When Is Enough, Enough

[CKutz]

I'm wondering if i need to seperate my kribs and lavendar (same as blue) gourami. They don't always go after each other..which is why i've allowed it. it's just sometimes someone wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, and the other gets mangled. right now the kribs are breeding..they haven't showed me yet...but i know, haha about as sneaky as i was when i was a teenager!!
so right now i'm not too concerned about the current behaviour.

it's when thigns seem to be all normal in the tank...and they just go at it. male krib and gourami face each other or square off till 1 decides to snap. then they spin all about until one backs off. i sit there and yell at them but they won't always stop no matter how much i curse at them.

i previously had a sword tail in the tank..and the gourami would chase him regularly. but then they'd calm down. and i never saw marks on the swordtail so i figured he was ok. well i found him dead one morning...guess he wasn't ok. but i kinda think the high temp in the tank (weather) might have had him stressed. then someone had a go at him and sent him over the edge.

So i'm new at this sorta, and don't know when to determine when fin nipping goes too far.
i have been thinking it was ok, because the kribs or the gourami, get their fins a little shredded, then it gets enough time to grow back. and then they get nipped again.

i like both the fish, and my only option is to take them back to the lfs. So my question is, is this serious? or should i just let them be...could i get other fish to sorta break up the aggression?

 

[CKutz]

any opinions

 

[Matthew Lee Newell]

I'm wondering if i need to seperate my kribs and lavendar (same as blue) gourami. They don't always go after each other..which is why i've allowed it. it's just sometimes someone wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, and the other gets mangled. right now the kribs are breeding..they haven't showed me yet...but i know, haha about as sneaky as i was when i was a teenager!!
so right now i'm not too concerned about the current behaviour.

it's when thigns seem to be all normal in the tank...and they just go at it. male krib and gourami face each other or square off till 1 decides to snap. then they spin all about until one backs off. i sit there and yell at them but they won't always stop no matter how much i curse at them.

i previously had a sword tail in the tank..and the gourami would chase him regularly. but then they'd calm down. and i never saw marks on the swordtail so i figured he was ok. well i found him dead one morning...guess he wasn't ok. but i kinda think the high temp in the tank (weather) might have had him stressed. then someone had a go at him and sent him over the edge.

So i'm new at this sorta, and don't know when to determine when fin nipping goes too far.
i have been thinking it was ok, because the kribs or the gourami, get their fins a little shredded, then it gets enough time to grow back. and then they get nipped again.

i like both the fish, and my only option is to take them back to the lfs. So my question is, is this serious? or should i just let them be...could i get other fish to sorta break up the aggression?

as soon as fin nipping happens it can lead to anything, fin rot, whitespot through stress etc etc.....
if it was me in this situation, i would most certainley seperate them both.....
it is never healthy for fish to be in these situations with each other....
i would seperate them, and research what other tankmates are most suited.....
i went through the same thing, i put a convict cichlid and a jack dempsey cichlid together and hell let loose,
so i took both of them back purely because i ddnt want to have any aggresive fish....
(i was wrongly advised about these fish)

thats my advice for you anyways and i hope it may be of some help
matt

 

[Davo86]

how big and tall is the tank?

try adding some more decor further up the tank so that the gourami can build a territory in the upper level away from the kribs, lots of floating plants might help

 

[snowflake311]

What size tank is it? Maybe a larger tank is what you need? If that's not the problem then as soon as you notice one fish does not come out and play any more you need to do something. I say let a little fight happen a nip here and there is ok because they are setting up the pecking order it needs to happen. BUT if you see one fish is getting bullied to the point where he is afraid to come out of his safe spot then you need to take one of the fish out.

 

[CKutz]

it's a 30 gal tank
36" long, 12 wide, 16 high.

they've established territories..i have the kribs thing in a corner to keep them away from everyone in the tank. the gourami seems to like these rocks that i sorta made a cave out of, it's in the middle of the tank.

they all come out regularly..and they don't always go after each other..it's weird i can't really figure out what triggers it. just sometimes when they get close together the kribs and gourami will fight with each other continuously. other times they don't bother each other. but at some point every day probably, they go at it a little.
its definitely worse when the kribs are breeding, so i would let it go..but they breed so frequently.