dwarf gourami question

ch19079

I got 2 flame dwarf gouramis about a month ago (1 male and 1 female). The female is active and will eat whatever I put in the tank (flakes and live worms).

However, the male gourami just sits in the upper corner of the tank. It doesnt even move during feeding. Its gotten to the point where it wont move unless I, or another fish, touch it, and even then it doesnt move much.

There doesnt seem to be any thing wrong with his body, but ive only had fish for about 6 months now. Is this common for male dwarf gouramis?
Anyone have any advice to help this guy?

I have a 20 gallon (long) tank with tons of plants, rocks, and a good size piece of drift wood. Tank mates include tiger barbs, tetras, and south american rams. (I just got the rams about a week ago).

Tommy Gun

Hey ch19079 - welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear about your gourami troubles. Can you tell us how long the fish has been hanging out in upper corner? If it has been doing so for a while, my guess would definitely be some sort of aggression isssue where one or more other fish won't let him live free. My first guess would be the female gourami since it seems logical that any of your non-gourami type fish would only have a beef with the male...but I guess that is possible. Tiger Barbs are pretty well known for their annoying habit of nipping the fins of tankmates so if you notice any damage to the fins of the male gourami, I would put the tiger barbs on the suspect list. You do have quite a few other fish who might nip as well.

As an experiment, you could try removing the female gourami from the tank for a couple hours to see if the male perks up (you might be able to get away with keeping her in a bucket that is covered so she can't jump out). Regardless of whether or not you can remove the female, you might also want to try rearranging your tank since that might 'bust' any territories that are being defended.

On the other hand, if this is a recent development, it could still be an aggression issue, but there are also other possibilities.

When you say 'tons of plants', are speaking about live or fake plants?

It might also help to know a little bit about your water quality so if you do test your water, could you tell us what those results might be?