Dwarf Gourami acting like a jerk.

[NoMoreGoldFish]

So I went to and got some fish for my newly cycled 30G tank today and thought I'd get a pair of Dwarf Gouramis. I wanted to get a male and a female but for some particular reason, they only sold pairs of males so I got a pair for $1.50 (I also got 8 neon tetras for $1.50).

So I drip acclimatized them and went to bed, when I woke up a few hours later I saw one of them nesting under the pile of floating plants that I bought and the other one was hiding on the bottom in the planted cabombas. I thought it was sick or something, then I saw it going up for air or a flake of food and out of nowhere, BAM! The other one rammed/sucker-punched it right in the ribs. Then the poor little fish went back to hiding.

I know they're territorial but I didn't know they were that aggressive. Now the submissive one is still hiding, and the dominant one is swimming around the tank like he's the king or something.

How do I fix this? I can't create a second floating plant area because the water current will merge them together.

 

[Aspencer]

I have not kept DG's but you might create more hiding places by rearranging your tank so they both have to start over claiming their territories...my Kribs were like that, so after 10 days I changed the tank around. They are pretty peaceful now.

 

[JoeBob]

Well I hate that for you and your abused fish! I'm not sure about the DG, but I had two Gold Gourami males and had the same situation. I eventually had to give one to my brother Good Luck.

 

[tulip55555]

I had an aggressive angel fish once. I went to the LFS and told them it was a problem and they exchanged it for me.

 

[NoMoreGoldFish]

I'll give it a few more days and see what happens then, I might have to try and find it a new home. Don't think the fish guy will swap it, they came pre-bagged and cost $1.50 for two.

 

[Aspencer]

I'll give it a few more days and see what happens then, I might have to try and find it a new home. Don't think the fish guy will swap it, they came pre-bagged and cost $1.50 for two.

Wow, pre-bagged...except for Betta's, I have never seen that.

 

[NoMoreGoldFish]

Wow, pre-bagged...except for Betta's, I have never seen that.

Yeah, they sell them so fast that as soon as a bag of fish is sold, they go in the back and bag a new set. That's why small fish are so cheap here, I got 8 adult neon tetras for $1.50, the smaller 3/4 inch ones are $3.00 for 100. But a single panda cory costs $2.00 and some goldfish go for over $500 - $600. It's weird.

 

[NoMoreGoldFish]

OMG. He kept nipping on a neon tetra and took the whole bottom half of its tail fin off, the other Dwarf Gourami has also had parts of his tail fin nipped off. I just put him in a fry box.

Will the their tail fin grow back? Is my neon tetra a goner? He's still swimming around, but when it gets into a current stream it gets thrown around.

 

[NoMoreGoldFish]

I just released him from "prison", he now seems a lot more timid and stays in corner of floating plants. Doesn't nip other fish even when they swim right up next t him. Hope it fixed his behavioral problems.

 

[Ksuyen]

I had the same thing happened... Twice. I bought 2 DG, then one harassed another, I returned him. The one that left then started harassing all the fish in the tank until a few of my tetras died because of it. I returned him too and vowed never to get any Gouramies from then.

 

[skiweeangel]

In my first fish keeping experience I had three gouromies. After a few years two of them died and I, being young (13) and not knowing anything, got a beta to keep it company. I woke ip the next morning to find the beta smashed up! The point of it's face was flat. I never got any more fish after that because I felt so bad. This time around I am trying to be more careful. But no matter how much research you do some times things just font work out the way we hope.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Dwarf gouramis have a severe disorder or multiple-personality IMO. I have never seen a mean gourami yet many talk about how their gourami setups went horribly wrong.

Maybe it's just because mine are old. They have seen practically almost every compatible fish that can go with them and I guess not interested anymore.

 

[NoMoreGoldFish]

I've added some glofish and albino cories, now the aggressive dwarf gourami is behaving, even hanging out with the submissive one. Which is good, because it's not hiding from the aggressive one all the time, they seem to be on equal terms now.

My theory is, which could be 100% wrong, is that in understocked tanks when they're the biggest fish, the dominant one will become territorial. Either that, or sending him to jail worked, which is less feasible because I don't think you can modify the behavior of fish to that extent.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

I've added some glofish and albino cories, now the aggressive dwarf gourami is behaving, even hanging out with the submissive one. Which is good, because it's not hiding from the aggressive one all the time, they seem to be on equal terms now.

My theory is, which could be 100% wrong, is that in understocked tanks when they're the biggest fish, the dominant one will become territorial. Either that, or sending him to jail worked, which is less feasible because I don't think you can modify the behavior of fish to that extent.

Actually I think you can. I have used the "jail" method on all my aggressive fishes and after a day or two in the slammer they never attacked.

 

[NoMoreGoldFish]

Really? Are there any repeat offenders? What's the "recidivism rate"?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

The only repeat offender was a boeseman's rainbow. She was a bad girl, I had to keep her in there every week but she still wouldn't stop chasing my molly. At that point I decided it was best to seperate them, so I put her in another tank.

 

[NoMoreGoldFish]

Wow. Thanks for the info. Hopefully my dwarf gourami stays good.

 

[skiweeangel]

Good luck. I love the way they look but I'm afraid to get them again. Maybe I'll make another attempt.