Wounded Dwarf Gourami

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squirrelrabbits

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I recently added two male Dwarf Gouramis to my 30 gallon tank (ammonia 0 and nitrites 0, totally cycled). The only other fish in there are some clown loaches who basically keep to themselves.

Here's the problem: one of the male gouramis started building a nest to breed but since none of my local stores had any females, I was not able to procure him a mate/s. He's been very territorial about the nest, chasing away anyone who comes near it, especially the other Gourami. This morning I found during feeding that the non-aggressive Gourami has an open, bleeeding wound on his face, just right of his mouth. I'm pretty sure this is from the nipping of the nest builder.

What should be done? I plan to order a few females from some place online. But in the meantime, should the aggressive fish be removed (to ensure he doesn't attack the loaches)? Should the wounded fish be placed in quaratine? And how does one treat such a wound? I do have a hospital tank set up, so i do have a place to put the wounded fellow.

Thanks for your help.

trish
 
Hi squirrelrabbits :)

The thing to worry about with your injured gourami is that fungus will grow on the wound. If it doesn't, it will heal by itself. Since you have a quarantine tank, why not move him there and do frequent water changes until it shows improvement. Since you do have other tanks I suggest you just keep them separated.

The other one is more of a problem. If he is aggressive enough to cause damage, he will probably attack the females too. Dwarf gouramis are not usually as aggressive as the full sized gouramis, but some of them do get pushy. If your tank is well planted so that the others can escape, they will be safe. If this frequent displays of aggression disturb you, all you can do is isolate the offender. He is not as likely to bother other kinds of fish, especially if they are larger than he is. :D
 
I agree with Inch. If you can separate them do it. If you don't have the space you could try rearranging the tank. A few times I've accidently destroyed my little guys nest and once the nest is gone he tends to chill out. though that is kind of mean. When i first got my female the male was very rude to her. I almost separted them because she was basically living under one plant and could never swim around but for some reason after a few weeks he stopped bothering her. He'll go up to her with his feelers but he doesn't really chase her around anymore. that makes me happy! Though i can't say I've had that kind of luck with two males. My males had to be separated.
 
If you have a stronger water current, the males won't be able to build nests in the first place. If you would like them to be able to, try adjusting the water flow so that it disturbs all but one corner of the tank. In this way the guarding male would be limmited to that corner and confrontation would be limmited. Adding extra floating plants and cover would help. Adding females in this case will not help as the male will guard the nest from all other fish - not just his male tankmate. However, adding some quick mid-dwelling fish might serve as a distraction so there's less chance of him actualy causing injury (more gouramies wouldn't work for this purpose because he'd be able to catch them!).
 

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