Choclate Gourami's

[Katchan]

Hi all, we purchased 5 chocolate gourami late march for my 4 y/o 's tank we lost one about 2 week after purchasing, I considard this ok considering someplaces on the net say they die if you think about looking at them. Early last week I noticed a bit of chasing/aggression going on within the group and since 2 have died and even more fighting/chasing happening. we will be getting another 6 (at least) when we can afford it (friday) and when we can locate some (the hard part).

Does anybody have experience with aggression in choc gourami's?

Should I possibly seperate them until we get some more gourami?

Katchan

 

[Doggfather]

How bigs the tank you have them in?

Firstly, chocolate gourami are an extremly difficult fish to keep, the conditions needed for them to thrive are often difficult to replicate and keep stable in home aquariums which many shops fail to mention when selling these lovley little fish.

A tank no smaller than 25 gallons should be used to hold a group of 6 - 8, no more in such small a tank since they are very picky about water quality, an acidic Ph of 6.8 or less and very soft water, if your tank water is usually hard and alkaline try putting some peat in the filter to soften it The tank lights shouldn't be too bright either.

When furnishing the tank use lots of low light plants such as java ferns, possibly water wisteria and bogwood to break up the territory in the tank, as you found out, they can be aggresive which is why the groups of at least 6 are a must...

Feeding is also an issue, they relish all live foods and often reject any form of flake food which can be a nightmare!

Should I possibly seperate them until we get some more gourami?

If you happen to have a tank with the conditions i stated above then seperation wouldn't be a bad idea, but you could be doing the fish more harm than good by seperating them and re-introducing them on friday.

Anyway, sorry for droning on and on but chocolate gourami are some of my favourite fish and i try my best to make sure they're well kept

 

[Katchan]

Anyway, sorry for droning on and on but chocolate gourami are some of my favourite fish and i try my best to make sure they're well kept

Thats ok thats why I asked

Thay are in a 20 gallon high bowfront

Well planted with some reeds moderate->large amount ambulia, lots of wisteria, 2 amazon swords and plenty of other stuff (ie I dont know the names )

before the agression started they happily got round most of the tank no problems

these guys are usually fed flake and granule with bloodworm every 3rd or 4th day, they eat well whatever the food.

have recently noticed the ph at 7.1 and have already added peat to the filter

I change water weekly or so (6-8 days) nitrAte is usually between 0 and 5 when I do water changes (as I said WELL planted tank)

there is also some driftwood, a hollow log and some plastic dinosaurs in the tank, along with some scoria which along with the plants more than breaks up the territory

As for the amount of fish all the reasearch we did before we purchased them said groups to make them feel more secure, no sites/books mentioned aggression on them . The 5 we did get was all we could get at the time (the LPS got 6 in as a special order for us but one didnt look so great ). No other place in brisbane could get any for at least 2-3 weeks.

Katchan

PS I will seriously consider moving one the gourami to another tank only as a last resort.

Edit in - the tank has been established for about 12 months