Agressive Gourami

[liquidcool]

Hi There,

I have a pair of Gourami's in my tank. One Male and one female. I have an issue where the male is constantly chasing around the female and seems to be nipping/bunting at her sides when he gets her by surprise.

If I add another female into the tank would that calm him down?

Is there another way to get him to stop doing this ? It is rather frustrating watching this.

I have a Juwel 120 Tank with a good grouping of plants.

Thanks

 

[jasonskillz]

there are many species of gouramis

 

[SugarQube]

Hi There,

I have a pair of Gourami's in my tank. One Male and one female. I have an issue where the male is constantly chasing around the female and seems to be nipping/bunting at her sides when he gets her by surprise.

If I add another female into the tank would that calm him down?

Is there another way to get him to stop doing this ? It is rather frustrating watching this.

I have a Juwel 120 Tank with a good grouping of plants.

Thanks

Hi I had a dwarf male and female gourami got them as they are supposed to be community peaceful fish and the male was doing exactly the same the female died tonight the male tries it with the other fish too. Was told yesterday in the shop to get another female. I have taken a dislike to him now I sometimes even hear him ramming into the glass on the tank. Sugar

 

[liquidcool]

Sorry I meant Dwarf Gourami's

 

[confusion]

Unfortunately, some individual dwarf gouramis are overly aggressive.

 

[rob newland]

I would either take the gourami back, or if you wont, just keep him on his own - adding a female will not help if he is aggro already.

 

[xJake]

Putting my gold gourami in a larger tank helped to cut down most of the aggression issues I had with him.

 

[SugarQube]

I am so wishing I never bought dwarf gouramis, left with the male he is nasty and I am beginning to take a dislike to him He rams the other fish and I even hear him ramming the glass it's that loud community fish my A*** I would never even consider a gourami again what ever did I do to deserve him I will never know

 

[Omega G]

hi there, i had a pair of cobalt blue dwarf gouramis, and they dun exactlly the same the male evn took a chunk out of the female !!!! ur best bet is to buy two females for every male and when the male mates and they lay eggs, take one female (the over one) bak to the shop. i just took a female gold gourami which dun the same to anuva female opaline gourami. maybe she was transgender i dunno, i also have three robin gouramis, they are really pecefull and 1 inch is the biggest they get, they really friendly and swim together like a family!! hope this info was a bit of a help.

 

[bratni2]

I am also having some issues with my dwarf gourmai. It killed my female betta and will not leave the other gourami alone. They are in a 35 gallon tank and it goes looking for the other one to ram it or bite it. They have been fine for 2 weeks. I do not know what to do

 

[sylvia]

All the issues mentioned here with gouramies are down to them not being kept appropriately. I always say that they should never be kept as pairs - only as trios (1 male, 2 females) in at least a 15 gallon. Alternatively, groups of females work but they have to be 4 or more and in at least a 20 gallon.

The other fish in the tank can also affect behaviour as can the decor. Providing male gouramies with tall and floating plants is often all that's needed to calm them down.

Also, bettas are gouramies themselves and don't do well with other species just as they tend to be better off kept away from their own kind (I appreciate that females can be kept together - but remember, it has to be a group of 4 at least). You should never keep betta splendens with dwarf gouramies or any of the other common gouramies.

BTW, none of the afformentioned gouramies pair up. It doesn't help to let a pair spawn and then remove the third - aggression will resume as per usual as soon as the female is done laying eggs! They need to either be kept singly, in female-only groups or as trios. Aggression increases when they breed so destroying any nests and keeping th temperature from getting over 77 deg F helps keep aggression to a minnimum.