory tank mates, too.

Help!

Thanks.

Margaret
 
Bad idea. In a tank that szie he will still be a bully. Gouramis are from the same family as Bettas and are just as mean. And adding one to a 6 gallon tank is just overloading that tank. If you could, take back the shy gourami. The other one will be fine by himself and the tank will be better off in the long run. Add a different fish to replace the lost gourami or else add some extra danios or maybe a nice small pleco like the bristle nose.
 
Thanks for the help, TKOS. I'm sorry to hear that I may have to take him back. I spent some time today feeding him some lettuce, and he was eating it from my hand...until the other one came around and chased him away.

I take it you don't think adding more gourami to the tank will help, either? I hate to take him back, although I don't want him to be unhappy. I'd love to be able to figure out a way to keep him.

Margaret
 
Another tank is really the best way. Gouramis are just territorial fish and while sometimes they can coexisit often they just become tank bullies.
 
Three is better than two...five better than four. They establish a pecking order and an odd number seems to work out better. But I would agree with posts above, your tank is too small for that many...once you buy that bigger tank ;) you should add some plants...I've used floating Ceratotopsis or a large sword successfully - it provides a "column" for the submissive fish to hide behind.
 
From my experience, I would not put any kind of gourami with a shy or timid fish. I just got done dealing with a real mess caused by two gold gouramis. They now live at the LFS. :rant:

Even a dwarf will exhibit aggresive characteristics, but if they aren't bigger than tankmates and the tankmates aren't super shy, I feel comfortable.
 
Thanks to all for your suggestions. I haven't yet decided what to do, as I'm still observing the behavior of the fish.

The aggressive gourami is only aggressive to the other gourami. He happily swims around with the minnows and danio. The shy gourami now spend her time hiding behind the plants. (I have some hedge, sword, and anacharis.) Maybe she is sick and not just shy...I can't tell. I can see no visible signs of disease on her body, but initially she would venture out at feeding time to grab some flakes, and now she pretty much just stays behind the plants. I put some lettuce in the tank, suggested for herbivores, but she didn't seem too interested. Neither was the aggressive gourami, however.

I really don't know what to do at this point. I'm kind of in a wait and see mode...I could try to add one more gourami (odd number) but I'd hate to see the aggressive one bully the new one, too.

I wish I could solve this problem, but there doesn't seem to be a fool proof answer. Thanks again for the help...cross your fingers for her!

Margaret
 
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