Gourami Introduction

[aveldina]

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some advice with this situation. My 36Gal tank currently has one beautiful male pearl gourami in it. As I'd love to try having two gourami's I finally found a female that is a similar size and she's currently in my QT tank. So far she looks healthy and assuming all goes well I'll be moving her into my 36Gal in the next week. Does anyone have suggestions for managing possible "I was here first" aggression from the male since I'm adding the female? I've heard of rearranging the tank before? Has anyone had issues keeping one male and one female pearl gourami together?

My male certainly has personality and he swims normally around the top center of the tank. My tetras are plenty quick enough to get out of his way but he will give the catfish a little chase if they happen to get in his way so he's not shy at all.

 

[Zagz]

Pearl gourami's are one of the most peaceful gourami's. Move things around and feed just before adding her to the tank and you should be fine.

 

[aveldina]

So I moved the female in last night, and this morning I seem to be having the problem that I was afraid of. My male gourami keeps chasing her around. She has lots of places to hide, but every time she comes out he chases her. He acts like he's just curious about her and then he starts chasing her around. I'm kinda worried he's going to seriously hurt her. Are male gourmai's usually this aggressive or did I just happen to get an unusually grumpy one? He doesn't chase the tetras or the cat fish like that at all.