Gourami trouble

[hodaka]

I have a 20 gallon tank with 6 cardinal tetras, 2 painted tetras, 1 clown loach and a female gold gourami. All was peaceful until today, when I added 2 dwarf gouramis. The gold gourami went nuts and has been chasing the 2 new dwarf gouramis all afternoon. I am afraid she is going to stress them out, as well as upsetting the other fish. Is there any way to stop this chasing behavior?

 

[TankGirl]

Welcome to Aquarium Advice!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news with your first post, but you probably need to remove those two dwarf gouramis. It is very difficult to keep more than one in one tank, unless it is a large tank. I think there will be injury, stress and illness if you leave them in there, unfortunately.

 

[JohnPaul]

Yeah it sounds like either the two dwarfs or the one gold need to be returned to the pet store if you are going to have peace in the tank.

 

[Blucat]

You can't usually keep dwarf gouramis with other types of gourami. They are more peaceful so they don't mix. My lfs keeps dwarf gouramis seperate with all other gouramis together

 

[hodaka]

Thank you for the advice. I have removed the 2 dwarf gouramis. Can you suggest other fish that would be a better fit?

 

[Blucat]

How about more gold gouramis?
maybe 1 more female and 1 male?

 

[RoK]

That clown loach will get quite big just so you know. Cory cats would be better if you want some bottom feeders. What blucat mentioned could work just watch over them and try to get them all almost the same size. Larger gouramis tend to pick on smaller ones especially in small tanks.

 

[hodaka]

Update:
I returned the 2 dwarf gouramis to the lfs and replaced them with 2 swordtails (male/female). Everyone is getting along swimmingly now. FYI I would never have more than one gold gourami, at least in a tank my size. I started out with 2 gold gouramis (male/female) and a pearl gourami. The gold male gourami killed the pearl gourami and constantly chased the gold female. I found a new home for the gold male, which made the female quite happy. Of course, now the female has become boss of the tank!