Aggressive Female Pearl Gourami

[KrystaK]

So I have a 30 G, it's fully cycled, been running for over a year (Accidentally restarted the cycle at one point so I may as well say it's been running for 4 months.) Anyways, it's pretty well fully stocked in my opinion. 
 
My tank is 36' L x 16' H x 12' W (Give or take, I can't remember it's exact measurements)
 
The stock is:
1 Female pearl Gourami: (Fully grown, rather territorial to other fish) I like her a lot but I don't think her personality is very good. If any free swimming fish is even half her size she sees them as a threat.
5 Zebra Danios, they're nice but I could do without them, I just wanted a schooling fish, but they don't really school, and they're the most sensitive fish in my tank.
3 Platys The largest female is what my Gourami see's as her main competitor.
5 Panda Corys: My funny little babies who I love

Only 1 female in the group so I'm keeping my eye out for another
1 4' Male BNP. I like him, he gets defensive when I get to close to the tank at feeding time. He's rather bossy to the Cory's but there's enough food for them to all have some so I've had no major problems there. 
 
I like my Pearl Girl, but I feel she is just a little to aggressive, and I'm wondering what to do about it. I can rehome any of these fish pretty easily, if need be. 
 
I was just wondering if anyone has any idea why my female is a bully, and how I could fix it.
Does she need another Gourami in there to help settle her down? But she's fully grown and for the most part the Gourami sold in fish stores aren't (At least not the pearls that are sold locally)
What would I have to rehome to make room if another Gourami were what she needed?
I could remove the platy she sees as her competitor, but I feel that then she would just pick on the two smaller platys more. 
 
 

 

[Ruskull]

Just my opinion but I would re home all of the Platys and Danios.  The Platys are seen as competition and Danios are too busy & fast moving of a fish to keep with the normally docile Pearl Gouramis unless the tank is much larger.
 
Adding a male or another female Pearl Gourami to the mix can help or hurt the situation, depends on the individual personalities of the fish, the size, etc.  I successfully  keep a pair of Pearls with an Opaline female & a Paradise female.  The chemistry works because the aggression is spread out, if that makes sense.  The optimum mix in a tank your size is a trio of 1 male & 2 females with no other large centerpiece fish for competition.
 
I also keep Glass Catfish & Cherry Barbs in the same tank, which is a 36 gallon bowfront.  The volume of which is just slightly more than yours even though the length is shorter.  That tank is also fairly heavily planted with many places to hide.  The female Pearl Gourami is the largest yet most docile of the Gouramis in that tank.  She was purchased from a tank that was huge with about 30-40 Danios on one end while she hung out at the other end all by herself.  She didn't seem to want any par t of those fish.............lol

 

[KrystaK]

yeah, I was thinking of rehoming the danios. I like them but they aren't quite what i was hoping for - though one of them is albino which is pretty cool  Catching them is going to be a pain though  
 
As far as the platys, I have a 20 gal, I'll just move them to the 20 gal I suppose. I'm just worried that she may see me adding another Gourami as more competition for her. I suppose I'll have to re-scape the tank so it's not like another Gourami is invading her territory. 
 
Do you think another pearl or two would be best or to get one or a pair of a different species like Honey?

 

[Ruskull]

Again, just my opinion but adding another top dwelling species like Honey Gouramis would probably be a bad idea in this case.  I would fully expect that she'd turn her aggression towards the new Honeys.  I would try a male Pearl Gourami that was a bit on the large side but I'd keep a close eye on how they get along in the beginning days/weeks.

 

[KrystaK]

Thanks I'll give it some thought and eventually post back here on how it's going probably

 

[Ruskull]

Kewl, I'll check back...........

 

[Paradise3]

Pearls become territorial as they mature I've found. Same as Opalines. Are you sure it's a female and not a male? Adding another gourami or another top dweller won't help out as she'll see it as even more of a threat to her territory.