Male Dwarf Gourami Killing And Eating Neons?

[luke v]

today i lost 2 neons to a male gourami, i rung up my local fish shop and they said he shouldnt go any where near the neons let alone kill and eat them.
anyone else had any problems like this?

 

[luke v]

nobody?

 

[stang1]

What type of Gourami is it and how big is he? What size tank have you got?

 

[LolaLouie]

I think Dwarf Gouramis have a slightly misleading reputation as a peaceful community fish. My DG rules the tank, my angels and kribs who are double his size cower away from him!

They shouldn't however touch neons as they are normally only agressive to similar sized specied... are you sure it was him? Or that they weren't sick already and he was just finishing them off?

 

[luke v]

hes about 2" in a 30L tank with a female who's about 1" and trust me he aint peaceful

 

[stang1]

The tank is too small for Dwarf Gouramies I'm afraid. The chances are he's being aggressive as he sees the whole tank as being his territory and your other fish have nowhere to escape to.
It's highly unlikely that he killed them, more a case of stressing them out which would eventually kill them anyway.

 

[luke v]

i saw him keep ramming into the other neons and the local fish shop advised me that they'd be ok for this size tank so..

 

[miranda1220]

I have a kissing gourami who is 4" in a tank with a lot of other fish which includes five neons and he doesnt bother them...and I added them after I got him. I have had Dwarf Gouramis as well and havent ever had a problem with them. Do you have plants and places for the neons to hide if they need to? Also, a good thing to do next time would be to let the bag with the new fish float in the tank for about 20 minutes. It gets the new fish accustomed to the water temperature, the surrounding fish, and the new habitat before they are released. There is also something called stress coat that you can buy and put in your tank after you put the new fish in that keeps them from getting to stressed. I also use it after water changes.
Hope thuis helps!

 

[luke v]

yea it does help thanks, i always leave the fish in the bag floating for a round 30mins before releasing and ive had them all in together for about a month now but its only the last couple of days which hes been attacking them.
i doubt its because hes hungry because i put in some bloodworms for them yesterday. im not sure what it is really

ive also got plants and a big log for the fish to hide behind and under etc

 

[stang1]

Like I said, it's just down to tank size unfortunately. Gouramies can be territorial and in such a small tank, he has claimed it all as his own.

 

[luke v]

ok thanks ill have to think about taking him back

 

[stang1]

Sorry Luke but I think it may be for the best.