Dwarf Gourami being bullied by Platy & others

Hello,

I recently set up a 37 Gallon tank (upgraded from a 5.5 gallon). I added a Dwarf Gourami in there a week and a half ago (I think it's a male) and things were going pretty well. Since the last two days I started to notice that my Gold Platy started to follow the Gourami around and nip on it's fins constantly. It's half the size of Gourami so i'm quite surprised that the Gourami doesn't attack back given that it's supposed to be a semI aggressive fish.

I also added a Gold Gourami in there last week and it also seems to be pretty territorial and some times chases around the dwarf gourami in the tank. I have also noticed my Tetras and some times even the molly trying to nip on the dwarf gourami and the poor Gourami just runs away. Why are all the fish trying to nip on her? Any idea? I've tried to read a lot of forums and blogs on this but I always read that the Dwarf gourami is an aggressive fish and generally is the one who bothers other fish, my case is completely the opposite.

Can someone please advise on what should I be doing? It's a gorgeous fish and I don't want it to be bullied and dead.

37 Gallon tank stocking:
1- dwarf gourami
1- gold gourami
1- platy
1- molly
4- cory cats
1- Red Tail shark

 

Welcome to Fish Lore, neophyte!

Sorry you're having this problem. It sounds like the best thing to do may be to rehome the dwarf gourami. Dwarf and gold three spots shouldn't be kept together, anyways. If you want to try something else before rehoming the DG, I'd add a whole bunch of real plants. Any breaks in line of sight will help them all feel a bit more comfortable.

Also, your red tail shark will get too large for that size tank. I wouldn't keep one in anything smaller than a 55 gallon. Your Corydoras should be in a group of at least six individuals of the same species as well.

 

37 Gallon tank stocking:
1- dwarf gourami
1- gold gourami
1- platy
1- molly
4- cory cats
1- Red Tail shark

I'd rehome the gold gourami and the shark. Add more cories (of the same species), and I'd also add more male platies. That might keep the original platy from bothering the DG.

 

Thanks a lot for your response Dovah, I got my fish from Petco and the person there sounded very knowledgeable and recommended that we can keep the Dwarf gourami with the Gold Gourami. She also mentioned that as long as the both Gouramis are not of the same kind, they can be kept together. But certainly that doesn't seem like the case. She also said that the Red tail shark only grows for up to a 5" max and it should be good for my tank size, do you think it's too small for the shark?

Also it's funny because the other fish do not harass the other Gold Gourami while it's exactly the same size and shape of this dwarf Gourami. Is the dwarf gourami sick or something that every fish wants to bite just that fish?

Sorry about so many questions, i'm only worried that the Gourami will die. I will move it to another tank for the time being.

I think you're right TexasDomer, I might have to bring more Platies to keep this one from being such a je... It's strange because it never used to bother any other fish earlier, it's just recently now that the platy has started to act weird.

Is there no way I can keep the shark? I really like it.

 

If I were you I'd listen to the advice of people on this forum over a pet store employee. They receive minimal training and most are just trying to make a sale or tell you what you want to hear. I could probably count on one hand how many times someone here has actually told a story about being discouraged from buying a fish that is not appropriate for their circumstances.

Gourami can be kept together, this is true. I've got four opaline in my 150 gallon and four pearls in my 125 gallon. Gourami are a bit of an enigma in my experience. Three spots/Gold/Opaline gourami are supposed to all be big bullies but once I arranged my tank properly everyone gets along fine. The pearl gourami are supposed to be big teddy bears but I'm seriously considering rehoming them since they are all giant Richards. I may keep my favorite female, I'm not sure yet. I guess the moral of this story is, everyone's situation is different - the gourami all have their own personalities so what works for some may not work for others. I definitely wouldn't keep more than one gourami in anything smaller than a 50 gallon unless we're talking about something like honey gourami.

The shark does get too big for that tank unfortunately. Can you afford a 55-75 gallon tank?

 

HI Dovah, yes! Actually we just switched to this 37 Gallon tank like 1.5 months ago from a really small tank and are considering getting a bigger tank few months down the road. We didn't want to jump into getting a huge tank given my husband and I are fairly new to this but yes may be a couple months down the road, we'll be ready for a bigger adventure

You're right, I have always enjoyed reading about fish behavior here and have always been finding my solutions here,hence this was my Go-to place with this Gourami issue. I think I am going to bring it back to the pet store and get more platies.

 

Let us know how everything turns out!

 

Hello,

Just wanted to provide an update on my fish world . We brought the dwarf gourami back to the store and got 4 platies instead to make a total of 5 platies in my tank now. It's been 3 days since and everything seems to be going well. I see the other Gold Gourami is doing quite well now. She is semI aggressive so no other fish dares to bother her

Thank you all for your advice. I'm sad about giving my favorite fish of the tank away but at least it'll live now

 

Glad everything worked out!

 

No you can't keep two gourami together, trust me I tried and had to remove one.

 

Hi, I agree, hence I had to give away another Gourami that was being bullied. Now i've only got one Gourami in my tank (Gold Gourami). She seems to be doing pretty well.

 

It really is a gamble with Gourami. I had two Pearls and three Powder Blues. The smallest PB got picked on and I had to move him, but the other four lived in harmony. Maybe you can try again on your next tank. MTS is a wonderful thing to have!!!

 

Gourami are possible in groups if you maintain the proper gender ratios.

 

I don't think with DGs that's true though. It's not recommended to keep two male DGs in the same tank unless it's a very large tank.

 

I wouldn't keep multiple males of any gourami species. I meant one male and multiple females proper ratio.

 

I wouldn't keep multiple males of any gourami species. I meant one male and multiple females proper ratio.

Honeys would be okay in a large enough tank, as would sparkling and maybe croaking?

 

I'm sure they might but I won't.

 

This might sound like a very stupid questions but when we visit the pet store, I've always seen all the Gouramis placed together in the same tank. Some times I've also seen DG & gold or kissing gourami too in the same tank. How is it that they're all peaceful in there but go all territorial when brought at home? When I got my DG from a petstore, it was in a tank with at least 6-7 other Gouramis & I didn't see them killing each other; but when I got them home, things started to get worse in a week's time when my DG was being bullied by everyone including the little platy.

 

They only house them short term since they're constantly selling them.

 

As Jaxsco mentioned it's a short term situation. It's also so cramped that fighting/trying to stake a claim on territory would be pointless.