Aggressive pearl gourami

I have a 10 gallon tank with 2 pearl gourami 4 gold fish 1 butterfly Molly 1 red plate 1 whip tail catfish and a upside down catfish. One of the pearls is being very aggressive to everyone in my tank. I'm afraid that he'll end up killing one of them. Does anyone have any opinions on how make him be less aggressive or stop doing it?

 

Wow, that's messed up.
GET A BIGGER TANK!


this is a user error . All of these fish are toobig for a 10 gallon. Pearl gourami are easily the most peaceful gourami othwise.
whats the temp on your tank, because some of these are warm water and other are cold water.

 

But I have a 20 gallon but I don't have enough money to buy a new air pump and a new Lid. But I have empty tank

My temperature is 78

 

Hello! Unfortunately there are quite a few problems with your tank.
- Gourami do not do well when housed with other gourami, that's why it is so aggressive.
- Gourami are tropical fish and need warmer water temperature whereas goldfish are cold water fish.
- Upside down catfish get large so you will need to upgrade.
- Do you have fancy goldfish or comet goldfish?
- Fancy goldfish need 20 gallon per fish. You say you have four, so you will need at least a 55 gallon tank.
- If you have comet goldfish, you will need to rehome them or build a pond since they get over a foot long.
- Are you aware of the nitrogen cycle? If not, check out the article here on Fishlore.
- Do you have a test kit? Make sure it is a liquid test kit for best results. I recommend API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Please test your water and post the results. Good luck.

 

I don't have any fancy gold fish I got the cheapest ones to cycle my tank when I first got it and they've been in ever since. My fish tank water is perfect I get it tested every week.

 

What are your water parameters ? (Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH)

 

That's too hot for any goldfish.

If ypu can't get a bogger tank, its time to return some fish

 

But how do I make the pearl gourami less aggressive

I don't know my exact numbers for my water but the dude at the pet store said it was perfect

 

But how do I make the pearl gourami less aggressive

It's most likely because their are two gouramis in the tank. My suggestion, give back one gourami, the goldfish, the whip tail catfish and see what happens or upgrade to that 20 gallon of yours. Also, buy a test kit of your own, Pet stores most likely use strips, and those are unreliable.

 

Welcome to fishlore!
If he's being aggressive to everyone in the tank, then it doesn't have to do with there being two gouramis in the same tank. The two pearls can even be a male/female pair. What's most likely (and obvious) is that the tank is too small for all of those fish, and the strongest fish in the tank is cramped, and is stressed, so he is taking it out on the other fish.

 

Thank you guys

 

Yeahpearls are even kept in groups sometimes. Id almost start over to be honest

 

Welcome to Fishlore ! You have found a wonderful forum here, with many friendly , helpful, experienced fish keepers !!! I have learned so much since I joined this forum last year!

Most of us started in the hobby with a similar experience as yours. Fish stores are most interested in selling fish, and will often sell you incompatible fish. I would encourage you to take their advice with a huge grain of salt, and ask lots of questions on Fishlore instead!

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that none of your fish are suitable for a 10 gallon tank. The goldfish belong in a pond. Pearl gourami are gorgeous , peaceful fish that can generally be kept together in a larger aquarium. Others can offer more specific advice on how large, but I'm thinking 30 or 40 gallons for a pair of pearls.

I would encourage you to invest in a API Freshwater Master Test Kit. It is very accurate and will last for years. Much more accurate than test strips, and also much more economical in the long run.

You may want to consider rehoming most of your fish if you can't upgrade to a larger tank fairly soon.

I believe that most fish stores test your water with inaccurate test strips . You could ask if they can test with a liquid test kit and give you numerical test results for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH, rather than just telling you that your water is fine.

 

A 36 gallon is the minimum imo for pearls.

 

^ I second what anders says. pearls are not aggressive with other pearls. If they are in fact a pair, they are likeley being aggressive only because of the lack of territory. in a proper size tank, groups of pearls can be kept safely.

 

Ok, lol, time for us to chill. Lax , pug, anders: I think we're all repeating each other. Frankly to me it comes down to bigger tanks or start over with returns.

 

If you decided to start over you could get some guppies, or celestial pearl danios, or chillI rasboras, or a better with quiet a few shrimp. There are other ways to go to. So just some ideas.

 

For traditional, yet out of the box : betta with freshwater clam companion. betta

 

I bought two female pearls about a week ago to put in my 65gal, everything was fine while they were settling in. However recently one of the much larger pearls has become aggressive at feeding time and bullies the other one and today I even witnessed her nipping at the phantom tetras when they went to eat.
Even when the little pearl is the other side of the tank she still gets bullied, It's gotten to where the other pearl just hides at feeding time to avoid the other (shes still eating though). I'm not sure really what to do about this as I have no free tanks & I may have to treat the tank for ich soon so I can't take her back. I could try get a cheap tank but I won't be able to cycle it and because all of my tanks are fairly new I don't want to risk breaking their cycle by using media.

 

I have an aggressive gourami as well. I can’t provide any help, but I want to know what others have to say

 

Sadly the only method I've found that SOLVES the problem is to put a more alpha fish in the tank (doesn't have to be aggressive just dominant), though by increasing plants or décor you can reduce line of sight and reduce aggression, also you can try a complete shuffle of your landscape and ornaments. That sometimes changes behavior a good deal. Last resort would be lower water temperature, the cooler the water the more docile they should become. Keep in mind this stunts growth though.
Hope that was helpful

 

Sadly the only method I've found that SOLVES the problem is to put a more alpha fish in the tank (doesn't have to be aggressive just dominant), though by increasing plants or décor you can reduce line of sight and reduce aggression, also you can try a complete shuffle of your landscape and ornaments. That sometimes changes behavior a good deal. Last resort would be lower water temperature, the cooler the water the more docile they should become. Keep in mind this stunts growth though.
Hope that was helpful

Thanks, unfortunately the little pearl died as it seemed she was extremely underweight with ich when I bought her and was sick from day 1 and treatment may have been a bit too much for her.
Now everyone in the tank has been free of all ich and parasites for the past 2-3 weeks (I may wait longer) I was wondering if getting a trio would be better since she won't be able to focus on just one fish?

The problem I have with adding more plants and decor is my tank is 70cm tall, I can't seem to find any plants that grow extremely tall in a low light tank, I do have some floating plants but my frogbit does not seem to like the tank and has not multiplied much where as my dwarf water lettuce is thriving (but the roots are really short)

The water is kept at 76-77 since I also have red phantom tetra which prefer cooler water, I am not sure how fast pearls actually grow since they were being kept in a small tank of maybe 15gal in my lfs and she was about 4 cm long and now about a month later shes 5cm long (body not tail)