Aggressive Dwarf Gouramis

[Dragonstooth257]

Hi all

I'm new here so please be nice. bout two weeks ago I set up a fresh water tropical tank for the first time after years of admiring them from a far. We brought a pair of coral blue dwarf gouramis for the tank together with 2 guppies and some neon tetras. after another week we added 3 barbs (tiger, golden and moss green) and a silver shark.

Now about two weeks from that we are left with 2 gouramis and a small school of neons. At first I thought it was something to do with water pH or that I might have had white spot in the tank (I've kept gold fish extensively before) but that was not the case. Last night we watched as my last guppy (my dear little Wolf) was literally bullied to death in a matter of moments. The two gouramis attacked him till he died. He had no tail left by the time I noticed and he was barely living when I got him out the tank.

I've noticed that most of the other fish that died were missing fins also.

I've read on other sites that gouramis are so docile that they would rather be bullied to death than fight back. That doesn't seem the case!! My tank is heavily planted and there are several logs and arches for other fish to hide in but it doesn't seem enough.

Is this normal for the gouramis? What fish can I put in the tanks that won't be beaten up and killed by these terrors? should I give up on them and take them back to the shop? Right now they are beating each other up and I'm worried I'll have one fish in a tank before long. I really want to get some angelfish and cichilds (hope I spelt that right) but they are costly in my area (up to $50 each). obviously I don't want expensive fish like that to meet their end due to my carnivorous pair. Please help.

 

[kporteo]

Are your gouramis male or female?
K

 

[Dragonstooth257]

I'm told they are male.

 

[kporteo]

You should probably have 1 male and 2 females or a single male.....theyre probably taking out their frustration of no females on the rest of the fish.

K

 

[CletePurcel]

For what it's worth I have a male and a female dwarf gourami. The male occasionally gets aggressive with the female, but then calms down for a while. She generally stays on the other side of the tank to him and he gets very territorial around the floating plants in the aquarium which are on one side. I have read that having more males to females or just males is a bad idea. Where I buy my fish they only sell them in male/female pairs so there is not much I can do about it.

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

i would suggest you rehome 2 of the males tbh.. they will bully any fish you have now as they will all try and setup a territory (As they will believe females will just swim along lol). im quite suprised they havent picked a fight with each other yet im sure it wont be long before the aggresion switches amongst themselves

Where I buy my fish they only sell them in male/female pairs so there is not much I can do about it.

can i just commend your LFS then

not many shops would care about this so u got a awesome store there

 

[CletePurcel]

i would suggest you rehome 2 of the males tbh.. they will bully any fish you have now as they will all try and setup a territory (As they will believe females will just swim along lol). im quite suprised they havent picked a fight with each other yet im sure it wont be long before the aggresion switches amongst themselves

Where I buy my fish they only sell them in male/female pairs so there is not much I can do about it.

can i just commend your LFS then

not many shops would care about this so u got a awesome store there

My store is very good

. I was just pointing out that I couldn't have bought 2 females to 1 male which is what many people suggest. My LFS stipulated that 1 male to 1 female is generally best, but it seems open to debate. My store will also take fish back if they don't get on.

 

[Dragonstooth257]

thanks everyone for the help ... I was thinking we would have to give them up but was hoping there might b another way. I think my tetras will b glad to see them go lol.

 

[kporteo]

Id personally take one male back and ask to swap him for a female or 2!!
K

 

[Rynofasho]

Another point to make is it doesn't sound like you cycled the tank at all either which certainly won't help keep your fish alive.