Mk47582
Member
Hi. Fairly new to fish keeping. I have a 16 gallon fully cycled tank with one dwarf cobalt gourami in it (I call him Kobe). I started out with the gourami and platies, but the platies died, the gourami survived. I made some beginner mistakes with cycling, and with stocking the tank too fast. I guess I got a little excited, lol (but feeling guilty I inadvertently killed my little platies). After taking about another three weeks to fix my problems with bacteria and ammonia, I am attempting to re-stock the tank slowly. Today was the first planned re-stock, I added 2 1.5” platies. I also dosed the tank with Seachem Stress Guard to help settle everyone.
To my dismay, Kobe is chasing them around the tank in spurts. I get the impression from watching them that he chases when a plate gets into his line of sight. So the chasing is not constant, but it is frequent. I have tons of silk plants, slate, caves and hides holes in the tank. I’m reading conflicting info; some literature says gourami can be aggressive, and the care sheet on fish lore says “mostly peaceful”. I was advised at the LFS that these two species were ok to place together in a community tank.
Does anyone know if this behaviour is only temporary? I have no experience with introducing new fish to a tank with established fish. Are fish like other pets like dogs or birds, where they establish a pecking order and the chasing will stop shortly? How long is an acceptable period of establishing a fish pecking order, if it exists? Or is this a sign that Kobe is not going to accept another fish in his domain? I do have a second 16 gallon tank which is currently in the cycling process, should be ready for fish 1st week in January, but i could use it to separate the platies from Kobe if this is gonna be permanent aggression. Wasn’t my plan to do that but I just don’t want to have any more fish die...trying my best for them! Any advice would be appreciated!
To my dismay, Kobe is chasing them around the tank in spurts. I get the impression from watching them that he chases when a plate gets into his line of sight. So the chasing is not constant, but it is frequent. I have tons of silk plants, slate, caves and hides holes in the tank. I’m reading conflicting info; some literature says gourami can be aggressive, and the care sheet on fish lore says “mostly peaceful”. I was advised at the LFS that these two species were ok to place together in a community tank.
Does anyone know if this behaviour is only temporary? I have no experience with introducing new fish to a tank with established fish. Are fish like other pets like dogs or birds, where they establish a pecking order and the chasing will stop shortly? How long is an acceptable period of establishing a fish pecking order, if it exists? Or is this a sign that Kobe is not going to accept another fish in his domain? I do have a second 16 gallon tank which is currently in the cycling process, should be ready for fish 1st week in January, but i could use it to separate the platies from Kobe if this is gonna be permanent aggression. Wasn’t my plan to do that but I just don’t want to have any more fish die...trying my best for them! Any advice would be appreciated!
