Aggressive Dwarf Gourami

[Delboy50]

Hi,

Tank 48L-15W-18 H

I did have concerns about getting Dwarf Gourami based on various comments I have ready over the years. The Tank
has 20 Cardinal & 14 Rummy nose Tetra & as I was wanting to create a red & blue theme I decided to add 8 Dwarf Gourami 4 blue & 4 red.

In the aquarium store I watched for a good while & there was no aggression within the tank. So basically I convinced myself all would be ok against
my natural instincts.

Well The red ones are in regular conflict but there are not impacted by it from what I can see. Still swimming about and eating well.
It is the Blue Gourami that receive the brunt of the aggression. Again 3 are swimming around fine but getting chased especially at feeding time.
1 very withdrawn and spends time much lower in the tank. It is still feeding but takes time to come to the surface.

I think that the Elodea Densa plants have started to grown on the surface & the aggression has increased.

I am seriously think of removing the red ones as they are interrupting the serenity of the tank. The blue ones are not aggressive to each other at all.

Thanks

Derek

 

[Colin_T]

They are probably all male and will continue to fight to the death until a sole winner appears. Get rid of them all or at least 6 of them. If you keep 2 then have lots of floating plants to break up their line of sight.

 

[GaryE]

It's an aggressive species.

Welcome to the "I talked myself out of doing this and then did it anyway" world of fishkeeping.

 

[Delboy50]

Thank you for the replies I am going to remove the red ones & see what happens. In the UK the shop won't take them back to be re-house.

I will need to find a home for them. A real shame as they are beautiful fish.

 

[Colin_T]

Tell the shop they sold them all to you and they have to take them back because they sold you incompatible fish.

Contact consumer protection and lodge a complaint if the shop doesn't take them back. They should never have sold you that many. If you asked for that many, they should have asked if you had separate tanks for them and they should have told you they fight with each other because all male gouramis and Bettas are territorial. They should never have let you walk out the door with that many male gouramis.