Pearl Gourami Chasing Blue

[Lo0oK]

So I started my tank about a month ago, with a pearl and blue gourami (37 gal). I've added 5 six banded barbs, a pleco, a couple of guppies and a purple spotted gudgeon, and was planning on getting another school of small fish and an angel fish. But for the past week, my pearl (who is bigger) has been constantly chasing my blue around the tank, especially at feeding times. Should I get a couple more gourami's to dissuade this kind of behaviour instead of the school I was planning on getting, or will that only exacerbate it?

 

[creeker]

Wow! That's a switch. Goes back to the idea of keeping all fish close to the same size. I've noticed in the past in my tanks that even peaceful species will throw their weight around if they're bigger. I have seen that behavior in Pearl Gouramis before. I think you might need to re-home your Pearl with bigger fish now. He has developed a behavior that is hard to correct if he stays in the current situation.

 

[Lo0oK]

I'm sorry, I misinformed you. It is a POWDER blue gourami. I went to the pet shop today and consulted with them, and decided to get a second powder blue and see what happens over the next couple of days. Also picked up a MacMaster's Apisto

 

[creeker]

I'm sorry, I misinformed you. It is a POWDER blue gourami. I went to the pet shop today and consulted with them, and decided to get a second powder blue and see what happens over the next couple of days. Also picked up a MacMaster's Apisto

I don't agree with the pet stores answer to your problem. Adding another (I assume male) Powder Blue Gourami into that situation will possibly result in one of two things. First possibility is that the dominant Pearl will beat on the new guy too. Second possibilty is that the new Powder Blue will join in on picking on the submissive male Powder Blue. They should have offerred to switch out your Pearl for a less dominant female one, probably yours is a male. In the future, beware that adding a fish or two to that situation rarely improves things, especially when it's another male gourami. Keep us posted, I'm interested in how this turns out. I don't say this very often, but I hope you prove me wrong.

 

[Lo0oK]

Well, I feel my plan would have been successful if I had introduced the two blues at the same time, but the pearl still kept chasing his old tankmate and was following the new guy around somewhat ominously. I'm leaving my fish for a couple of days this weekend (Canadian thanksgiving eh), so I decided not to risk coming home to a dead fish and returned the pearl. I may add a dwarf when I pick up my angel next week, but I'll see how the tank dynamic is at the time.

 

[Beautiful_Mess]

We have a community fish tank, and even though the fish experts at the store we go to advised us against it, we have mixed quite a few different types of fishes. The store we go to is strictly a fish store. It is an aquarium of sorts. The employees are knowledgeable in both fresh and salt water fish and the different kinds they carry. We were told for fish tanks to go by the rule one inch per gallon for fish. You have a pleco and those grow fast and I am assuming it is at least 3 inches long. The gouramis are very territorial and when space becomes sparse, they will fight. Adding more fish to the tank will not help the situation. You need to either A) get a bigger tank like a 45 or 55 gallon and not add anymore fish, or B) get rid of some fish. Definitely do not introduce an angel fish if you have aggression problems. They are docile fish but will become aggressive.
We just upgraded to a 125 gallon tank. In it we had originally a pleco (almost 10 inches long) a gold gourami, an angel fish, a blue lobster, a rosy barb, two gold fish (about 3 inches long each). We originally had a 55 gallon. Yesterday we introduced into the tank a blue gourami, a peacock, and a red tail cat fish. We let the fish stay in their bags from the aquarium for about 30 mins while floating in the tank. Our gold gourami checked things out and "felt" the bag with the blue gourami. He uses his long tendrils to feel things. After releasing the new fish into the tank the only issue we had was with our angel fish. She is very dominant but our gold gourami is the protector of the tank and keeps her at bay while he herded the new guys around. They have plenty of room and now the angel fish has settled down.
I definitely suggest you lessen the amount of fish if you are going to have gourami or larger fish. Male gouramis will pick on each other. The way you can tell the sex of the gourami is their top fin. A males top fin will come to a sharp point pointing towards his tail. A female's top fin is rounded and short I will get some pictures up when I get home to show you what I mean.
But definitely lessen the load in the tank, gouramis can be great tank mates but they do become territorial and need room in their tank.

 

[thisguyek]

+1 mess

I found myself in the same situation a few weeks ago. I bought two female three spot gouramis... a gold and blue. the gold one was a bit larger than the blue and it chased the blue one around CONSTANTLY and RELENTLESSLY!! I also thought by adding another large male to the mix would keep the female at bay. but it was too late. she was dominate in the tank. Even though the new male was just slightly smaller than the gold, yet smaller than the other blue one, the new male got chased as much as the other. I ended up finding a LFS to home my aggressive female. Since then I must say that things are working out. I now have a male and female blue three spot and they seem to swim around quite nicely!

They are homed with 5 platies and 3 guppies and few platy fry. Eventually adding a shoal of blood fin tetras. They dont even seem to acknowledge the rest of them

anyway, best of luck to you!

 

[Ruskull]

We have a community fish tank, and even though the fish experts at the store we go to advised us against it, we have mixed quite a few different types of fishes. The store we go to is strictly a fish store. It is an aquarium of sorts. The employees are knowledgeable in both fresh and salt water fish and the different kinds they carry. We were told for fish tanks to go by the rule one inch per gallon for fish. You have a pleco and those grow fast and I am assuming it is at least 3 inches long. The gouramis are very territorial and when space becomes sparse, they will fight. Adding more fish to the tank will not help the situation. You need to either A) get a bigger tank like a 45 or 55 gallon and not add anymore fish, or B) get rid of some fish. Definitely do not introduce an angel fish if you have aggression problems. They are docile fish but will become aggressive.
We just upgraded to a 125 gallon tank. In it we had originally a pleco (almost 10 inches long) a gold gourami, an angel fish, a blue lobster, a rosy barb, two gold fish (about 3 inches long each). We originally had a 55 gallon. Yesterday we introduced into the tank a blue gourami, a peacock, and a red tail cat fish. We let the fish stay in their bags from the aquarium for about 30 mins while floating in the tank. Our gold gourami checked things out and "felt" the bag with the blue gourami. He uses his long tendrils to feel things. After releasing the new fish into the tank the only issue we had was with our angel fish. She is very dominant but our gold gourami is the protector of the tank and keeps her at bay while he herded the new guys around. They have plenty of room and now the angel fish has settled down.
I definitely suggest you lessen the amount of fish if you are going to have gourami or larger fish. Male gouramis will pick on each other. The way you can tell the sex of the gourami is their top fin. A males top fin will come to a sharp point pointing towards his tail. A female's top fin is rounded and short I will get some pictures up when I get home to show you what I mean.
But definitely lessen the load in the tank, gouramis can be great tank mates but they do become territorial and need room in their tank.

I'd be very interested to see any pictures of Blue, Opaline or Gold Gourami females. I have a Gold Gourami male in a 20 gallon community tank & I plan to move him to a larger tank soon with a Opaline Gourami female & a Gold Gourami female.