How much aggression is too much aggression?

[177ichael]

I have two Gourami's in my community tank. All of my fish seem to be very peaceful except for 1 of my Gourami's. He tends to occasionally go after my other female Gourami quite a bit and just seems to have an aggressive nature about him. He has seemed to calm down a bit recently and does not constantly chase the female around, but will still go after her quite often.

I'm debating bringing one of them back to the LFS. The aggression of the male Gourami just seems to throw the whole balance of the community tank off.

Can this sort of behavior with Gourami's subside over time? If I allow this to continue, how badly will the stress caused by the male impact the longevity of my female Gourami?

[Fruitbat]

177ichael...

What you're seeing is pretty much normal for most gouramis. It may or may not abate over time....like humans, fish are very individual. My male gourami chases the two females fairly often but no damage is done and the females seem to accept it as a normal part of life. As soon as he's done chasing them they go right back to what they were doing before he got a bee in his bonnet.