uncleben

In a 45 Gallon tank, I have 4 Gold Gouramis, 1 Blue Gourami and 3 Snakeskin Gouramis, 2 albino corys, 1 clown loach, and 1 common pleco. The tank is planted with live plants, has u/g and power filters. The chemistry is fine, nitrates a bit high. All the fish have great color, form, etc., except the gouramis go the the bottom in a group when the light is on. Turn off the light and everyone is happy, swimming about. I have changed the lighting, but no difference. Hmmmmmm.... Any ideas?

Luniyn

Gouramis like a little protection around them. They can be aggressive toward each other, but actually timid at times to other fish and their environment. Generally it's a good idea to have some floating plants or tall plants that bend and run along the top of the water to create a bit of cover for them. If that's not possible due to having to get light down to all of your plants, then either just take it for granted that they will go down to the bottom till the lights are off, or give them some denser cover along the bottom (might just happen naturally when your plants grow in thicker if they haven't already). There is always the possibility that they will just get used to things over time and finally realize that nothing is going to hurt them just because the tank is brighter, but that's hard to say for certain.