Kissing Gourami's - Advice On Tough Tankmates Please

OK...so I have two Kissers, I have named them Vettel & Hamilton.

Reason for the names....and the advice required....Vettel chases Hamilton all over the aquarium at break neck speeds almost constantly. When not racing Hamilton spends his time looking at his reflection from various angles. Vettel usually gets his fins in a knot due to losing the race and subsequently goes on a rampage, bumping into everyone and everything and takes his temper out on the Pleco, frequently grabbing him by the tail, which as you can imagine does not go down well with the Pleco who promptly smacks Vettel in the mouth with said tail and swims back into his cave, which usually means a Mexican standoff situation tween both fish giving each other the evil eye for about 10 minutes.

As a result of this behaviour, I have decided to get a second aquarium within the next few weeks and will be moving Vettel & Hamilton into the new tank. This serves two purposes, one that Vettel can throw his tantrums without causing chaos but mostly cos the Pleco is getting pretty cheesed off and once he grows is likely to beat the heck out of Vettel in revenge, which will not be a pretty sight.

So...should I let Vettel & Hamilton live alone or are there some suitably stroppy tank mates who will put Vettel back into his box when he starts acting out please?

Thank you

 

What size is the tank?

 

This is the best post I’ve read asking for advice! Love it!

Bigger tetras, loaches and some cichlids would be good with them. When I’ve had aggression issues before, I’ve put a small group of other fish in which worked a treat or added more females of the kind of fish showing aggression but I’ve never had kissing gourami’s, so i’m unsure if adding more of them would work - someone here will confirm i’m sure

 

The tank is an 84 litre, fully planted (live plants) with more hiding places than they know what to do with.

There are some seriously silly characters in the tank......4 Bronze Cory, called Dave, Dozy, Dee & Titch....absolute nutters who love rolling the moss balls all over the place, can often see a moss ball on the move with 4 very determined Cory wiggling their little bottoms behind it, occasionally the Pleco, called Percy, sits on a nearby rock as if barking orders to the Cory. I also have a few Neon, Black Neon and Pristella Tetras....Neons just cruise around with the Black Neon's and the Pristella's have just realised that playing kiss chase is fun, especially once they catch up with that nice looking female who keeps flashing her dorsal fin at them in a highly provocative way. (The Tetras are not named yet since they dart around like idiots and won't sit still long enough to figure out who is who).

Everyone is happy and healthy, living under a newly installed CLA60 Plants LED, beautiful shade of pinky/purple...they often complained that the white LED was far too bright, so I changed the light for them

The second tank will be identical to the first apart from no live plants, this is due to an uncontained snail explosion, so the second tank will have silk plants instead....and moss balls so that the other fish with Vettel & Hamilton, if they get any, can play finball

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but they'll outgrow that tank and become more aggressive if they stay in there. They get 10 inches long and will need at least a 75 gallon minimum.

 

I have kept Kissing Gourami and think the one chased will die of stress eventually. Like with Angels I would recommend keeping them singly.

They are robust and easy fish but are quite aggressive really.

On the other hand they cannot defend themselves against other aggressive fish with hard mouths e.g. cichlids. and can be damaged in a lip lock and be unable to feed.

When I kept my single one with my Clown Loaches it annoyed the loaches by continually kissing them which I believe is challenging behaviour.

I did find Kissing Gourami a good colourful and characterful centrepiece for schooling fish in a suitably sized aquarium.

 

Currently they are still very young and just 5cm long, I am fully aware that they are likely to grow larger (several years experience of fish that ignore their growth averages etc) and appropriate steps will be taken when that happens....even though space is at a premium where I live I am planning to turn the spare room into a fish room with significantly larger tanks.

But for the immediate future my concern is the behaviour issues so am taking the initial step of seperating Vettel & Hamilton from the rest of the fish and looking to give them company of fish that will not be so easily intimidated by Vettel's bolshy behaviour

 

Believe it or not the kissing Gourami can get to
Be a foot long when full grown. They need space.