Terrible Gourami !

[Grant R]

Right, my Gold Gourami really is getting out of hand !
If chasing the Pearl Gourami after feeding and a while after isn't bad enough, then check this :

I introduced a Red Platy to the tank yesterday morning (Sat) , only to get a call from my little sister later that evening saying that the red platy was dead with a lot of it's fin missing.

I know that this was definitely the Gold Gourami, because as soon as I'd introduced the Red Platy, he carried out the old tricks he plays on my Pearl Gourami, IE chasing about and eventually forcing into a corner.

I can't have this going on, luckily I'm buying a bigger tank in the next few weeks which will aid a few things, but at the moment, he' a **** nightmare !

What would you all do ?

G

[fishfreek]

Return him to the store for some store credit is one option

I have to moving him and other in fish into a bigger tank will not exactly stop this from happening. As I mentioned in a different post we had one that would chase stuff around in a 90. Albeit the fish could find more areas to hide or basicly stay on the opposing side of the tank.

[robertmarda]

If you want to keep him, then go buy a breeding net/containment area and put him in it until you get your other tank. At that point you can try putting all of them in the larger tank and if he doesn't settle down you can relegate him to the smaller tank and possibly find a fish or two that you like and that he can't bully.

I have a similar problem with a blue powder dwarf gourami who is about 3 inches long. Although my problem is not nearly as severe as yours. He will chase smaller fish but only a few inches before he leaves them be or chases another one. He is in a tank with about 20+ mollies that are almost 1 inch long each. And this 20 gallon tank his heavily planted so its easy for the mollies to confuse him. I'd put him in my 55 gallon tank (and he has been there) but then he becomes the target of my convict chiclid.

[swmmnglessons]

I think I can help ya with this because I have the same problem with my gourami. I had him in the tank with 4 neon tetras, a dwarf frog and an algae eater and never had a problem with him. I bought a giant gourami and when I added him in the orange one acted like he wanted to mate and wasn't territorial at all. I had to remove the giant into another tank to treat him for tail rot for about 6 days and when I put him back in they started fighting. It wasn't anything bad but they definately didn't like each other. Finally I put the orange one into my 10 since he's half the size of the giant. He seemed a little lonely so i bought 4 danios and a cory catfish. As soon as the catfish started swimming around, the gourami was after him. I found the catfish dead the very next morning. The funny thing is, the gourami has never bothered the danios. I have a feeling he feels more powerful over the single fish than the ones that school together. I'd love to buy another fish or two to put in the 10 but I'm worried he'll bully them. It might also have something to do with defending his territory. The first time I added the giant I switched around the decorations first and there wasn't a problem. The second time I didn't change around the tank and they fought. try changing the decorations to confuse the gourami into thinking he's in a new place too...Sorry, I wrote a book basically...lol

[Grant R]

Thanks for that Swmmnglessons. It is a help. With regards to store credit (fishfreek), I'm not sure that that system is used in places over here ; I definitely haven't seen it. Rather than get credit for it, I'd rather put up with him and doctor him, even though it is a little sod !

I'm looking at a bigger in the next couple of weeks ( hopefully a 30 - 40 gallon, with stand ) , so first of all, it looks like this is going to make an excellent quarantine !

Again, the thing is, it's only at certain times. That doesn't excuse him from being a naughty little git though !

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

the way i solved my little goldies problem was by pretty much setting up a gourami tank, lol--got 4 of the buggers in there at the moment with a small school of skirted tetras who seem to take care of themselves, 4 gold tetras--think they are just too fast for the gouramis....have two more that will probably join the gourami tank soon if they don't shape up and quit murdering new tankmates.... i guess with more fish that are about their size they just all distribute the abuse amongst themselves...

[wolverine121]

Hello,

I had a problem with a blue gourami beating up on some tetras in my 10 gal. So I put both blue gouramis in a new 10 gal. tank. Now they had no friends, so I bought 2 gold gouramis and a moonlight gourami. Now the blue looks like a scared kid, one of the golds just beats up on him all the time. So I added alot of plants, now when they chase each other around, the one bing chased can lose the attacker in the plants. Works out good.