Fighting Gourami Problem

[mysteryfish]

I have two gouramis in my 20 gallon tank (in addition to a clown loch, earth-eater cichlid, and a plecostamous). One is a turquoise gourami and the other a lavender. The tuquoise gourami was introduced about 1-2 weeks prior to the lavender. He mainly hung out at the top and among the leaves of my 2 huge plants. During feeding time he would skim the top for food while the others would eat from the middle or the bottom of the tank. But once I introduced the lavender gourami all this changed. The lavander eats from all levels and sections of the tank and competes for food with the turquois gourami (but not the other fish). The competition involves bullying, and chasing of the turquois gourami around the tank until, (a) the turquoise loses the lavender in the leaves or, (B) the lavender looses interest and resumes eating having achieved his desire to stop the turquois on from eating. Since this has begun, my turquois gourami no longer eats as much. He spends feeding time hiding. I do not know what I should do as I adore the turquois and do not want him to die of starvation or stress. I am looking for suggestions on how to solve this problem.

 

[sylvia]

By 'turqoise' I would assume you mean a dwarf gourami color morph (colisa lalia). It sounds like it's a male (as only the males are colorful) and he's probably fully grown - they get to 2". A 20 gallons would be fine for him.

In contrast, your 'lavender' would be a three-spot gourami color morph (trichogaster trichopterus). Try to determine whether it's male or female. It's probably not fully grown yet - they get to 6". A 20 gallon isn't realy large enough for it if you want it to live with other gouramies and, if it's male, once mature he'll become quite a terror. Females are also bullies when it comes to smaller gouramies but are less likely to actualy kill a fish.

What I reccomend you do is re-home the lavender and replace it with another male dwarf or - better yet - 2 female dwarfs (if you can find them as females are rare) - that is if you want more gouramies. It would be a very good idea to quarantine the new fish as these gouramies often carry disease and yours sounds healthy so you don't want to risk anything. If you are determined to keep both gouramies, your options are limmited to aquiring a bigger tank (though, if the lavender's male, you'll still have some trouble) or getting the dwarf a 10 gallon of its own. Keeping them as they are, together, isn't realy an option - you already see the effects - and your three-spot probably isn't even full grown yet. The bullying will likely get worse and, if the dwarf isn't killed in the process, he'll become stressed to the point where he'll become even more susceptible to disease than he is (dwarf gouramies are already quite prone to illness due to inbreeding in their background that's resulted in a weakened immune system) and may sucumb and die as an indirect result of the lavender's aggression.

If you don't know how to sex three-spots; males have a longer, much more pointed dorsal as opposed to the rounded, short one that females have. Females are also deeper-bodied and wider when viewed from above when compared to the streamlined, lean, more elongated, males. The differences are realy quite obvious if you can compare the sexes. Take a look at this site for some help with that: http/www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Gouramis,%...ichogasters.htm

 

[mysteryfish]

Thank you for your informitive reply, even if it's bad news. Here are some pictures of the two.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Sorry to add to the depressing news, but you are also going to have to do something about your clown loach and pleco, as they will both outgrow a 20 gallon tank.

 

[mysteryfish]

Right now the clown loach, "The Cheat", and the pleco are very small, so there will be lots of time to figure something out about that. In the meantime though, I think I'm going to take the lavender back to the store and ask to substitue fo something else. Do you think a small tiger barb would be ok instead?

 

[sylvia]

The dwarf is a male. the lavender is female. Still, 20 gallons is somewhat small for the three-spot to co-habitate with another gourami (like I've already mentioned).

Replacing her with a tiger barb is a bad idea. Tiger barbs are a schooling fish so should be in groups and, as they are rather nippy, are not suitable tankmates for fish such as dwarf gouramies that are prone to being nipped or fish prone to being bullied. A lone tiger barb will terrorize its tankmates due to its isnecurity so tigers should be kept in groups of at least 7 of their own kind. They also need at least a 30 gallon to be comfortable as they get to 2.5" or so and are very active. They are also quite sensitive to bad water quality.

Considering the number of potentialy very large fish you have in the tank, I'd suggest you don't replace the three-spot at all. It may not seem that way right now but your fish WILL grow and that'll fill out your tank. Like was said, you're going to need to up-grade. The sooner the better. Clown loaches need at least a 90 gallon and should diealy be kept in a group of at least 3 as they are social. The plec will eventualy need an even bigger tank as they can get to 18", sometimes more depending on exact species, but they grow quite slowly so you still have time.

If for any reason, realisticly, you are not sure you can get the size tank they require within a year or two (if you don't upgrade before they get to a decent size - say 4-6" - you may risk stunting them or causing them unecessary stress), then I suggest rehoming them sooner rather than later when they are too large to find better homes. THEN getting a couple of female dwarf gouramies to acompany your male would be a nice choice.