Is This Behaviour Normal For A Dwarf Gourami?

[ZephyrStarPlaties]

If my platies surround him, he nips at one of them once as a warning but won't chase them down. Could this get progressively worse over time? I've read that they're shy and won't usually interact with tankmates like that.

 

[afremont]

If my platies surround him, he nips at one of them once as a warning but won't chase them down. Could this get progressively worse over time? I've read that they're shy and won't usually interact with tankmates like that.

I've read that as well. I also have a DG downstairs that I've seen chasing after my red serpae tetras. I guess he's had enough of them nipping at him. But generally, yeah they seem to ignore most other fish and just do their own thing. They also have a reputation of allowing other fish to bully them badly, but like I said I see my main DG is giving a little turnabout to the tetras. He doesn't chase them far, just makes them move along. When I first put the DG in there, the tetras showed up in force to try and intimidate him but he just ignored them and they quietly went off sulking I think. I saw that the DG had gotten a couple of fin nips after a couple of weeks in the tank. That all seems healed up now that he's showing some authority.


If you put multiple male DGs together, they can get pretty rude with each other. I got a little carried away and now I have eight rescue DGs that live in a couple of 20G "hospital" tanks. Five live fairly peacefully together in one tank, and three live in the other. It sounds unbalanced, but I'm not sure that the three could live in a 1000g tank and not spend their time flaring, flapping and otherwise trying to intimidate each other. They seem to enjoy tormenting each other for superiority. Separated, they are the most peaceful fish in the world.