Best way to reduce male Gourami aggression?

[MattW]

I have two wild-type honey gouramis (1 male + 1 female) ever since the first bubble nest and the first batch of fry the male has gone loco. Constantly harassing the female but also my rummy nose rasboras and ember tetras. This is especially seen during feeding as when another fish enters the top 1/3 of the tank the male immediately chases them away into the plants. These are the first gouramis I've ever kept so my knowledge of them is limited. From seeing older posts on this matter the idea of adding another female might possibly work. The problem I have as well is that I only have one tank so rehoming is an issue.

Any ideas?


Tank - Dennerele 60L nano cube

2 honey gouramis
2 ember tetras
3 rummynose rasbora
3 otocinclus
3 amano shirmp

 

[Byron]

There are several serious issues here, not just the gourami I'm afraid. I'll try to offer suggestions on each.

First on the gourami as you've asked specifically. Gourami males are territorial. The degree to which they exhibit their ownership of the tank space varies with the species, and within a species individual males can operate differently. But inherently the males are territorially-minded. So in general terms, one male to two or three females is preferable to a male/female "pair." However, the unknown here is that the male may not accept another female regardless. Aggressiveness in a fish can be exacerbated by several things and this is rarely correctible once it takes hold. There is also an issue with the other species and the tank size (60 liters or 15 gallons) that I will explain below, so adding more females is a problem due to tank space as well as the behavioural issue. You might make things much worse, and as you have said this is your only tank I would not recommend experimenting with more females.

The solution here is to remove one of the gourami, or both because of what needs to be done with the other species. Will the store take them? Removing the male certainly seems necessary given his aggression to other species. This is severe stress on the fish being targeted, and they will themselves become more aggressive and unhealthy along the way. "Bullying" or whatever one calls it in an aquarium is a serious issue and is the fault of the aquarist as @GaryE explained in another thread recently. It may be unintentional, but we provide the situation that promotes this, either by insufficient numbers, or tank space, or non-compatible species, or inappropriate water parameters, etc, etc. The confines of the aquarium means the fish have no escape unlike they would in nature.

Moving to the other species, the tetras and rasboras and otos are shoaling/schooling fish. That means they need a group of their species. And anything fewer than 10 is problematical. Now, having said that, I would not worry about the otos here, three are fine; there are reasons for this I won't bog down in because the other two species are more serious. The tetras and rasboras absolutely will be negatively impacted by the numbers. The tank provides space to increase the Ember Tetras, Hyphessobrycon amandae, and I would get another 8 or 9. The Rummynose Rasbora is presumably the species Sawbwa resplendens and another 8-9 of this species is advisable. I can assure you biologically that without increasing the numbers, these fish will be under stress which often cannot be seen until it is too late.

 

[MattW]

There are several serious issues here, not just the gourami I'm afraid. I'll try to offer suggestions on each.

First on the gourami as you've asked specifically. Gourami males are territorial. The degree to which they exhibit their ownership of the tank space varies with the species, and within a species individual males can operate differently. But inherently the males are territorially-minded. So in general terms, one male to two or three females is preferable to a male/female "pair." However, the unknown here is that the male may not accept another female regardless. Aggressiveness in a fish can be exacerbated by several things and this is rarely correctible once it takes hold. There is also an issue with the other species and the tank size (60 liters or 15 gallons) that I will explain below, so adding more females is a problem due to tank space as well as the behavioural issue. You might make things much worse, and as you have said this is your only tank I would not recommend experimenting with more females.

The solution here is to remove one of the gourami, or both because of what needs to be done with the other species. Will the store take them? Removing the male certainly seems necessary given his aggression to other species. This is severe stress on the fish being targeted, and they will themselves become more aggressive and unhealthy along the way. "Bullying" or whatever one calls it in an aquarium is a serious issue and is the fault of the aquarist as @GaryE explained in another thread recently. It may be unintentional, but we provide the situation that promotes this, either by insufficient numbers, or tank space, or non-compatible species, or inappropriate water parameters, etc, etc. The confines of the aquarium means the fish have no escape unlike they would in nature.

Moving to the other species, the tetras and rasboras and otos are shoaling/schooling fish. That means they need a group of their species. And anything fewer than 10 is problematical. Now, having said that, I would not worry about the otos here, three are fine; there are reasons for this I won't bog down in because the other two species are more serious. The tetras and rasboras absolutely will be negatively impacted by the numbers. The tank provides space to increase the Ember Tetras, Hyphessobrycon amandae, and I would get another 8 or 9. The Rummynose Rasbora is presumably the species Sawbwa resplendens and another 8-9 of this species is advisable. I can assure you biologically that without increasing the numbers, these fish will be under stress which often cannot be seen until it is too late.

Thanks Byron! I agree completely and will try to reach out to the store to see if the male can be taken back. Regarding the other species, they were originally from my old tank that was set up for around 1 1/2 years. There were many more of all three species including the ottos however most had died since I set up my current 60L. I would love to give these fish the ideal lives with a bigger tank with more numbers but it's not possible as of now. Hopefully, if the gourami problem is solved I can get more of the shoaling fish in the near future.

 

[Byron]

Thanks Byron! I agree completely and will try to reach out to the store to see if the male can be taken back. Regarding the other species, they were originally from my old tank that was set up for around 1 1/2 years. There were many more of all three species including the ottos however most had died since I set up my current 60L. I would love to give these fish the ideal lives with a bigger tank with more numbers but it's not possible as of now. Hopefully, if the gourami problem is solved I can get more of the shoaling fish in the near future.

Yes, the increased groups of the tetra and rasbora are or would be in your tank (I assume it has plants) space-wise. Good luck.

 

[MattW]

Yes, the increased groups of the tetra and rasbora are or would be in your tank (I assume it has plants) space-wise. Good luck.

Thanks! Most recent pic I have

 

[Byron]

Nice! Once the Frogbit in the upper right corner starts spreading, you will have a really good habitat.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

That's a great looking tank! I can vouch for everything Byron said. I've never kept honey gouramis, but I have a lot of experience with pearls, which I believe have a similar temperament, though quite a bit bigger. There are three factors that will cause pearl gourami aggression: Insufficient space, insufficient cover, and insufficient female to male ratio. One male to two or three females is ideal; in a larger tank you can get away with two males and three females. I agree that you don't really have the space to add more gouramis. But if you could rehome one or both gouramis, you would have room to drastically increase the size of your tetra and rasbora schools.

By the way, I've always wanted to keep Sawba resplendens, and I'm a little jealous. Please put up some pictures of them. Such a cool little fish.

 

[GaryE]

It's interesting. I bred honeys for a few generations, and never saw aggression. They might chase a fish off, but not in a way that did harm.
I think it may be the aquarium shape. It's a tall tank with the surface area of a much smaller tank, in terms of volume. In some ways it's like you have honeys/chuna in a 5 gallon more than a larger tank. The way a dwarf cichlid only cares about the dimensions of the bottom of a tank and not the gallons works with surface area and gouramis. It's all the measurements, not the volume.

Beautiful tank though.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

It's interesting. I bred honeys for a few generations, and never saw aggression. They might chase a fish off, but not in a way that did harm.
I think it may be the aquarium shape. It's a tall tank with the surface area of a much smaller tank, in terms of volume. In some ways it's like you have honeys/chuna in a 5 gallon more than a larger tank. The way a dwarf cichlid only cares about the dimensions of the bottom of a tank and not the gallons works with surface area and gouramis. It's all the measurements, not the volume.

Beautiful tank though.

Well-spotted; I missed that this is a cube tank.

 

[MattW]

That's a great looking tank! I can vouch for everything Byron said. I've never kept honey gouramis, but I have a lot of experience with pearls, which I believe have a similar temperament, though quite a bit bigger. There are three factors that will cause pearl gourami aggression: Insufficient space, insufficient cover, and insufficient female to male ratio. One male to two or three females is ideal; in a larger tank you can get away with two males and three females. I agree that you don't really have the space to add more gouramis. But if you could rehome one or both gouramis, you would have room to drastically increase the size of your tetra and rasbora schools.

By the way, I've always wanted to keep Sawba resplendens, and I'm a little jealous. Please put up some pictures of them. Such a cool little fish.

Thanks! Im most likely going to try and rehome the male as the female is the more peaceful of the two. (The first 2 photos were from the first week in quarantine and in my old fluval flex )

 

[MattW]

It's interesting. I bred honeys for a few generations, and never saw aggression. They might chase a fish off, but not in a way that did harm.
I think it may be the aquarium shape. It's a tall tank with the surface area of a much smaller tank, in terms of volume. In some ways it's like you have honeys/chuna in a 5 gallon more than a larger tank. The way a dwarf cichlid only cares about the dimensions of the bottom of a tank and not the gallons works with surface area and gouramis. It's all the measurements, not the volume.

Beautiful tank though.

I've never had a pair of fish breed so much I must be on the 3rd or 4th nest and possibly even the 5th batch of eggs . I agree with the aquarium shape point you made with the smaller surface area its most likely caused the aggression

 

[DoubleDutch]

He's in full matingcolors !!!

Asian Rummynoses !!! Awesome