An Old Gouramis Disaster

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Bailpy6

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I had a Golden Gourami(Only Small) along with 6 Harlequins and 2 bronze corydoras. I was instructed by my local pet store they would all be fine in my 6/7 Gallon (30 litre) Tank, everything was fine for 3 months and then i noticed the Gourami starting to take interest in the little harlequins, i then thought, if it kept happening, i would return him, the next day when i came home from college, i returned to a war zone, i had 4 dead Harlequins, 1 seriously injured (he has now recovered to full health), and 1 hiding for its life, but the strange thing was the little bronze corydoras where fine. Is This normal behavior of a Golden Gourami? Or is it a freak story?
 
 
 
Unfortunately it's not a freak story. Golden gourami can grow to be 6 inches long, and that tank was probably just barely that. The poor little guy barely had any room to swim. You would feel pretty irritated too if you were locked and forced to live in stall of a public restroom for three months. It's just not enough space. Those guys need 30g+++ tanks, even for just one of them.
 
Arguably, some people would say that any tank under 10g is inhumane to keep fish in.
 
No, it's not unusual.
 
Golden gouramis are a colour morph of the three spot gourami; Trichopodus trichopterus (along with the moonlight and the opaline) and they are one of the most aggressive of the gourami family.
 
The corydoras were probably safe because they were down on the bottom, out of the gourami's eyeline, and dull coloured enough not to attract it's attention.
 
I would also advise you to stop listening to your LFS! At 6"/15 cms, it would have been far too big for your tank anyway.
 
fluttermoth said:
 
I would also advise you to stop listening to your LFS! At 6"/15 cms, it would have been far too big for your tank anyway.
 
Yea, thats a big reason why i joined here!
 
Agree with the advice given so far.
A tank that small really limits stock choices. It's great for a Betta, and not a whole lot else.
As for a Gourami and your Bronze corys, had a three spot with corys for a couple of years, she liked them. As they snuffled in the sand they kicked up bits of food. They were in a four foot tank though.
 

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