Problem With Blue Gourami

[Dragonuk86]

Hi there.

today i've had to seperate my grourami from my main tank to a different one, as i bought 2 female blue gouramis and was attacking them very badly, i took them back to the store and got a angel fish which is bigger than him but again he was attacking the angel ripping his fins been very aggressive so he has been serperated.

Would it be best to keep my gourami on his own or can i put him back in maybe tomorrow.

i'm not sure how big my main tank is its

60cm x 30cm x 30cm how much is this in gallons?

the tank hes is in at the moment is only 5.7 gallons which is way to small but thats all i could get at the moment

 

[sylvia]

Male three-spot gouramies are naturaly very territorial fish. Anything that competes with your male for territory will be attacked.

It is possible to add more gouramies (female three-spots) if you re-arange the tank and ensure the females are the same size and there's plenty of room for them to hide. However, judging by your male's reaction, it would be best to stick with just him. Note also that, if you had both the male and females in the same tank and they bred, any other tankmates would be in danger of being killed by the male guarding his nest - that includes pretty much anything from tetras to most catfish. Also, I just checked the size of your tank and it's not large enough for more than just one three-spot.

The reaction towards the angel is also to be expected. Actualy, angelfish are probably one of the worst possible additions you could make because, as the angel grew and became territorial itself, even if they got along initialy, your problems would get worse. Angels also do better when kept as pairs - single ones tend to become grumpy and aggressive at maturity - making conflict even more likely.

Your tank is about 15 gallons, in fact, which is only just barely large enough for just one three-spot gourami. Putting 3 in is deffinately asking for trouble and an angel needs at least double that. What else is in your tank? It's likely that you've reached the maximum it can hold and it would be best to return the gourami to his tank but don't add anything else and return the angel to your LFS if you still have it.

 

[Dragonuk86]

tnx for the advice the only other fish i have in with the angel is a pleco.

 

[sylvia]

Well a pleco is also going to eventualy need a larger tank. Even the smaller species like bristlenose plecs aren't realy good candidates for a small tank because they produce superfluous amounts of waste. Maybe take a pic and go to the catfish section to have it identified - if it's a common plec or a similarly large-growing species, it's going to need at least a 55 gallon tank quite quickly.

I would suggest that you return both the plec and angel and get some other small bottom-dweller instead - maybe try 2-4 kuhlie loaches or a similar number of dwarf chained loaches. Then return the three-spot to his 15 gallon because you are right in thinking that the temporary 6 gallon is far too small.

 

[Dragonuk86]

tnx for the advice, one thing i don't know is which fish to get with my blue gourami because its very aggressive to all fish i have put with it. I've taken quite a few fish back because of this, the angel and plec i'm keeping for now untill i get a bigger tank which shouldn't be to long if they get to big i will take them back. Today i got to honey gourami's which don't grow very big which is perfect for my tank and i'll probs take the blue gourami back to the store as it's not fair keeping him in the small tank.

i'm not sure what sex these honey gouramis are the person in my lfs didnt know so hopefully i you peeps on here will be able to help ill get pics up as soon as possable.