Cobalt dwarf gourami dominance

[CKP82]

Hi,
I thought maybe my dwarf gourami needed a friend as all his tank mates have at least pairs of the same species if not more and he is solo. It all happened by accident as I went to the aquatic shop solely to buy plants and came away with a dwarf gourami and a koi female fighter.
I'd read previously that you can have more than one gourami in your tank and they'll be alright once they've established their territory. The older gourami won't leave the other one alone and even chases the koi. Will he settle down or are the new fish gonna stress out over this?
Thanks.

 

[Essjay]

Unless the tank is huge, two male gouramis in the same tank is not a good idea. Even a male and female can result in a dead female. Dwarf gouramis are at the more aggressive end of the gourami behaviour spectrum so fighting is more likely to occur than with less aggressive gouramis. Mixing gouramis and bettas is also a bad idea as they are known not to get along, even females. I don't know where you read it would be OK but few, if any, reliable sites would recommend this.

If possible, I would take the two new fish back. If they won't take them, two new tanks is the only way to stop the fighting.

 

[outofwater]

Every fish is different, and shops and comments seem to indicate that dwarves can coexist with other fish, but in my experience, they don't.
I had one that I initially acquired as a community member, but he would not leave anyone alone, so I had to give him his own 10g tank to make everyone happy.

 

[GaryE]

T. lalia, the dwarf gourami, is a very territorial fish. If you had T chuna, the honey gourami, you'd be fine. But the broad name 'gourami' covers a lot of different fish with different behaviour, and it's easy to get caught by general statements. T lalia males will kill each other, in many cases, by endlessly picking on each other and wearing each other down.

It doesn't take a day, and it's ugly.

 

[outofwater]

T. lalia, the dwarf gourami, is a very territorial fish. If you had T chuna, the honey gourami, you'd be fine. But the broad name 'gourami' covers a lot of different fish with different behaviour, and it's easy to get caught by general statements. T lalia males will kill each other, in many cases, by endlessly picking on each other and wearing each other down.

It doesn't take a day, and it's ugly.

Wish the idiots at the local petco knew this. They have all their dwarves bunched up in 13g tanks, and advertised as "community safe", suitable for any community tank.

 

[CKP82]

Ah I can give away the new gourami to a friend and I might even set up a new tank for the koi fighter. I have a smaller tank I was going to try my hand at aquascaping with.

 

[GaryE]

One lalia is great. Bunched up, they are fine, because the alpha can't decide on a target. He has too many. Crowding works in pet stores, because of turnover. At home, nope.