Strang Actions Of Gouramis?

[Fizban]

first off i have 9 gouramis 3 females the rest males they get along okay with each other but would never swim realy near each other unless breeding i was very suprised at this so here is my story i did some thing stupied today i went into albany to get a few fish things like food for them and i saw a realy lovley looking angel fish i thort it would look nice in my other tank i have not had an angel fish befor so i was stupied geting it with out doing reserch on it i put it in the tank i have my gouramis in and this is the first time i have ever seen the gouramis do some thing as if they were one fish they all got near each other in a line side by side and moved slow yet all at the same target poor angel fish had 9 gouramis moveing in on it after it was starting to get attacked i took it out i only have one other tank and the main fish there is a black shark strange thing is he did not attack it he came up some times to see who the new fish is and to make it clear that he is the boss.....i will be returning the angel fish stilll i was very suprised at the gouramis it was as if they were of one mind and most of the time they dont like being right next to each other very long yet all six got in very near each other and moved together when geting near the angel fish? is that a normal thing ?has any one seen this befor?

 

[sylvia]

Have you heard the phrase 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'? Even fish are familiar with Arabian proverbs

Seriously, the reason they do this is that they all feel the new fish is an 'intruder'. They forget about each other as this new 'threat' is perceived as more severe than any of them are perceived as being threats to each other. It's perfectly normal when it comes to territorial fish

 

[Fizban]

i spose but it was funny to see cuz its not like the angel fish had been in there longer then a minute and it was in no way agressive if any thing it moved realy slow and then the gouramis came at it just started backing up ...........are fish smart anuth to have all at the same time perceived it as a target sama: ?? and it was not as if they were come from all sides they Front in a neon tetra typ school as if they were an arny given orders to charge attack but to do so in a hunting typ maner like a cat stalking a bird be for it jumps ?........i herd sylvia that you were the person to ask cuz u no all there is on gouramis but have u seen this happen befor ?i mean school attack thing i kind of guessed it was an agressive fish typ way of showing they dont like the fish but the working together thing i was shocked maby gouramis are smarter then i thort

 

[sylvia]

Lol - I love how you've described it. I keep picturing this squadron circumspectly advancing on some unfortunate victim...

I can't say that I've seen exactly what you're talking about - but then I've never put an angel in a tank filled with three-spots What I have seen is gouramies sort of 'ganging up' on other fish kind of like you describe. In particular, on other gouramies.

If you have a tank filled with established fish and add some more, if you add them one by one, the first fish will get a similar 'welcome' to what you saw. Fish won't attack without 'sizing up' thier opponents so it's no surprise they mvoed towards the angel 'slowly'. But as the next few newcomers are added, the aggressive reaction of the established fish is diluted and confused and they back off.

They aren't actualy organised (gouramies don't technicaly practice 'teamwork' ) but they do appear that way. I'd say it's just a by-product of all of them having the same thing in mind (namely that this new fish is not welcome).

 

[Fizban]

hmmm i guess thats right i have seen my gouramis chase fish befor that i put in there that was a very long time ago but they never did it in a advancing squadron way it realy dose make me think it was teamwork the angel fish was about the same size maby a bit small but not by much and as you said they were probly sizing up' for the kill but the thing is they never stoped or back off evan a little they moved at there target slow yet at a steady pace the angle fish was Reversing like a truck and keeping its eyes on the aproaching army and they were near each other but never rushed the angel fish just moved at the slow pace till the angel fish was near the back of the glass and had no where to go and still moveing at the same pace they moved in to to bite at the fins i grabed the net and saved it befor damage was done oh and technicaly they may not be organised but it was funnny cuz that word would fit it to the letter i have seen the gouramis attack and chase a fish rownd the tank befor but this was like a pack hunting where the other fish has no where to run and the rest no this so they can move slow to injoy in makeing there prey feel them geting near ready for the kill with nuthing it can do to stop them