Dwarf Domestic Violence

[joloco]

so my new mr and mrs dwarf aren't happy. mr keeps chasing mrs around - alot. pretty much whenever he spots her and will even chase her away from food.

its a densely planted tank so mrs has lots of places to hide but i'm a not really happy with the levels of domestic violence that are going on here.


is this normal?
any suggestions? does mr / mrs need to go?

 

[kazsymonds]

so my new mr and mrs dwarf aren't happy. mr keeps chasing mrs around - alot. pretty much whenever he spots her and will even chase her away from food.

its a densely planted tank so mrs has lots of places to hide but i'm a not really happy with the levels of domestic violence that are going on here.


is this normal?
any suggestions? does mr / mrs need to go?

Same problem here!

They both came from a trusted shop with a load of others in the same tank - sold as pair and they dont seem to get on!

 

[Majjie]

If you look through previous posts on dwarf gouramis you will see some of Sylvias' excellent answers on gourami aggression.

Gouramis are apparently a bit unpredictable and males, in particular, can be aggressive. They are best kept in groups, at least two females per male. If you have room in your tanks it might help to get another female - it spreads the aggression.

Also read this post - for tips on reducing aggression (although this is mainly for two males).

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=147958

 

[joloco]

Re-arranged my plants yesterday and the male has merely got worse! He's started this morning 'spreading' the agression towards everything else in the tank including my thermometre (!!!) and bolivian rams who are quite a bit bigger than him.

he may have to go at this rate.

 

[mikster]

I had the same problem and my female sadly died, try lowering your tank temperature if its high and either adding more females or just taking the male out. My male was very agressive but now theres no females hes alot calmer.

 

[littleme1969]

Yup thats the good old gourami..
I have a 5' 100g tank and my male dwarf still chased the female. but with lots of space he hardly ever caught her..lol
I have Oplines, Lace and gold in that tank too, one female and 3 males, all fully grown , and they get on just fine now, each has its own spot in the tank and alls well
I would suggest from previous experience of dwarfs that if the violence is such its distressing, that you should take him out One dwarf will live quite hapily on its own despite what the Fish shops would have us believe. They go on the fact they keep them in large numbers. Lets face it ,most fish when kept in large numbers will seem to show litte aggression. Ive had several heated exchanges with LFS on this subject, and always ask had they actually kept 2 or 3 in a tank themselves and watched their long term behaviour to each other, the answer is nearly always NO, and a red face is the result.
I would avoid getting another female also,I tried that and it just ment he had more targets..lol and about sent himself dizzy If youve got a huge tank, you should get away with it long term, but anything other than that means Mrs always gets a good battering sadly

 

[chibi]

Gouramis seem to be aggresive towards the opposite sex. If you get rid of the female, the male will calm down. In other words, if you want to get rid of one, pick the prettier one, because either one will lose aggresion