New gourami a threat to existing gourami?

[skeeterbug]

Hi all, I have a powder blue dwarf that for months has been the chillest fish in the tank - never bothers any other fish. We tried adding a couple blue dwarf gourami a couple months ago but they bullied him a lot, so we returned the new ones. So yesterday we got a dwarf flake gourami and niece our super chill powder blue has me one instantly aggressive to the flame as well as platys and glofish tetras that originally he never bothered. Is this typical behavior? Should we retain him as the single gourami?

 

[charliebankston]

Some ppl on here say gourami are not aggressive to each other and they happily keep many together. Maybe the key is many. I've been corrected by PhD ppl in here saying I was wrong. But, ime, male gourami are aggressive to each other. Dwarfs less so. They are cousins of the betta, siamese fighting fish

 

[charliebankston]

All fish are different. And what works for one person, may not for you, and vice versa. It's a crap shoot sometimes. I've been keeping fish for over 30 years. Currently have 18 tanks. I def don't know everything, but if I post on here it's something that I have personal experience with. And I can only give my opinion on what I've found works and not. That may not always be the case for OP and others

 

[Dreamroper]

I have found your advice to be very helpful Charlie.

Please carry on.

 

[charliebankston]

Thanks! And good luck which ever way you decide to go!