Help! there's some nasty behaviour in my tank ...

[hexliz]

Hi

New to this forum - this is my first post - but I could do with some help!

Last week I added 2 moonlight gouramis to my 55-gallon community tank. Everything has been fine up till now and they seemed to have settled in well, but this afternoon they have been attacking a guppy and have made a real mess of its tail. It's obviously distressed and they're still going at it. The danios have also got in on the act and there seems to be a bit of a frenzy going on in there.

What can I do? I don't have another tank to remove them to. Is this sort of agression usual, and can it stem from any particular cause? Now they have done it once, and if they kill the guppy, will they do it again to other fish? It was a real surprise as everything seemed happy. It's quite distressing for me too.

I'd be grateful for any help!

Thanks

 

[hisc1ay]

I had that problem with my danio too. Then I put him in with a Betta. They seem to respect each other.

How many guppies do you have in that tank?

-j

 

[hexliz]

This was my last remaining guppy. He's pretty well gone - and his tail and fins have been completely mangled. There's not much left of him.

So far all the other fish (neons, little plecs, clown loaches and corys) all look fine - no damage to them and no aggressive behaviour to them from the gouramis and danios.

What do you think? Is this the shape of things to come?

 

[hisc1ay]

Well, let me preface by saying I don't have much experience in this, especially w/ the kinds of fish you have. That said, on to the presuppositions!

I *think* gouramis are somewhat semi-agressive. What I'm assuming from my personal experience is that some fish who don't bother some love to go after guppies because they have such large and flowy fins. I bet if you put a betta in there (a wimpy one) they would nip at his tail too. I don't know what corys look like, but your other fish don't have very large tails (or they're not flowy like a guppy). They're not as attractive to play with.

Something else I've noticed in my guppies is that they're very curious. They bug every fish I put in with them, so I don't blame the attackers sometimes.

I'm just throwing things out, I really have no concrete idea of what's going on. If you have a maternity cage of some sort, I'd stick that in your tank and put the guppy in there so he's away from the attacks. If it looks hopeless, I'd euthanize him. I don't know how well the fins regenerate, so I couldn't tell you how long it would be til he was back to normal. Good luck though.

-j

 

[Grant R]

Hi HexLiz,

I also have a moonlight gourami within my community and several guppies. So far, there has been no conflict at all. The moonlight gourami is generally a very peaceful fish, so there shouldn't be a problem. They do however like they're space and may also build bubble nests around the tops of plants.
All I can think of is your guppy may be interfering with this ??

If not, hopefully all should calm down within the next day or so. If you can't move the guppy, there is not much you can do. The tail should grow back, but may take a while.

G

 

[Thaiboxer]

My gouramis did the same thing to my guppy... they killed off a male and two females...

Now I have 7 gouramis and 6 danios in the tank, plus a pleco and a red-tail shark. They frolic and chase each other around quite a bit, but they're all about the same size so noone is getting hurt.

I'd say your gourami's behavior isn't that unusual.

 

[Chrismac]

Hey there are your Gouramis both males?
if so I would get rid of one male and put 2 - 4 females in with him that should turn his attention the other way.


Thai is right there about thier behavior they are fairly aggressive but most labrinth fish are.

if I'm wrong on the sex it could be that they are letting the other tankmates know that they are not little wimps and not to mess with them, but thats just a suggestion. I have a male and female dwarf gouromis and they ended up picking on a male betta and killed two females on us.
good luck.
Chris.

 

[daly_28656@msn.]

i have an aggressive chinese algae eater and I don`t know what to do. I don`t want to flush it- but he has chewed off his companion`s bottom fins!

 

[Grant R]

Do you have a reserve tank you can isolate it in for a while ?

 

[Somethingfishy]

Daly,
Have you tried to take it back to your LFS yet? I would rather do that than flush it or put it in a tank all by itself.

Hexliz,
I would look at my Gourmais carefully. You might find that they are a pair and are stacking breeding grounds which they do protect with some vigour.

I have Cichlids, mostly aggressive ones e.g. Convicts, Green Terror, Jaguars and a Frontosa who are all very terrotrial, and am constantly breaking up their areas so that they don't get too attacthed to them. Soometimes I am too late and a pair have laid some eggs and they then protect their area like no-ones business. Sometimes it can be fun but sometimes I get annoyed when my Green Terror just has a go at one of my Parrots, but it is all part of nature.

Sorry rambled on, check that they are not setting up breeding terrotories and take the other fish out, before you are less a couple.

 

[daly_28656@msn.]

yes, I will be going out in the 5 degree wethaer today with 3 kids to get a n extra tank for the bad fishy. But will I ever be able to reunite them? Or am I destined to start another tank?

 

[fishfreek]

Its my understanding that these algae eaters do get agressive as they grow larger.

I have heard that at a point in their development they move from algae eating to prefer to suck on fish.

8O

 

[Somethingfishy]

Hmm I have heard they are the more aggressive ones. Personally I would return it to the LFS and get the SAE, which is a better algae eater and is not as terrotorial as the CAE.

 

[daly_28656@msn.]

iI had a pleco that chased fish out of the tank at nite. I think I will steer clear of anymore algae eaters!!!

 

[Guest]

My SAE's (Siamese Algae Eaters) are still only about 1.5-2 inches, but they school up (i have 9 in my 90) and leave everybody else alone. Good algae eaters for algae that doesn't grow in strings. worthless for any kind of string algae, but zero aggression so far.

I could not find any local, had to get them mail order, which I would not do until spring at this point. Way too cold for shipping livestock.

Also, they look good when they school up, and really seem to enjoy playing in the filter current! I thought they'd just be a clean up crew but I really like them for the behavior too.

 

[Chrismac]

I agree we have three in our 33 gall and now it pretty much algaeless, pretty soon their going out because Like Fishfreek said they do like to suck on other fish.
we plan on adding them to Mbuna tank after all see how they do in there.

 

[Chrismac]

Opps Double Click..

I agree we have three in our 33 gall and now it pretty much algaeless, pretty soon their going out because Like Fishfreek said they do like to suck on other fish.
we plan on adding them to Mbuna tank after all see how they do in there.