Moving my new dwarf gourami to my main tank

My main tank is 55g. It already has a male dwarf gourami in it. I made an impulse decision a few weeks ago and bought another DG from walmart. I've read that 55 gallon should be big enough for two to have their own territory but the old DG has been in there for a while and has become king of the tank. I'm worried because my new DG is more shy than the old one.

I need to come up with the best way to move the new guy in and let him get established without being bullied by the old guy. First of all, I'm going to buy floating plants which should've already done. Hopefully that will help them establish territory better. I was think about taking the old guy out and putting him in QT while I put the new guy in and let him get established. Then after about a week I'd put the old guy back in.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

In my 29 gallon I had a DG for about a month then I got another one (thought it was a female). They did fine. 2 days later I notice it is NOT a girl. I was not paying attention to it lol. They have been fine since then. They both are ALWAYS next to each other. No nipping . With 2 male dwarf gouramis you can not know 100%. They can be best friends/tolerate each other/ Kill each other. If you have enough space(55G sounds more then enough) then try it. You won't know till then;just keep an eye on them.

 

Many times rearranging the tank will help with that. It sorta makes the old fish think he is in a different location and will give both fish a chance to set up territories.

 

They can be fine but my warning is this we had a DG for nearly 8 months then we rearranged the tank and put in another one and within two weeks the new one had killed our old one.. Was absolutely devastating, this is in an 80G also.

So yes they should be fine but there is always the possibility for an off fish...

 

Two male DG's often isn't a good idea !!! As said in othet threads this often means WAR !!!! 99% of the Dwarfs are kept too warm, which meand mating/breeding-mood = agression. Think you've to keep them at temp 22 C (or even cooler) and max 24C.

 

I put the new guy in a bag and now I'm letting him float around in the main tank. The two are already trying to fight each other through the bag. This is gonna be a problem... :/

 

Rearrange the tank before you put him in and watch them.

 

Okay. Should I wait a few minutes before trying to put him in again?

 

Well, I rearranged the tank and they're still trying to fight through the bag. I forgot to mention I turned the temp down too. Now I'm out of ideas

 

I am too . Very aggressive ...

 

From what your saying it definitely is sounding more and more like a bad idea...
Does your tank have LOTS of hiding places? So that once he is out of the bag he has places to run to and hide?
Because that is possibly the only thing that will stop them from tearing each other apart...

 

I personally would try and take the original dg out of the tank, rearrange, and put new guy in. Give him a couple days or week to warm up then add the original back in(again rearrange before) hopefully it works out for you!! That's what I do when I add a new fish to my bettas tank. It gives the new one to calm down/recover from stress before being chased. If the chasing gets excessive, I take elvis back out and in a small container for a while before retrying. If this still doesn't work, new fish is taken from tank. Its kinda like putting them in timeout after chasing haha

 

The tank is pretty plain, unfortunately. Here's an old pic: The plants have grown since then and I added a small piece of driftwood but there really aren't many hiding places. There's definitely room for more hiding places. Maybe I shop around Petco tomorrow and see what they have.

 

I would get some more hiding places. You could also try bunching the plants in a group, giving them the chance to hide between leaves better some more plants like wisteria would also give them a nice hideout, and or some sort of cave like your current rocks. The only hideouts I have in my 29 gal are plants, a small piece of driftwood, a couple terra cotta planter pots and a piece of slate leaned against a pot to make a cave I've made it so the fish can hide from other fish, yet I can still easily find/see them if I want.

 

If they are anything like cichlids, after you rearrange the decor they will still fight, but this time it's to decide the territory and eveything, and less the old one chasing the new. It can work out, how big are they relative to eachother? Most likely if they cannot make peace the bigger/stronger will win, so it's good if they're the same size or near that.

 

If they are anything like cichlids, after you rearrange the decor they will still fight, but this time it's to decide the territory and eveything, and less the old one chasing the new. It can work out, how big are they relative to eachother? Most likely if they cannot make peace the bigger/stronger will win, so it's good if they're the same size or near that.

They aren't like cichlids !!! These fish need lots of plants and defo floating plants. I really am afraid one of the males won't survive int his tank. Pic of my tank with Pearl Gouramis.

 

They aren't like cichlids !!! These fish need lots of plants and defo floating plants. I really am afraid one of the males won't survive int his tank. Pic of my tank with Pearl Gouramis.

I see, well I meant in the sorting out territory part.

 

I understood, but I meand gouramis don't really have a territorium of their own ( as cichlids) . If there is a bubble nest the protect that. Normally they swim through the whole tank. A less dominant male would like to hide between te a plants. In this tank it will be chased until dead I am afraid.

 

ah I see, well in that case mixing males would be a bad idea.

 

I agree, you will need many more hiding places for your DG's to be safe. One will be more dominant than the other and will constantly be chasing the other gourami nipping and shoving.
Like it was said above, the dominant one will most likely chase around the other DG until one ends up dead

Like I said before I had a dwarf gourami kill another dwarf gourami in a 80G and there was a lot more hiding places in my tank. They honestly don't let up if they can see each other, they will fight and chase. Eventually the stress or the injuries will become too much for the fish.