Blue Gourami

[dabbleweed]

hi. last week i bought a blue gourami and put him into my tank which also houses dwarf gouramis, pearl gouramis. mollies, platys, neon tetras, catfish, danios and one very peaceful betta. but he spent the whole time chasing everyone of them around the tank. then yesterday i found my micky mouse platy dead. im not sure if he killed her or not. so i moved the blue gourami into my other tank which has firemouth chiclids, a dwarf chiclid, a keyhole chiclid, yellow gouramis, rainbow fish, paradise fish, tiger barbs and a clown loach. now, the exact same thing. he constantly chases the other fish around and the most of them are twice his size. yet they seem to be terrified of him and have taken to hiding away at every opportunity. does anyone know why he is like this as they are suppoesed to be a peaceful fish. i really really dont want to take him back as he is magnificent.

 

[Miah002]

Maybe this will help

In the home aquarium they may be housed with a variety of fish, although it's usually best to keep them with fish of similar size. Generally only one male should be kept per tank, as males are highly territorial. However if the tank is large enough, or there are enough other fish present, this natural tendency will be diminished.

 

[pippoodle]

what size tank are they all in ?
he might not be able to get enough territory without being aggresive in a smallish tank

 

[dabbleweed]

what size tank are they all in ?
he might not be able to get enough territory without being aggresive in a smallish tank

its a 98 litre tank. sorry! im new to this and im not sure what that is in gallons.

 

[pippoodle]

what size tank are they all in ?
he might not be able to get enough territory without being aggresive in a smallish tank

its a 98 litre tank. sorry! im new to this and im not sure what that is in gallons.

sorry which one is the 98 litre one not the one with the firemouths and clown loaches in ?

 

[Miah002]

I think 98 liters is 27 us gallons and 22 uk gallons.

I know it's more than 20 so it should be fine to get apair of blue gouramis.

 

[pippoodle]

a pair of blue gouramis would add 10" of fish which is approx half the stocking of a 98 litre tank

clown loaches need at least 75 gallon tank they can grow to 16" in length so you are already well over stocked just if you had one clown loach [URL="http/www.loaches.com/species-index/clown...ia-macracanthus"]http/www.loaches.com/species-index/clown...ia-macracanthus[/URL]

tiger barbs should be kept in groups 1 tiger barb takes up 3" of fish and need a minimum of 30 gallons
Firemouth can grow to 6" and also need a bare minimum of 30 gallons

so without the other fish you have in that tank i hope they are in a tank of at least 100 us gallons - 378 litres

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If they are going in the 98 litre one

again a pair of blue guouramis will add 10" to your stock list
so that leaves you with approx 10-20" of fish remaining depending on fitration and maturity of tank and maintenance and fishkeepers experience

blue gouramis minimum 120 litres
pearl gouramis 4" each
dwarf gouramis appro 2" each
Mollys approx 5-7"

so without the other fish you are also well overstocked this might not be a problem with good filtration and frequent water changes but the fish will have a limited amount of swimming room and as so the BLUE gouramis woulkd not be a good addition to this tank as the male could not get enough territory to stop him being aggressive - seeing as you already have territorial fish in the tank
this would only work in a much larger densly planted tank that cuold keep the gouramis apart and give them all a nice size territory
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Not picking on you or anything just passing on info that might help you in the future

Thanks Sarah x

 

[balashark]

Blue Gourami can be very territorial, especially the males. I have one in a 55 gallon tank and he guards about 25 gallons of it. Pearl gouramis are also a bad idea to house together with your blue. Without other female three spot gouramis the blue will chase the pearls and eventually kill them. The small tank is your biggest problem.

 

[Miah002]

I'll agree thet you can't house pearls and oplaines together.

Pearls are peaciful. They're not agressive. I've had trio in a 90 litre showing no aggresion at all.