Fish all nipping at each other

[ostrow]

Ok I have 6 platies/variatus, 6 dwarf gouramis and 2 small clown loaches in my 29G tank. All water readings at ideal level. Water is 77F.

The fish are all attacking each other. One female variatus is getting stressed -- hiding and there is a hint of white spot on her now (which makes me worry for the clowns).

Many dwarf gouramis obviously stressed, hiding. Some nipped fins evident.

One male variatus is main culprit, though the gouramis are all after each other.

What could be causing this?

What could stop it???

These are all supposed to be peaceful community fish!

 

[slt]

hi ostro, i have kept gouramis in the past, and they were not peaceful,
they terarised every thing in my tank, tail and fin nipping, if you have white spot in the tank it needs treating fast as you said you are worrying about your clowns as you no clowns are very suseptable to ich, platies are usualy
piecefull fish, if you've more males in the tank than females this will make
them harrass each other ,

 

[ostrow]

slt: yeah, you've told about your gourami troubles in the past. were these dwarf gouramis? as you know, others have found them peaceful. in any case, mostly it is the variatus attacking the dwarf gouramis, not the other way around...

4 female, 2 males on the platy/variatus front. so not sure what's up.

if this is a sign of ick, what do i do? ich cure kills clown loaches, no?

 

[slt]

yes ive kept both dwarf and the larger gourami and found both species to
be bullys, if your fish have ich you will have to treat , yes clowns are'nt
very good with treatments, so you have to find one that is safe for clowns
,i've used one before but can't think of the name off hand, the best thing to do is to ask your lfs which is the safest treatment to use,