fish acting strange

[benfica04]

hey there,

I currently have a 10 gallon aquarium which is heavily planted!
New set up and has only been running for 6 weeks so far however have no issues with values as I have been regularly testing throughout this cycle.

My current stocking:
2 x honey gourami (male)
2 x dwarf gourami (male)
apistogramma agassizi alenquer pair

Now before i get roasted i understand this may be many fish in a 10 gallon however plans are to upgrade to a 30-55 gallon in the near future and would be happy for suggestions on tank size.

I have had the gourami males in the aquarium for almost 2 weeks now and have had no issues at all such beautiful fish! they all get along as they were bought from an LFS and kept together already. However... today I introduced a pair of apistogramma agassizi which has brought with it a shock to the gourami. At first they were pushed from exploring the plants and logs which reside around 5cm above the substrate to the top of the aquarium which was already a change to their normal habits. This resulted from chasing by the apisto male. The biggest issue was what arose from this. The male dwarf gourami started hunting down the other male dwarf gourami and the honey gourami started chasing the other honey gourami. They all lived in harmony before the apitogramma arrived... One of the dwarf gourami was found hiding away and staying close to the substrate until the apisto would push him away. he would then reside to staying close to my aquarium filter for cover from the other fish and is experiencing abnormal behaviour.

Please help

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Sounds like you have far too much testosterone all fighting for dominance.....and that's before you get to the species/type mixes

You might have been better to have waited until you had your larger aquarium tbh

The Apisto pair will go into full on territorial mode if/when they are mature enough to breed....and so many male Gourami together is frankly asking for the fish equivalent of a football riot.

Hopefully others will elaborate further. I wasn't going to mention the aquarium thats too small for the Gourami, let alone the Apisto pair......

 

[Deleted member 149562]

@itiwhetu
@Colin_T

And any other Gourami/Apisto experts....this stocking seems doomed to me (aquarium size and testosterone/species mix wise?)

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Too many males in too small a tank. It's preferable to only have 1 species of labyrinth fish (Bettas & gouramis) per tank. It's also preferable to only have 1pr (1 male & 1 female) per tank because they are all territorial and males will fight and kill each other. Some species are more peaceful than others but they will all fight over territory, especially in small tanks.

Personally, I would get rid of the dwarf gouramis and just keep a pr of honey gouramis with the Apistogrammas. Make sure you have lots of plants in the tank. Water Sprite is a good plant and floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate.

 

[Byron]

I concur with others here. Even in a larger tank, this trouble will not go away, guaranteed, now that the fish are beginning to "flex their independence" so to speak. Male gourami and male cichlids are very territorial, and in the 10g each thinks he is owner of the space, but they will think the same in a larger tank unless it is really large.

 

[benfica04]

Thanks everyone for your advise! will be going to my LFS today to give them my dwarf gourami and only keep a pr of honey gourami with the pair of apistogramma on your guidence