general help required

[mus]

I have an opaline gourami (seems agressive against other two gouramis) a golden gourami and a pearl gourami.

1. Is there anything i can do to make the opaline less agressive?

2. Can i buy dwarf gouramis aswell or will they get attacked ?

3. I have been told to stay away from -

a) white clouds (i was told and white clouds or small tetras will become food for the gouramis when they grow) is this true? I wanted a school of minows
b) guppies ( is this also true because i would like some guppies.

Tank is 180l

 

[ejaramillo01]

180 litters is approximately 45G. Gouramies can be aggressive to each other, the only suggestion that I can give you is to add ornaments, plants, etc. to try to break the eye contact between them as much as possible. In this way maybe they can find their own site on the tank.
What I'm not sure is if three are to many for the size of your tank. So maybe adding more gouramies is not a good idea.

You will receive better advice if you pos what else do you have in your tank. (Besides the gouramies).

 

[mus]

A rt shark, a glassbloodfin tetra, minnow, odessa barbs and 3 swordtails.

I might rehome the tetra, minnow and barbs altough i like the minnow and would like more i have been told that they may get eaten by the gourami.

 

[Coleallensmom]

You can try to break up the line of sight in the tank to give each of the fish their own territory in the tank, but Gouramis are naturally aggressive towards other gouramis, dwarf or otherwise. If the harassment doesn't stop and is excessive, I would urge you to separate the gouramis.

 

[Shadowraven]

DO NOT add ANY Dwarf Gouramis to that set-up. I guarantee that they will be tortured.

The Pearl is probably going to be in for some rough weather as well. They are generally too passive to stand up to the Opaline in my experience. You might be able to add more of the Pearls. Strength in numbers and spreading out the aggression being the idea here. If I was going to add any other fish to help with this problem it would be them.

You could add more Opalines for it to roughhouse with, but that could become an even bigger disaster with what you have already. Opalines are one of the more aggressive Gouramis anyway. They can also get pretty big, at least for Gouramis.

Golden Gouramis are just a variation of variation of the the Three-spot or Blue Gourami. That is another of the more aggressive Gouramis species.

The last 2 types of Gouramis can be OK in a tank, but there needs to be at least 6-8 of them to spread out the aggression. In that type of set-up you'd only have one type of Gourami in the tank, unless you had a large tank, say 55-gal or more. Any more of these types could end up meaning more of them to torture the others.

The only other thing you could do is what ejaramillo01 & Coleallensmom suggested. I would add more plants than anything else to the tank. That would give the others more places to hide.

I'd avoid Red-tailed Sharks. They can get pretty big and are fairly aggressive themselves. Swordtails would probably fight back, but they would be missing some fins.

What you were told in your third point is correct. Fish that small would become sushi rather quickly.

BTW, did you say that this tank was a 180-gal long or 180 liters (48-gal)?

 

[mus]

I wish, its litres not gallons.

 

[Coleallensmom]

Honestly though- If there is an aggressor, I don't think even adding plants will help. I tried to put two young female blue spots in my 37 gal which is fairly heavily planted and it did nothing to stop fighting....which is why I never recommend anyone to put more than one gourami in a tank unless it's a fairly large one. Gouramis are just too unpredictable in nature.

 

[severum mama]

Opaline and gold gourami are color variants of the same species, Trichogaster trichopterus. As mentioned, they have the potential to be pretty aggressive (for a gourami).

I would agree that adding a dwarf gourami is not a good idea. Your trichopterus will likely bully a dwarf to death. I also agree that your pearl is probably going to be bullied quite a bit. Trichogaster leeri is one of the more peaceful species of gourami and would make a better addition to a more peaceful tank IMO.

Breaking up lines of sight may work, but a 180 liter tank is only so large... I have a feeling that this won't curb the aggression for long.

If it were my tank I would rehome the trichopterus and RTS and add another pearl of the opposite sex. 180 liters should be a good size for keeping a pair of pearls. Then, I would increase the number of bloodfin tetras and watch for nipping from those odessas (they aren't terribly nippy IME). Swordtails grow pretty large so with a pearl pair, a proper school of bloodfins and odessas, and the swords, you would be pretty well stocked at that point IMO.

Good luck!

 

[Coleallensmom]

If it were my tank I would rehome the trichopterus and RTS and add another pearl of the opposite sex. 180 liters should be a good size for keeping a pair of pearls. Then, I would increase the number of bloodfin tetras and watch for nipping from those odessas (they aren't terribly nippy IME). Swordtails grow pretty large so with a pearl pair, a proper school of bloodfins and odessas, and the swords, you would be pretty well stocked at that point IMO.

I agree with this although it may be difficult to create a pair of pearl's; I hear quite often that stores typically only carry one sex of gouramis or the other.

 

[Shadowraven]

I agree with Coleallensmom. Adding the plants may help, but it's not too likely. In my experience they will still suffer at the fins of the bullies. I agreed that the plants were an option, if you're going to keep those fish in there, but it isn't the best one.

severum mama's idea would be a better solution all the way around. The pearls shouldn't have any problem with the other fish, even if you decide to get a dwarf. You don't necessarily have to get pairs for the pearls. From what I've seen in the past, even the males can usually peacefully coexist with little aggression. They have the side benefit of also being one of the most attractive of the Gourami IMO, that is along with the dwarfs.

@severum mama: Thanks for the gourami species clarification. I knew that they were the same species, but for some reason I was picturing moonlight gouramis when I wrote it. Brain fart!

 

[severum mama]

I agree with this although it may be difficult to create a pair of pearl's; I hear quite often that stores typically only carry one sex of gouramis or the other.

This mostly applies to dwarf gourami. With pearls, both sexes are found fairly regularly.

 

[mus]

Thnx for the advice apart from the the opaline the other fish are new, i dnt want to return the rts its v small and not aggresive (yet anyway) just one gourami is aggresive, please dnt tell me i have pretty much fully stocked the tank i realy want some more fish (wat do you think?)

I agree with staying away from dwarf g's but i might add a couple of pearls, and am going to keep rts. Im still struggling to understand some say rts as lng as it is on its own it will b ok, some say will eat small fish, as far as the gouramis will they get big enough to eat my minnow and will they?

If i can stock more plz make suggestions, btw tank is planted and well maintained.

 

[Shadowraven]

Always follow this rule when keeping fish.

If a larger fish can fit a smaller fish into it's mouth, it eventually will.

It doesn't matter what fish it is, this rule almost always holds true.

Red-tailed Sharks are semi-aggressive, leaning towards the aggressive. I like them and they are beautiful fish. But they can be aggressive. RTS also grow to be 6-in in length, so keep that in mind. They may eat any smaller fish. They can be VERY territorial, so I'd be careful about getting more than one in a tank that size.

The problem with RTS is that they have such a wide range of personalities, it is hard to say how they will behave in a tank. I try to watch them in the LFS carefully before I get any in order to try and judge their behavior. Just keep an eye on the RTS to make sure they haven't found any favorite targets.

The gouramis you have there generally don't get big enough to eat most aquarium fish. They don't grow to be any larger than 4-in. Their mouths are too small in relation to their size.

Guppies may be OK, but avoid the fancy tailed ones. Much too tempting for the RTS and that variety of guppy can't swim very fast. Stay away from the white clouds for the same reason given above. Danios or bloodfins might be a good choice for you though.

 

[Coleallensmom]

just one gourami is aggresive, please dnt tell me i have pretty much fully stocked the tank i realy want some more fish (wat do you think?)

Only one gourami may be aggressive, but you take out that fish and one of the others may well take over. If you want to have more than one gourami in the tank, your best bet is to have a pair. Severum Momma's assessment is correct as far as further stocking goes. You have tetra, white clouds, and barbs in your tank which are schooling fish that thrive in large groups. It's recommended to have no less than 5 per group to keep comfort levels high and aggression at a minimum.