finally i decided to take care of it. i put the 2 fish into a 10 gallon and am letting them duke it out. so far its even but im hoping one will become a clear winner and settle this dispute, any ideas on how else to stop them from fighting?
I get this feeling you are trying to punish your fish for misbehaving.
If I am correct, fish are just not intelligent enough to have their behavior corrected/modified like this.They are not dogs who you can teach to not fight or something like that.
You said you don't want to setup another tank so finding another home for one of the gouramis is going to be your best bet.
Many people don't realize that gouramis are related to bettas and other anabantoid males fight as well.
I bought a beautiful gold gourami and he wasn't "fitting in" well in my community tank -going after other fish- but that was his personality-so I took him to my LFS- they were happy to give him a home.
It was easy and I had no bad feelings.
Janet
everytime you see the bigger one start to chase the smaller one, tap the glass very hard but not hard enough to break it, when it looks at you point your finger at it harshly, eventually it will begin to recognize that "Finger" means NO! stop it, bad fish : )
I'll take it that little pearl of wisdom didn't work then...:liar: