TameMyImpala
New Member
Hey everyone, I'm new here. I've been in the hobby for almost 2 years now so I'm still learning a bit.
Recently I set up a new 40 gallon which took about 4 weeks to cycle. About 5 days ago I decided to add my first fish into the tank, I chose 2 Pearl Gourami's (1 Male & 1 Female). At first everything was fine, they both stuck around the top for the first day and were getting along fine. But on day 2 things changed. The male started to constantly chase and harass the female to the point where she now resides in the bottom left corner of the tank between two rocks. She usually stays there until the male finds her and chases her again, but she ends up going back to the same spot. The male on the other hand swims around and generally stays at the top and seems healthy. I'm worried for the female as shes obviously showing signs of stress which I'm sure is a result of the male's aggressive attitude. I've looked around the web and it seems I have a couple of options to make and I was wondering if anyone here was willing to give their advice and opinion(s) on what I should do.
So I figured one option is to obviously re-home one of the Gouramis, which I can either give to a friend, take back to the store or re-home the fish in another tank of mine. The only issue with moving it to my other tank is that the other tank is a 15 gallon, and that may be too small for a pearl Gourami.
Another option may be to add more female Gourami's to the tank since I've read they do better in larger groups with 1 male and multiple females. I'm not sure if that's a good idea, or if it'll just result in more females getting stressed. If this is an option I choose to take how many more females should I get, considering I have a 40 gallon. I'd like to point out that I'm looking to add more fish to the tank this weekend, specifically a nice schooling fish like Tetras(around 10-15), then a handful of Corydoras(around 4-6), and possibly a few more other fish later on. So that also would limit how many Gouramis I can add in.
So if anyone has an opinion on what option I should choose, or even if you have one I havnt seen yet then please let me know! I'd really like to see someone else's thoughts on this.
Thanks!
-Chris
Recently I set up a new 40 gallon which took about 4 weeks to cycle. About 5 days ago I decided to add my first fish into the tank, I chose 2 Pearl Gourami's (1 Male & 1 Female). At first everything was fine, they both stuck around the top for the first day and were getting along fine. But on day 2 things changed. The male started to constantly chase and harass the female to the point where she now resides in the bottom left corner of the tank between two rocks. She usually stays there until the male finds her and chases her again, but she ends up going back to the same spot. The male on the other hand swims around and generally stays at the top and seems healthy. I'm worried for the female as shes obviously showing signs of stress which I'm sure is a result of the male's aggressive attitude. I've looked around the web and it seems I have a couple of options to make and I was wondering if anyone here was willing to give their advice and opinion(s) on what I should do.
So I figured one option is to obviously re-home one of the Gouramis, which I can either give to a friend, take back to the store or re-home the fish in another tank of mine. The only issue with moving it to my other tank is that the other tank is a 15 gallon, and that may be too small for a pearl Gourami.
Another option may be to add more female Gourami's to the tank since I've read they do better in larger groups with 1 male and multiple females. I'm not sure if that's a good idea, or if it'll just result in more females getting stressed. If this is an option I choose to take how many more females should I get, considering I have a 40 gallon. I'd like to point out that I'm looking to add more fish to the tank this weekend, specifically a nice schooling fish like Tetras(around 10-15), then a handful of Corydoras(around 4-6), and possibly a few more other fish later on. So that also would limit how many Gouramis I can add in.
So if anyone has an opinion on what option I should choose, or even if you have one I havnt seen yet then please let me know! I'd really like to see someone else's thoughts on this.
Thanks!
-Chris
