Blue Gouramis terrorizing my tank?

[smoray]

I've had my first aquarium for about 3 months now. It's a 42 gallon octagon. We wanted a peaceful community tank. We started with the danios and cherry barbs, added a cory cat, 2 panda cats, and 2 angels, a few glo fish slowly as recommended by the pet store. We then added a dwarf gold gourami. I really liked him so I went back (they didn't have any more) so I got 2 blue gourami's. The next day the dwarf gourami's tail was chewed on and one of the glow fishes tail was completely gone. The gourami was dead by the next morning. I called the Pet Store and was told that the blue gouramis are not aggressive that that would be highly unusual and it might be a water problem. "Of course that wouldn't explain the missing tails would it?" My test strips have been fine and I did a water change recently. Anyway now one of my Angels has been against the top of the tank and not eating for the last 2 days. I'm really heartbroken.

It may be too late but I think I will take the blue gourami's back. They are really pretty. They do chase each other around while we are watching but don't bother anything else I guess until the other fish are sleeping.

I need some advice on what fish I should be keeping together at this point! THANKS

 

[Sum22]

Male gouramis have a reputation of being really aggressive towards each other. I'd say take them back and use the money to replace what you have already. I could see them turning on other fish if they don't have enough hiding places or coverage in your tank. Maybe they were just bad fish.

I've been told that one gourami is more than enough for a tank, it doesn't necessarily need another. If you do add more, look for females.

Also, you might consider getting a liquid test kit with the test tubes. They tend to be more reliable than the test strips.

Sorry about your fish.

 

[JohnPaul]

The safest way to keep gourami's is to have only one per tank. If you have more then one, then it is best to work it so you only have one male. I'm a little surprised the gouramis would have gone after anything else in the tank, but occasionally you run into fish that are a little more aggressive than usual.

As for your other fish, cory's (of all varieties, whether panda or any of the dozens of other types) are schooling fish; you should really try to have at least 5-6 of them in your tank rather than just a few. They will feel safer, be less stressed, and probably will be much more playful. With a 42 gal tank you could easily have 6 or more corys in there without it being "too much."

 

[marchmaxima]

Good advice from Sum22 here.

It's pretty common to see aggression in a tank with two male gourami. You need a large tank and lots of hiding places, so each male can establish his own area of territory. In a 42 G, you should be able to have 2 without too much fuss,but make sure that they not both males. I've heard the "ideal" setup is 2 female to 1 male so the attention from the male can be spread over more than one fish, but I have no experience in this myself.

Incidentally, I don't know about LFSs in LA, but here, female Gourami are not stocked in Oz. I've been told that because females have no colour they aren't considered pretty, so they dont sell. You may have to ask your LFS to order one in.

 

[smoray]

Thanks guys for the advice. Unfortunately my angelfish did not make it either. We returned both gourami's. I am pretty sure they were both male as they looked identical.