Dwarf Gourami Destroying The Peace

MrNiceGuy · Feb 15, 2010

hes the biggest fish in my 20 gallon community. ive had this set-up before and it seems like its only a matter of time before the dwarf gourami starts to take advantage of the fact that the other fish are defenseless. throughout the day he's been furious, pecking at everything in front of him, especially the corys. he's gone after my minnows, loaches, and shrimp too.

is there anything i can do to calm him down? i'd hate to take him out. im gonna give it a couple weeks because im pretty sure he's not gonna be able to kill anybody... so far he's been too slow to catch the minnows or the ghost shrimp (they can jump pretty fast). any suggestions would be appreciated.

hihi100202 · Feb 16, 2010

Maybe he's sick? Check your water stats and try to look at him closely. If there is unusual red spots it could be dwarf gourami desise. Also, do the other fish have places to hide from him? He might catch up to one and seriously hurt or kill them. Just make sure to keep an eye out.

MrNiceGuy · Feb 16, 2010

hihi100202 said:
Maybe he's sick? Check your water stats and try to look at him closely. If there is unusual red spots it could be dwarf gourami desise. Also, do the other fish have places to hide from him? He might catch up to one and seriously hurt or kill them. Just make sure to keep an eye out.

thanks for replying :good:

on the contrary though, he seems extremely healthy. he's very active and his colors are looking better than ever. im starting to think his aggression is coming from his readiness to breed. it seems like he's trying to build a nest around my floating plants. he keeps blowing bubbles at the surface and bringing dead plant material to the surface. could this aggression just be mating behavior? theres no female in the tank but that doesn't mean he can't be willing.

there are plenty of hiding spots by the way, thats definitely not a problem. even though they're frequently chased, the corys and other tankmates dont even seem too frightened. they get away from the dwarf gourami fairly easily.

hamfist · Feb 16, 2010

MrNiceGuy said:
im starting to think his aggression is coming from his readiness to breed. it seems like he's trying to build a nest around my floating plants. he keeps blowing bubbles at the surface and bringing dead plant material to the surface. could this aggression just be mating behavior? theres no female in the tank but that doesn't mean he can't be willing.

I'm sure you are absolutely correct here. He's trying to build a bubble nest, and all his hormones are bringing out the worst in him.
In my experience male DG can be pretty pugnaceous even at the best of times.
Sounds to me like your other fish might be OK. Look out for signs of stress in the others though. Your DG may not be able to kill your other fish in an outright attack, but he could certainly kill one through stress if they feel constantly bullied. So keep an eye out for "being bullied" stress in the other fish. If that happens I suspect the only option will be to remove the DG, or you will start to lose other fish.