Fish Agressive Towards Newcomer

[omega59]

I just recently purchased a male dwarf gourami to make friends with me two female dwarfs and perhaps mate. For some reason my livebeers are becking & poking him causing him to run and hide and be shy and not come out. They don't seem to bother the other fish or my other two females gourami's which i had for 4 months now. They just go right after him as soon as he tries to come out.

What can i do to stop this, should i remove these agressive fish and get rid of them?? ty.


20gal tank, established 1 year ago +
aqua clear 200 filter (2000gph at full speed)
heater for 20gal tank set temp currently is at 76-80F
airation system for a 60gallon tank running with 1 large round stone for max surface movements (it is very wavey & bubbly HEHE)
well planted both short and long fake plants, along with a large floating plant

3 gourami
5 cardinal tetras
6 platies
12 mollies or so
1 koi swordtail

 

[jonnyf84]

If your mollies are fully grown then you are overstocked and this will not help, there isn't enough space as it is so adding a new fish to a established community is likely to cause problems.
Most fish will establish some kind of territory and a 'understanding' with the community, a new fish in a small home will upset this.
Give it a few days to see if things settle down, if it doesn't then buy a large breeding trap and put the male gourami in for 36 hours max, leave the lights on as normal so your livebearers can get used to the sight of him.
If nothing works then take either the gourami or livebearers back to the shop as its very unfair for the bullied fish, its much better to do this anyway as a reclusive, badgered fish will lose weight, get stesses and unltimately get sick - in turn affecting your whole community.

Your gourami's probably won't breed, you stand a much better chance of breeing gourami's if you get 5 or 6 when young.

 

[omega59]

i removed the agressive fish and placed it in the divider side of the tank. the gourami seems to be coming out more and eating at the surface, i don't see much bullying since the one platy was removed. i forgot to mention that this platy is pregnant and still a few weeks to go... so perhaps this is why???

as far as breedings go, i read all it takes is 1 male 1 female and they will produce under right conditions in the tank. i'll wait and see how it goes.

thks!