neeed serious help!!!

tropical1

like stated in other threads, i have 2 new kissing gourami. well i found the tail nipping culprit. its the dominant of the 2 gourami. he is bullying the hell out of the other. what should i do. i rearranged the tank and everything and he keeps on. do you think the pet store will take the bad one back?

jwurm

Try isolating the aggressor within the tank for a couple hours. If you have a big enough net, just net him and hang the net in the tank so he can't get out but he gets good circulation of water. Or you could put him in one of those breeder separators. I forget why this helps specifically, but I see it as giving him a time out... lol

Usually when you let them out, things will calm down after that. Worth a try I think

tropical1

do you think it would hurt to keep it there all night. i have him netted in a large net and i want the other to have time to recuperate. he is literally attacking the other. the other gourami's tail fin is almost gone now. if this doesnt help, tomorrow the mean one is going back to the lfs. it really scares me to watch this, thats why i want to keep it there alnight.

RJRofFL

Sorry to hear this. I guess there indeed is some difference in the Gourami families.

As you know, I opted for the Dwarf Gouramis and (so far) have had no agression issues.

Perhaps you might consider the "Dwarf" since they are smaller, yet are still graceful and slow swimming, and even though they don't do the "kissing" thing, they are of beautiful colors.

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck.

Bob

Tbx

Over stocking the tank can some times work, like if you were to add 2 more of them agression might stop.

jmoorepghpa

Try a couple large plants that reach to the top of the tank. I have live swords but I imagine artificial would work too. Occasionally I trim the swords way down and the gouramis seem to be more agressive towards each other in open water. When the plants are tall and full each one kind of stakes out a claim next to a different plant and in effect "stay on their own turf". Make sure whatever you put in is fairly full and reaches the top of the water as that is where the gouramis like to hang out. I have found too a couple small pieces of lettuce stems from the base of the leaves floating on top keep them occupied. They seem more interested in chasing the floating vegetation than each other. All that aside you just may have an exceptionally aggressive specimen.

tropical1

yeah i have alot of tall plants for them. its too late anyways, they, well, one is back at the lfs, the other died last night while i was sleeping. i kept the mean one in the net all night to give the other a break, it didnt work. the lfs did a total refund on them both when i explained what had happened. now i am trying 2 small blue gourami. they should be alright since they are small. i will keep yall updated.

Splash Spooky

Sorry for your loss tropical 1! You did everything you could and unfortunatley mother nature won this battle. Your new fish are lucky to have you!

tropical1

thanks splash. i think these fish are here to stay. i had my original stocking for 4 months and decided it was time for a change. well you see what happened, lol. this time, i am not touching it till i get my bigger 55 gallon.

tony

Your not the only one whos had a psycho gourami, the one i had 6 months ago terrorized all my other fish and then commited suicide by jumping in the filter some how. It was a dwarf gourami.