Terrorist fish

[Narco.sys]

So I've recently set up my first tank, 36 gal. So far I've stocked it with 6 tiger barbs, 2 blue gourami and one spotted catfish (all recommended by a lfs employee). My cycle is just starting, ammonia slowly creeping up, is now at 0.5 mg/l no nitrites or nitrates. Anyway, what I've read about gouramis is that they're generally a peacefull fish, but my male is a damn nuissance. He's terrorised the female and chewed off a chunk of her tail, won't let her near the food. I have to feed her separately in her corner of the tank, and she's visibly weak. He even chases the barbs and tries to nip at them, but they too fast for him. I'm wondering what I should do at this point. I can't remove him as I only have one tank, maybe I should separate him into a betta cage thing, but then what to do? Any help would be appreciated

 

[rich311k]

Gouramis can get pretty mean. It sounds like you have a fiesty one. You may have to take it back to the store.

I would do a PWC today with that ammonia level, you dont want your fish to be stressed.

 

[bosk1]

Gouramis can get pretty mean.

Yes, although typically only toward their own kind.

 

[Hara]

I have had gold gouramis terrorize the entire tank, not just their own kind..my blues were fairly peaceful.

 

[Narco.sys]

So I ended up separating my fish to see if it'll help. I kept the female in a little isolation tank that hangs inside the main one until her fins started looking less ragged. Then yesterday as I was doing the PWC, I switched the 2 gouramis, released the female and separated the male. While I was doing the pwc, I kept the male in a plastic quart container, that I put on a shelf above the tank. As I was dumping the bucket of water, I heard my cat meowling, run back into the living room to see the gourami on the floor. My cat was sitting there not sure what to do, looking like a hunting dog that just found the duck. Near as I can make it out, he jumped out of the container and flew about 5 feet to the floor. But seems okay now, just unhappy about the forced isolation. However since I've separated him it seems as if the whole tank has come alive, the barbs are no longer hiding in the back of the tank, and the catfish is making his rounds about the tank again. The LFS won't take him back so now I have to figure out what to do with him. Can't keep him isolated forever.

 

[talloulou]

Sometimes removing the mean fish, redoing the whole tank, and then re-introducing the mean fish will work. If everything looks different when he goes back in he might not be so territorial. However some mean fish are "bad to the bone" and nothing helps.

 

[Tiffi]

My first gourami killed the female, because he stressed her out so much.

My second gourami (couple years later) harrassed everybody in the tank. I always had to separate him in a little bucket when aquascaping, because he would try to bite me and spit water at me when I put my hand in the tank. One time I separated him (he wouldn't even swim away from the net so brave), and he first jumped out of the bucket on top of the tank back into the tank. I put him back into the bucket, this time with a cut off nylon stocking over the top of it. He jumped out again and landed on the floor (6' deep). He still lived and recovered well. Nevertheless, I've brought him back to the lfs. That was really a terrorist too and it was sad to look at how he harrassed other fish. In the end he even got into a bad fight with a breeding male Kribensis, because he had to swim directly next to the breeding place!

Since you got the gourami on advice of your lfs, they have to take the fish back. Or I would never buy there again and try to bring the fish to a different lfs.

 

[RoK]

Yeah, gouramis are generally described as being peaceful but they really can get a bit feisty, especially the three-spot (Trichogaster trichopterus) and even dwarf gouramis IME. The snakeskin, moonlight, sparkling, and pearl's seem to be much more mild.

 

[Tiffi]

I've had honey gouramis before, they were really gently and timid, very nice fishes to have. But I wouldn't get another dwarf in one of my community tanks...