Aggressive Male Dwarf Guorami

[kajones]

I have posted this same post elsewhere on the site but thought i might have more luck here.
O.k, the problem is that i had a pair of dwarf guoramis in my community tank, the male had always been a bit fiesty, chasing the female and occasionaly the firemouths that were in there. Anyway, i got another much bigger tank and a lot of my bigger fish went in there. Since the tank emptied out a bit the male has been ridiculously aggressive toward the female, chasing and nipping her constantly. He seemed to be trying to build a nest, bloowing bubbles at the surface and picking bits of plants and putting them at the surface but it never came to anything. The aggression got so bad that i have taken him out and put him in my spare 22g. I have since bought another female and put her in the community tank, i put the male back in with them and straight away he started on them both so he's back in isolation. What should i do?

 

[interbug]

I have exactly the same problem, would be keen to hear peoples comments

 

[sylvia]

Either return the male to your LFS or keep him in another tank until the females are fully grown. You can try a few things to discourage him first though - get more tall plants for the females to hide in, increase surface aggitation to prevent him from building a nest, lower the temperature to about 77 deg F (very gradualy), feed more veggies and add a bunch of ceramic pots or similar hiding places. It can also help to introduce more active schooling fish such as checker barbs or get a few platy trios.

 

[kajones]

O.k thanks, I'll get some surface plants. There are quite a lot of plants in there and some broken pot caves and a couple of rock caves but the two females seem to favour the bottom back corners of the tank. Do you think it's because there are too few fish in the tank then?It would be a shame to get rid of the male as he's very impressive to look at, brilliant red and blue stripes, long trailing fins. How will i know when the females are fully grown? My original female is around 2 inches including tail and you can see the egg swell. The new one is still tiny.

Either return the male to your LFS or keep him in another tank until the females are fully grown. You can try a few things to discourage him first though - get more tall plants for the females to hide in, increase surface aggitation to prevent him from building a nest, lower the temperature to about 77 deg F (very gradualy), feed more veggies and add a bunch of ceramic pots or similar hiding places. It can also help to introduce more active schooling fish such as checker barbs or get a few platy trios.

Interbug i notice you have a dwarf puffer in your community tank, how is it going? I was thinking of getting one a way back but i asked advice about it on the forum and was advised against it (you know how people are !

I have exactly the same problem, would be keen to hear peoples comments

 

[kajones]

Sylvia thank you so much for your advice, you have solved my problem! I went to my lfs today, they didn't have any surface plants but they did have some very active little guppies. So i bought 8, put them in the tank and put the male dg back in, i can't quite belive it but his attitude has totally changed! Where before he was just hanging around the top corner of the tank and chasing the female every time she emerged from the plants, now he is happily pottering around, doing his own thing and not bothering anyone! I never would have thought of adding schooling fish so thank you,i don't understand why it worked but it has and all is calm in the tank again!

Either return the male to your LFS or keep him in another tank until the females are fully grown. You can try a few things to discourage him first though - get more tall plants for the females to hide in, increase surface aggitation to prevent him from building a nest, lower the temperature to about 77 deg F (very gradualy), feed more veggies and add a bunch of ceramic pots or similar hiding places. It can also help to introduce more active schooling fish such as checker barbs or get a few platy trios.

 

[leostockton2007]

hello...
i got 4 gourami`s the other day but im abit unsure what type they are and how big they get, my girlfriend bought them and didnt ask wot they were ya see. 2 of them are orange with a lovely blue tail which really stands out (LFS said they are gold honey gourami`s but theyre not the same as the pic that was displayed earlier) so id like 2 know what they are and how big they get, also she bought 2 bright yellow beautiful gourami`s which are alot larger than the orange ones. id like 2 know what theyre called and how big they get as i think theyre guna be big ones.
id really appreciate it if u cud help me, thanks
LEO


MY AQUARIUM
3 clown loaches, 3 cory`s, 1 common plec (if theres another name for the common plec cud u let m kno plz) , 8 neons, 2 blue rams cichlid, 2 honey gourami`s??, 2 yellow gourami`s ? , red tailed shark and 3 candy loaches ( botia something?? ) (plz cud u help me identify the candy loach aswell as im not 2 sure wot the proper name is. thanks