Can anything reduce gourami aggression??

The April FOTM Contest Poll is open!
FishForums.net Fish of the Month
🏆 Click to vote! 🏆

OscarCichlid

Fish Crazy
Joined
Nov 13, 2003
Messages
391
Reaction score
0
Location
Belleville NJ
Right now i have 2 Male Blue Gouramis, 1 Male Gold Gourami, and 1 Female Opaline Gourami. I bought them when i knew nothing about them (i know a big mistake) but now i know alot about gouramis and swarf gouramis. My gouramus constantly have ripped fins and are getting seriously injured (I had a kissing gourami in the tank and they bit a hole right through him, he survived but now only lays on the bottom of the tank (after i moved him to another tank), they also bit a hole right through my male paradise gourami and completely swallowed the female) One thing i dont know is,, If i buy a few more Gouramis will there aggression lower??? (i know that in a cichlid tank you could have 1 or many is it the same with gouramis??) Also if there aggression level will go down with many gouramis in the tank, should i add males or females???
 
The males will constantly fight. I've heard that you should be keeping 3 females to every male and only getting multiple males if you have a large enough tank that they stay out of each others way.

I have 2 male and 1 female gouramis. All 3 used to be in my 180L tank and the 2 males used to only chase each other once in a while. I think I had a big enough tank they could establish a large enough territory from each other. It was quite amusing each male had bubble nests on either side of the tank and took turns with coaxing the female to lay eggs in their nests.

But I ended up separating them anyway and now 1 of the males and the female in a tank of their own. I've noticed that the male will chase the female and nip her fins, so I put plants in the tank which have now grown enough that she can pretty much stay hidden from the male as long as she wants.

So maybe you need to separate your males or fill your tank will hiding spots.
 
They are in my 55 Gallon tank. It is very well planted (with fake plants, they ate all the real ones) and there has never been a problem until now. Both male Blue gouramis would constantly chase the female opaline but there was never any damage done. The Gold Gourami owns the entire left side of the tank. The 2 Male blue Gouramis, Female Opaline gourami, and Convict share the right side. The cat fish and plecos go all over without anyone bothering them. The convict also has free roam of the tank (he doesnt mess with the gouramis and they dont mess with him). If any of the Blue/Opaline gouramis venture onto the left side of the tank they immediatly get chased away back to the right side. I got my first gourami (one of the male blues) from a friend who has had him for a few years. I figured i would get him a friend so i went out and got another blue gourami. They were always fighting but nobody has gotten hurt until now. The older gourami (now about 4-5 years old) is constantly being attacked by the younger one (2-3 Years old). I think that the old one just cant take the punishment anymore and i may have to seperate them. But that brings me to my next question. How long do they live? I thought it was 2-3 years but all of my gouramis (except the female opaline) have passed that age. If i add 2 Female Gold Gouramis, and another Female Opaline gourami would that reduce aggression?
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Members online

Back
Top