Dwarf Gourami Bullying

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Drum4JC

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Hi folks, it's been awhile since I've been around, but I have a question. I bought two male powder blue dwarf G's on Saturday. The smaller one doesn't appear to be eating. It has sucked in an occasional flake, but spits it back out and doesn't go after it again. Meanwhile, the other one eats anything in its path (he often spits stuff out repeatedly but always finishes it off) and looks like he is bullying the smaller one.

I have a 26 gallon tank with Zebra Danios, Neon Tetras and Peppered Corys. There's a fair amount of live plants, both planted and top floating. There's one large structure with plenty of hiding places in the center of the tank.

Should I expect this behavior to taper off and the smaller one start eating? Or should I take one of them back to the store for exchange? If so, do I keep the one that's eating and bullying, or keep the timid one? In the store, there were about 10 of them and I didn't notice any bullying there.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Todd
 
First of all, your tank is big enough to have 2 males, and the lay-out is also suitable for gouramis to have a decent territory. Sometimes, the bullying in the beginning is done to determine who's the boss and establish territories. However, if the bullying hasn't stopped by now, it is time to take action.

Dwarfs are known to be one of the more agressive gouramis and sometimes you do get a real bully. First of all I would check carefully if the non-eating male doesn't have any sicknesses. If so, I would bring the bully back and change it for another one the same size ans your more timid male. If possible, I would get a third one to spread any possible agression.

If your lfs has them available (mostly they only sell colourful males) I would go for 2 females with 1 male. In this case I would keep the bully though as he seems to be much more vigorous than the smaller one. Breeding these fish is very rewarding.

Good luck!
 

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