How Do I Stop a Fin Nipper?

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snowangeltae

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
46
Location
San Antonio, TX
I need help!!! I had 2 male blue paradise fish, 2 blue gouramis, boy and a girl, 2 algae eaters and a striped peacock eel. The 2 blue paradise fish are getting on my last nerve!!! The have eaten the fins off both algae eaters and are starting on my blue gouramis. I just added a female blue paradise fish to see if that would help calm the males down. Really, I think it's just one of the male blue paradise, cause the other one is usually in a dark corner at the top of the tank. I have them all in an 80 gal tank. I started off w/ the 2 boy paradise and 3 blue gouramis and an angelfish in a 29 gallon, but start moving them over to 80 after I got it. I decided to leave the angelfish in the 29 gal alone cause he/she is permanently deformed, thanks to the blue paradise fish destroying his/her fins. Can anyone give me some advise on what to do with these devils? What about moving the angelfish to the 80 and moving all 3 blue pardise fish to the 29?
 
Paradise fish are not really community fish. They do best in a species tank with only one male; either alone or with several females. More than one male ends up in aggression and they can fight nearly as fiercely as bettas (this is what I've heard anyway). Adult males are naturally aggressive. I would say get each male their own tank or get rid of them by giving them to someone or to a LFS.
 
I agree. See if you can sell them back to your lfs. Your problem won't go away until you get rid of the fish. Gouramis are notorious fin nippers, and CAN be very agressive to their own species as they fight for dominance.
 
Thanks for your replies! Do you know how angelfish and blue gouramis do together? I was thinking of moving the angel to the 80 gal and moving the 3 paradise fish to the 29 gal and using a divider to separate the 2 males.
 
Hmm. It could be tedious, and really depends on the tempermants of the fish. You could try it and see what happens. If the gourami starts to chase/pick/annoy the angel you could seperate them.

I had a dwarf gourami long ago with angelfish in my tank, and it never bothered a soul.
 
Well, I would say the blue gouramis and angels should be fine but it does depend on the individuals. Try putting them together and just keep watch on them. :wink:
 
My boyfriend has a powder blue gourami with his angelfish in a 29gal and they are a little pushy towards one another... but they don't hurt/chase one another. Like mentioned, it depends on the temperment of the fish
 
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