Goiurami Went Mad And Attacked The Whole Tank!

[fishnovice]

I finally got 2 pairs of black paradise fish (betta's less aggressive cousins)which I had reserved a while ago and put them in with the gourami as they aer supposed to be ideal tankmates. y big orange gourami immediately started nipping their tails and chasing the poor pradise fish alll over the tank.

I thought he was gping to kill them all but they hid in a plant. Then the gourami started attacking the other gourai. Pandemonium in the tank, even my big common plec cowered in a corner standing vertically on her tail to keep out of gourami's way. I removed the paradise fish for their own safety as I doubt they would have survived overnight and put them in another tank. Eventually gourami settled down overnight and all is back to normal, What happened..and will it ever be safe to reintroduce the paradise fish?

 

[MrNiceGuy]

I finally got 2 pairs of black paradise fish (betta's less aggressive cousins)which I had reserved a while ago and put them in with the gourami as they aer supposed to be ideal tankmates. y big orange gourami immediately started nipping their tails and chasing the poor pradise fish alll over the tank.

I thought he was gping to kill them all but they hid in a plant. Then the gourami started attacking the other gourai. Pandemonium in the tank, even my big common plec cowered in a corner standing vertically on her tail to keep out of gourami's way. I removed the paradise fish for their own safety as I doubt they would have survived overnight and put them in another tank. Eventually gourami settled down overnight and all is back to normal, What happened..and will it ever be safe to reintroduce the paradise fish?

I believe you have some bad information. They are by no means "ideal tankmates". All gouramis are territorial to some degree, especially toward other gouramis. Even more so if one gourami has already established his territory before you introduced the others. Unfortunately, I dont think it will ever be a good idea to reintroduce your paradise fish (also known as paradise gouramis). Mixing gourami species is generally a bad idea. It is always a risk, and the only time it seems to have a chance of working is when the gouramis are added all at once, not after one has established territory. Keep only one gourami species in a tank either singly or in a group with a sex ratio of 1male;2females.

 

[nmonks]

Indeed. Paradisefish are NOT community fish and they are NOT for tropical aquaria. They are subtropical fish best kept at 18-20 C and on their own. There's a reason nobody keeps them, despite their hardiness and bright colours -- as tropical fish go, they're terrible!

Actually, I like Macropodus spp. a good deal, and some species, like M. concolor, are very attractive. But they do need their own subtropical -- possibly unheated -- aquarium where they may be kept singly or in pairs.

Cheers, Neale

[I believe you have some bad information. They are by no means "ideal tankmates".

 

[fishnovice]

They are concolor and were kept by the breeder for generations at tropical temperatures about 74*He has several tanks with >29 adolescent juviniles in each plus a tank with the parents 2 other conclor and 2 dwarf gourami. He's been breeding them for 20 years and told me they were not very aggressive and will be OK with their own kind and several other fish. Even males can share a tank as they willonly display, not kill each other like betta.

At the moment all 4 (2 male and 2 female) ar egetting along fine with each other plus 2 heavily pregnant platy and a dozen corries. Absolutely no aggression, not even chasing.

The orange variant gourami are the problem, especially the larger one. I've only had them for 10 days and thet are in a tank with a 3-spot and a moonlight who lived happily together for many years. At first the orange one chased my other two but settled down after a day and was OK till the concolor arrived. Now it's quiet again in gourami tank

 

[stang1]

When mixing Gouramies, you are best having more females to males, the less males the better.
As Neale as said, Paradise Fish are a subtropical fish and will thrive in lower temperatures. They are not a good mix to have with Gouramies as they are from the same family and will fight for territory.
My partners first tank was a mix of Gourami and Paradise Fish (2 males and 4 females). I was warned by a member on here that aggression would ensue but I was adamant that all was well in the tank, as it had been for 3 months. Once a pair of the Paradise Fish decided to spawn, all hell broke loose and the males were attacking everything. The Gouramies became aggressive in themselves and all I had was a tank full of fish that were constantly fighting.
I ended up rehoming the fish and learnt a hard lesson. If I were to keep Paradise Fish again, I would keep them in a subtropical, species only tank. If I were to keep Gouramies again, I would prefer to keep at least 4 females per male.