Dominant Gourami

[chipper_222]

G'day All,

I have a 175L community tank with 2 Gold Gourami's amongst other things. I have noticed over the last few weeks the dominant Gourami is stopping my other one from accessing the surface to breathe, as soon as it starts to go to the surface it gets chased around the tank till they are both exhausted. I know that gouramis are labyrinth fish and can breathe either way but I just don't know if this is hurting my fish or not? It rarely gets to the surface.

Any help would be appreciated.

Chipper

 

[celaeno]

what sex is the chaser and what sex is the one being chased? i believe you should buy gouramis in the ratio of 2 females per male. male gouramis have a pointy dorsal fin.

it's almost never a good idea to buy fish in pairs, since there will always be a dominant one.

 

[chipper_222]

what sex is the chaser and what sex is the one being chased? i believe you should buy gouramis in the ratio of 2 females per male. male gouramis have a pointy dorsal fin.

it's almost never a good idea to buy fish in pairs, since there will always be a dominant one.

the gouramis are both female.

 

[3ndl3r]

are you definately sure? i had this problem when i had 2 males. the dominant one eventually killed the other.

 

[chipper_222]

are you definately sure? i had this problem when i had 2 males. the dominant one eventually killed the other.

I'm pretty sure....they both have rounded dorsal fins. So I should separate them?

It only seems to be when the light is on that this happens...really weird!!

 

[chicklette]

I would separate them because the dominant one will probably chase it to death and stop it from eating. Gouramis can be very aggressive. If you have a male it should be one male to three female. You could try to add some females and see if that helps. However, it may not so you have a choice, separate them or see if a couple more females stops the aggression a bit. If that does not work you will need to permanently separate.