Territorial 3 Spot Gourami

[HeatherSweetness]

I just seperated my male and female 3 spotties,they were in the 30 gallon. The male went insane and killed 4 cories and 5 tiger barbs. He was chasing her around so much I'm suprised she didn't die from the stress. I put her in the ten gallon for now,and he is still very aggressive. (I was repeatedly told that putting a male/female pair together was okay,as long as it WASN'T male/male. She is very much a female,her dorsal fin is rounded and she is rather plain,whilst his fins are extremely long and flowy,his dorsal fin comes to a long flowing point,and he is a beautiful vivid hue of blues and grey. I'm 100% positive he's a male.) When is he going to calm down?

I did rearrange and clean the tank up some,hoping to thwart his territorial woes. However,the right side is still very much his and my cory and angelfish are stuck on the left.

What else can I do to calm him down?

 

[JAY323]

mine used to chase the female too i guess he was trying to mate?

 

[HeatherSweetness]

He was,he was building bubble nests like crazy. He's calming down some finally.

 

[falcodarkzz]

Lol!
My dwarf gourami killed his female

 

[Opilius]

if you buy a male and female threespot it doesn't necessarily mean they will pair and if they dont the male will attack the fmale to no end. Also threespots are very aggressive and territorial in the first place. The best thing you can do is buythem when they are very young and if you see the male harassing the female either remove one and live with one gourami or ask your LFS if you can trade them for a different pair of young threespots.

Opilius

 

[severina]

OH MY GOD! I'm so glad I read this! My plans for my tank were toget some gouramis after I added the new tiger barbs. I don't think its such a good idea anymore. Anyone think I could still do it if I just got some females instead of males?

 

[TammyLiz]

OH MY GOD! I'm so glad I read this! My plans for my tank were toget some gouramis after I added the new tiger barbs. I don't think its such a good idea anymore. Anyone think I could still do it if I just got some females instead of males?

If I were to stock my 55 gallon again, I think I would just get a single female gourami, because honestly I don't think my gouramis like each other much. However, in 55 gallons you could have a group of four living comfortably if they got along. Make it four females, or a male and three females (Which is what I have, although one female has been removed to quarantine since she is losing weight. Infection? Stress from being at the bottom of the pecking order? I'm not sure).

Just two together is usually a bad idea from what I've been told, and I believe it. Stronger bullies the weaker, and it must be true because I see the story on here over and over again.