I recently bought (2 weeks ago) a lovely group of big Gold Gouramis (about 5 inch so pretty much fully grown). The first day they were a bit jittery as is to be expected but soon settled down and were always swimming around near the front of the tank. After about a week I noticed that one of the males (think I have 2 males and 3 females) nips and chases all the other gouramis whenever he sees them. Now all 5 gouramis spend most of the day hiding in the plants near the bottom of the tank (including the agressive one!). I don't see them out and about much unless I'm feeding and all the aggression from the male is disturbing the other fish as well.

Do I need to remove the aggressive male or would adding one or two more gourami help? They didn't seem aggressive in the shop tank (which was about the size of mine) and they had no plant cover at all in there.

Help!?

Richard

Oh just remembered, stock list:

- 5 Gold Gouramis (2 male, 3 female I think)
- 4 Bolivian Rams
- 6 Threadfin Rainbows
- 12 Cardinal Tetras
- 5 Panda Corys
- 6 Amano Shrimp (masters of hiding lol)

Tank is 260 litres:



This post has been edited by rchambers: Mar 14 2008, 08:33 AM

Gold (Blue) gouramis (colour morphs)
Trichogaster trichopterus
The males of this species are renowned to be quite territorial, some moreso than others. It seems to vary from individual to induividual as to the amount of aggression.
Some will just actively chase rivals away and others will persue their tank mates to the point of death.
I would rehome one of the males. The males dorsal will be more pointed than the female, and the female will be a bit more rounded in the abdomen.
Regards
BigC

Hello,
If I was you, I'd try to re-home the most aggressive Male Gourami. > I had a Golden 'Three Spot' Gourami which harrassed the Female till dead/ chased any other largish fish.
I had it for about ten years, but could only keep small fish in with it.
If you have 3 females with a Male, the chasing may be dispersed between them, but it's usually hard to get them to stop chasing other Gourami, once established in own Aquarium.

(P.s; Yours probably may not be as aggressive as mine was- I think Three-Spot Gourami are worse for chasing.)

Hello,

I am new the this forum and only been enjoying fish for about two years, I have recently been having a problem with one of my gold Gourami it seem just out of the blue he started to become teritorial with his female and all other fish are herded into one end of the tank.

Do you know if this is normal characteristic of this breed of fish