Community turned aggressive!

[rawied]

Hello All!

I've got a 2 month old aquarium that started out happy, but the aquarium environment has degraded as one of my Gouramis (which I had been told were community fish, but have since found out are territorial...grrr) is scaring the other fish to death!

After the recent death of 2 Mollies, I decided to go with a bigger fish - another Gourami - to see if that wouldn't keep the mean one from acting out so much. I was wrong. He chases the new fish incessantly to the point where it won't even come out to feed. I've now separated the two, with one in a smaller plastic tank w/in the bigger one (it has a vented top for water flow), but I don't like this solution. Space was tight w/o the small tank inside my 10gallon, and I don't want to have to keep it like this.

Is the only solution another tank and keep the uber-aggressive Gourami in that one alone? Should I let them get their aggressions out and hope the new fish is hardy enough? I never knew fish were such work!

Thanks,
Rachel

[joy613]

l personally would only keep on gourami in a 10 gallon tank along with some type of bottom feeders. Most gouramis in the pet stores now are male because they are more showy but much more territorial. If you keep the two together now you risk not only a beat up gourami but also disease brought on by stress. Make sure to cycle if you decide to get another tank.

[Shawnie]

welcome to fishlore rachael !! as joy said, 2 gourami's in a 10 gallon is over stocked and gourami's are territorial fish so I dont think the aggression will change.....a bigger tank would be great if at all possible...and yes as joy said, make sure you cycle it...if you dont know what that means, here's a link

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

goodluck

[Lucy]

Hi Rachael,

Joy and Shawnie gave good advice, so I will just say
Welcome to FishLore.

Good luck with your tank.

[Trio123]

All the advise above is correct. But a little more info from my person experience. Gourami's in my opinion are like that for the most part. Blue, Opaline, Gold's, and even Pearls sometimes can get super territorial if not kept in check by some other large fish (I had this happen with a Gold in my 65 gallon... had to bring him back to the pet store). From the successful tanks I've seen they need to be in groups of four or more or by themselves with other fish that wont let them turn into a tyrant. You can get away with two Pearl's and Dwarf's usually but two of any other gourami seems to never work.

ps WELCOME to FISHLORE the land of jk, no such thing right?

[lalynya]

It's rachEl..I'm RachAEL...lol ...I've had peacfull guarmi's before but they were in a much larger tank...Do you know the ratio of gallon to fish size?

[shortcut mary]

Welcome to Fishlore! The people here have helped so much! Great to have you here!
mary

[rawied]

Thanks for all of the responses! In truth I was kind of expecting the answers you gave...I've been finding out the hard way that the employees of pet stores are good actors!

Yes, I do know about the fish to gallon ratio and I've been trying to stick by it, and the aggressive gouarmi has gotten much bigger in the last two months, leading me to believe I've been relatively successful at keeping the ratio correct if I have growing fish - unless my knowledge is completely off and fish grow even if the space isn't big enough.

One larger tank is probably not the answer here since I can't really afford to upgrade at this time...

One of you had written that gouarmis become territorial if not kept in check - since he's already territorial, I'm guessing I won't be able to get him in check?

Also, I don't think it will be any better to get only bottom feeders as he's also aggressive with my two small catfish! (He has gotten better though)

Hmm, now to contemplate how to solve this. Would it be bad to keep him in a tank alone, as they are listed as community fish?

Thank you again for your warm welcomes and help!

-Rachel

[susitna-flower]

10 gallon tanks are what many folks start out with. Unfortunately they are hard to keep healthy, and you just can't have enough fish in one to feel "satisfied".

One point to make about stocking a tank....it is the 'expected adult size' you use to measure when you are choosing fish, not the size at the fish store.

Gourami's can reach 4-6" when grown, which is why you can only have one in a 10 gallon, if you have a couple of corys, that would be ALL you could have.

Do you do water changes?

[lalynya]

reagdless of the tank size some fish will keep growing

[Trio123]

no you probably cant get him in check after the fact and like I said I was just really giving you my opinion about gourami... in other words my post is useless info that I experienced and am passing on to you If your gonna do a gourami only one in a ten gallon with maybe a few cory like said above... You should be able to bring him back to the pet store and get a school of danios or neons or rasboras or a variety of other little guys that would make the tank feel a little fuller. Ask the pet store clerk the full size of a pleco and if it is fine in a ten gallon... if they say yes... then thier full of it... if they say no then you got someone who should lead you in the right direction... Good luck!!!

[COBettaCouple]

Welcome to Fishlore.

Gourami are definitely territorial and semi-aggressive. You might try the "time-out" method. Remove each gourami to large containers with water from the tank in them. Then rearrange the tank decor and acclimate both gourami back into the tank at the same time. Sometimes this works to make the aggressive fish feel like he's in a new tank.