German Blue Ram breeding pair causing terror!

[blazingnate]

I have had a breeding pair of GBRs in a 10 gallon with 5 neon tetras. They pair had breed a few times with limited success. Recently i moved the fish into a 20gallon tall with lots of drift wood and quite a few plants. We decided to add a dwarf gourami to the tank. Well the GBRs laid eggs 2 days ago. Last night i got off work and saw the male and female tag team chasing and biting my gourami. He has a little shredding on his dorsal fin. I immediately decided to remove the rock with the eggs on it since the eggs didn't look fertilized. The aggression slowed and has now mostly stopped. I put the rock back in the next day but put it on the opposite side of the tank from where the gourami usually chills. There is a big piece of driftwood between that should break the line of site, but i'm not sure about the future. We really like the gourami and want to keep it, but I won't let it die. Could I put the gourami in a breeder net? I have a little 1 gallon critter carrier, but I don't have my ten gallon anymore and I do not have room for another tank. Is there a trick to keeping my gourami safe? could I move him to the critter carrier for a few days to weeks? breeder net to put him in?

 

[Andy Sager]

The trick to keeping your fish safe with a breeding pair of Rams is to not put them in the same tank. As Cichlids, Rams are very territorial when spawning or preparing to spawn so any fish in the tank is in jeopardy. If your goal is to breed the Rams and raise the fry, it's best done in a tank by themselves. If you do not want to breed them, you can replace one of the fish with another of the opposite sex so that spawning behavior is no longer an issue. If you want to keep all the fish you have in a safer environment, you should use a bigger tank so the fish can be away from each other. Having to constantly isolate your Gourami will eventually wear the fish down and probably create disease issues down the road.

Hope this helps