I Thought Pearls Were Peaceful!

[xamy_valox]

I've had my two Pearl Gouramis in my tank for a little over 2 months now. I have 1 male and 1 female. At first they were very shy, sticking to one corner and not really bothering anybody, now however they seem to hate anything in the tank that moves!!

All I see is them chasing around any fish they take a disliking too, at first I thought it was just fish that got a little too close, but now the male goes deliberately out of his way to chase even my Harlequin Rasboras around the tank. I've seen a lot of chasing in my time of keeping fish but this is relentless, and normally when I hae experienced it before its a quite 'get out of my way' and its done, but the male gourami is so persistent I have seen him chasing my Platy and Rasbora's around the tank for quite a while at a time.

It's weird that he never picks on my Angel, I don't know if he thinks he would come off worse but it's only my smaller fish and my quite large Platy that he seems to have a huge problem with. My Rams are also getting ready for breeding and I'm worried the pearls behaviour (although never directed at them) will stress them out.

 

[Ruskull]

What size tank & what's the total stocking? All fish have different personalities & this is even more true with Gouramis. It could be that the tank is too small for them or maybe there isn't enough plants & decor to let the Pearls feel safe?

 

[basboi85]

Or as you said you have m+f is there any signs of the pearls breeding as he could be trying to show domminance aspect in the tank or as said above maybe not enough hiding places

 

[xamy_valox]

The tank is pretty heavily planted, with tall and short plants as well as caves. There are plenty of places they could go but chose this one corner in between a lot of weeds which they seem happy with.

The tank is 125 litre with:
1 Angel
2 Pearls
2 German Blue Rams
6 Neon Tetra
5 Harlequin Rasboras
1 Platy
5 Corydora
2 Hillstream Loach

The male chases the female aswell and she tried to keep as far away from him as possible so I doubt there is any breeding behaviour there. I might just get rid of the male and see how the female does on her own, he's such a bully and is making my tank seem so hectic and my poor Platy doesn't know what to do with himself!

 

[Ruskull]

Yeah, maybe it's best to re home the male Pearl if the general tank vibe isn't working & he's the main culprit. My female Pearl is very tame next to the other fish I keep with her yet she's the largest by far.

 

[LaurenRhiain]

I had this problem with my Female Gourami. My tank was plenty big enough for her but she still chased my Platys around to the point where one was actually killed. I tried adding more plants but nothing worked so eventually I took her to a local garden centre where they said they would take care of her. They put my Gourami into a VERY heavily planted tank but she still managed to find the other fish and chase them. When I first got her she was very shy and didn't move from behind my filter.

This is unfortunately is normal behaviour for Pearl Gouramis. Once they get big they do become more aggressive fish. If you have another tank you can use you could put it by itself or in a tank with similar sized fish as they will tend to chase smaller fish such as Platys around. They do well in groups and although a lot of shops say they are community fish they are best kept in species tanks or with fish the same size as them.
Hope this helped!

Lauren x

 

[balajake]

My experience of gourami is that they are very aggressive fish.