New Addition Problems?.....

[IanG]

Hi to all.
Being only 47 I am new to most things in Life......
However having just added a new Cobalt Gouarami to my community tank
which has 3 Opalines in amongst various other species,
the largest of the 3 female Opalines is just chasing EVERYTHING around the tank!.....Please has anyone any
ideas on this calming down or am I looking at a transfer of this particular one to one of my other tanks.....
Thanks in Anticipation.....

 

[Weaver]

Im no expert in gourami but I kept 3-2 opaline and 1 gold(which is the same fish except a different colour variation)in my 50uk g tank.The bullying and harassment was more or less continual.Eventually I had to separate all 3.Luckily enough the bullying was confined to each other and the only other fish they chased was a big sailfin molly
They are classed as semi agressive and yours seems to certainly match that description.Im sorry to say that if it hasnt settled down after a day or two its likely to continue.My rule of thumb is 1 opaline/gold gourami per tank.You dont state what size of tank you have but the smaller the tank is,the more aggression there is likely to be
By the way,Id also keep an eye on the cobalt as they can be aggressive fish as well
Dependant on your tank size,if you are looking for a nice, (nearly)always peaceful mid sized gourami the pearl gourami is your best bet in my opinion.

 

[IanG]

Thanks for the reply,
By the time you had posted it I had already removed the poor Cobalt ! .....
It seemed like this 1 opaline was going to do it some real harm,her aggressiveness had just gone off the scale!...eventually the tank settled down again but even though the 3 opalines had co-existed without too much fuss beforehand albeit with a little chasey-chasey at feeding time,this particular one is now having a go at the remaining ones.....the cobalt is now quite happy in one of the kids tanks along with a platy.4 Penguins and some algae shrimp...and it may just be I may have to transfer the troublesome one into one of the other tanks for a while till things calm down.

Tanks again

 

[Weaver]

Sorry,I thought from your original question that the opaline had been bullying all along.
Most of my reply still stands however.I tried to introduce 2 dwarf honey gourami to the tank with the opalines in it and had to remove them within a couple of hours.I dont know whether the fact that they were similiar colours had anything to do with it but the opaline chased them constantly and seemed as if it would really do damage.You did the right thing in removing the cobalt