Serial killer honey gourami

A little over a year ago, I set up a 55 gallon planted tank. I made a number of stocking errors, and my LFS helped by mislabeling some thick lipped gourami. but I recently thought I had it figured out when I returned the thicklips. I had 9 honey gourami, 9 lambchop rasboras, a bunch of cherry and amono shrimp and two bamboo shrimp.

About a week after I got the last 6 honeys, a gourami died. The shrimp got to it before I did, so there wasn't much to see looking at the dead fish. I stocked it up to stress over the move.

About 2 weeks later, another gourami was alternating between laying on the bottom and floating nose up at the surface. It had clearly been beat up, with about half it's tail missing. I moved it to a tank I have going to propagate some plants. It wasn't eating and seemed to be getting worse, so I euthanized it.

Now this afternoon, I find another fish missing a good part of it's tail, floating at the surface. I never see any real violence, so I can't remove the troublemaker as I have no idea which one it is.

I moved the wounded fish into the plant tank but I doubt if it will recover. I'm pretty frustrated with the whole thing and can't think of anything but to rehome the gourami and try something else. I included a photo, as you can see the tank is pretty well planted.

Does this kind of thing ever end? Any chance that wounded fish will recover? One of the reason I got honey gourami n the first place is their reputation as being less aggressive than most of the other fish I was considering.

jinjerJOSH22 , any advice?

 

Hey sorry this is happening
The most important thing is to work out exactly what is happening and act on it. Personally I wouldn't jump to immediately blame another Honey, it could be the case but it's highly unlikely that is it. Even spawning males are rarely capable of doing any real damage to other threats or rivals. Now saying that of course it is possible, it's also possible the last fish you added weren't so healthy and other fish/Shrimp are nipping at the tails etc...

 

I guess I'll wait and hope for the best. I appreciate you answering as I know you have a lot experience.

 

Could just be unhealthy but would keep an eye on the honeys lost 1 couple months ago do to aggressive honey

 

Invest in a camera such as a wifi camera. Most of these cameras will allow you to live view on your mobile phone or computer. They can range anywhere from $20-$50 on average. I personally use AMCREST cameras because they have night vision but many others do as well. If you're unable to monitor them in real time then pop a SD Card in there which will record. You have a death the next day...go back to the camera and see what happened. If it's from violent aggression... You'll be able to confirm.

 

For a variety of reasons, I spend all too much time in the room with this tank. Between high local covid transmission and it being the depth of winter and me living in Wisconsin, I'm home quite a bit.

I never see any actual bullying, just the usual posturing, but I'll keep an eye out. Thanks for taking the time to answer.

 

Could be happening maybe when the lights are out or when you sleeping. Repeat missing tails and wounds don't happen overnight unless there is a cause. I'm hoping you find your serial killer soon.

 

Are they all male Gouramis? Some dwarf Gourami species will nip and chase, although I've never seen any do the extent of damage you are saying, but it's certainly possible. I would try to add in some more hides if possible and see if that helps, one of my dwarfs spends most of its day behind my tall Sword. Also, if adding aggressive species in big groups, adding them at the same time and adding them last can limit aggressive tendencies in some cases just for future reference. Size differences also obviously play a role in aggression. Either way, I'm sorry this is happening

 

They're honey gourami, not dwarfs. No doubt the dead one had some tail damage, I think the other one is crimping his fins but I don't see any torn fins. I was probly over reacting to the dead one having some damage.

Aquariums are so calming when they work and such a downer when things are going wrong.

 

I'll try to write a more extensive post later, but for now, I want to say that my worst experience so far with a fish was a male honey gourami in mating colors.

He started as what everyone describes, sweet and playful; in the end, I had to return him because everyone else in the tank was miserable and in danger. One cory panda did not live through the injuries the gourami inflicted on him.

Honey gourami: never again.

 

I'll try to write a more extensive post later, but for now, I want to say that my worst experience so far with a fish was a male honey gourami in mating colors.

He started as what everyone describes, sweet and playful; in the end, I had to return him because everyone else in the tank was miserable and in danger. One cory panda did not live through the injuries the gourami inflicted on him.

Honey gourami: never again.

I find this interesting but also hard to believe it was actually a Honey Gourami.
Never the less I look forward to the more extensive version.
If you have photo that would be great.

 

I find this interesting but also hard to believe it was actually a Honey Gourami.
Never the less I look forward to the more extensive version.
If you have photo that would be great.

I have writting a more detailed account here.

Honey gourami bad experience | Honey Gourami Forum

 

Serial killer honey gourami​

This is a case for the FBI...

 

Well my gouramis stopped dying, I restocked and it's really going well now.

I'd like to thank jinjerJOSH22 for talking me down. I was gonna rehome the gourami and start over again with who knows what.

Now I have the gouramis with some rasboras and shrimp and it's pretty chill.