Paradise Fish ( Macropodus Opercularis)

[spongy]

I have my a tank, a juwel vision 180l for a while now, I'm all cycled and am now stocking.

I originally wanted a pair of dwarf gourami but changed my mind and plumped for Paradise fish, I bought 4, one green male, one red male and 2 green females.

They've been in and settled for over a fortnight and looked good in the tank with my other fish but now their behaviour is changing.

At first the red male was the more inquisitive and happy chappy with longer tail and more vibrant colours but over the last few days the green male has become, in want of a better word, a complete jerk!

His colours are a lot more striking now and he's picking on the red male, so much so that he chases him around the whole tank, not just a "get out of my territory" bump, the red males colours have started to fade and he spends most of his time now hiding behind my filter outflow pipe, the green male occasionally just comes and bullies him out of there too and I'm beginning to feel rather sorry for him..


What can I do? is the green dominant and wants both females to himself? Do I get another female to divert his attention? Try and take him back to the shop? Take the red one back and just have the 3? I don't want to lose any of them in all honesty, they're lovely fish.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Ruskull]

I've never owned any Paradise Gouramis but I've had many other types and I'd get rid of the aggressive one, not the submissive one. The reason? The aggressive one MIGHT start being aggressive toward the females if he has nobody else to pick on. At least that's been my experience with Three Spot (Blue, Gold, Oplaine, etc.) Gouramis. Might be different with Paradise Fish, but I suspect it's the same.

 

[spongy]

Thanks for that, I'll have a chat with my LFS and see what they can do, I've been keeping an eye on them this evening and he is constantly hassling the red one, I find it quite strange as I have a reasonably big tank, I have seen him giving the females a bit of stick too so perhaps his time is up in this home

Will be a shame to lose him as he is a fine example, I suppose fish aren't that different from people, every now and then, you meet someone who is a pain in the a*$e.......

 

[Ruskull]

Ha, good call! Sometimes it's the best looking people or fish who turn out to be the biggest idiots.

If I'm not mistaken, your tank is a 45 gallon high right? That's not a lot of ground space for each to stake out his own territory. I wouldn't try to keep 2 Betta males or 2 Gourami males in that space either. Maybe if it was a 4 foot long tank with lots of plants & hiding spaces....

I'd try to trade the aggressive male for another female so you still have 4 fish. I'm sure the red male will color up when he's the king of the tank. See if they have a red female so you break the colors up a bit.

Good luck and post your progress. I was looking to get some Paradise fish someday too