Gold Gourami Aggressive Behavior

[Pinkyfish]

Hi all just a quick question about my gold gourami, i have just recently bought two 1 is male and the other is female but the male seems to be REALLY aggressive towards the female we mistakenly bought 2 males at 1st but quickly took him back to our LFS and we came home with a female. But he seems to pick on her he chases her round almost nipping her fins but once he's put her i the corner of the tank hes seems happy and leaves her alone till she comes back out they started off ok just showing some interest but now hes bullying her.
I was wondering if putting a couple more females in there will help of hinder the situation?
Please help i love my gouramis lol.
I have a 3ft x 2ft x 2ft tank with 2 corydoras catfish, 1 sailfin pleco, 7 black neon tetra and the 2 gold gourami.

 

[rabbut]

You either need to get the female out of there, or get another couple of females in there with him to spread the aggression Male Gourami are often very agressive towards any female that is not ready to breed.

While on the subject of stocking, another couple of corries would be better to boost the stocking. It would be a good idea to look for someone with a 4-6 foot tank to take the sailfin pleco in the next few months, as they will get upto 18inches, and thus too large for a three foot. Just a heads up, as re-homing these large fish can be difficult and thus time-consuming


HTH
Rabbut

 

[Pinkyfish]

You either need to get the female out of there, or get another couple of females in there with him to spread the aggression Male Gourami are often very agressive towards any female that is not ready to breed.

While on the subject of stocking, another couple of corries would be better to boost the stocking. It would be a good idea to look for someone with a 4-6 foot tank to take the sailfin pleco in the next few months, as they will get upto 18inches, and thus too large for a three foot. Just a heads up, as re-homing these large fish can be difficult and thus time-consuming


HTH
Rabbut

Thanks for the heads up, as for the stocking we have only just started the tank its been running about a month so we are building up as we go. In response to the sailfin we have had him about 12-18 months and due to his size we feel he is ok in the tank as he has plenty of room to grow and swim about as the tank is 3ft long x 2ft tall x 2ft wide and as hes only about 10inchs now he is ok in here for the time being but if he does grow to large we will get a larger tank as he is my pride and joy lol
Thanks again for the info to try

 

[rabbut]

A 10 inch Sailfin is ready to re-home, as there isn't realy enough length there for him. If he is your pride an joy, as I can appreciate he is with his personality , I'd look at a 6X3X3 foot tank ASAP, so you can keep him comfortably. Fish need tanks that are twice their length for height and wideth and four times their length for the length of the tank. Anything smaller is usualy considered too small. Obviously larger would be better.
To achive growth in the current tank there would probibly need to be daily waterchanges to ensure that the fish is not stunted. Anything less would stunt your sailfin, which will shorten it's life. Regetably the best case scenario is that sailfin has a shortened life. We don't yet know why stunting does this, but w are guessing that the death is slow, as a result of this effect.
You sailfin should get to a minimum of 12 inches before stopping growing. A 12 inch fish would be considered small, 16 inches is about adverage, but a few members on here have some at 18 inches, so this is the size you should plan for

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Pinkyfish]

A 10 inch Sailfin is ready to re-home, as there isn't realy enough length there for him. If he is your pride an joy, as I can appreciate he is with his personality , I'd look at a 6X3X3 foot tank ASAP, so you can keep him comfortably. Fish need tanks that are twice their length for height and wideth and four times their length for the length of the tank. Anything smaller is usualy considered too small. Obviously larger would be better.
To achive growth in the current tank there would probibly need to be daily waterchanges to ensure that the fish is not stunted. Anything less would stunt your sailfin, which will shorten it's life. Regetably the best case scenario is that sailfin has a shortened life. We don't yet know why stunting does this, but w are guessing that the death is slow, as a result of this effect.
You sailfin should get to a minimum of 12 inches before stopping growing. A 12 inch fish would be considered small, 16 inches is about adverage, but a few members on here have some at 18 inches, so this is the size you should plan for

All the best
Rabbut

cheers for the info did not realise they requiered that much room as my partner understood that plecos were not restricted by tank size for there growth and that he would upgrade the tank as he grew. as only about 8-10 iches he looks very small in the tank we have and as we don't plan to have our own place til early next year or sooner if possably. do u think he'll be ok in this tank till we have a place to put a much larger tank?

 

[rabbut]

It's not my place to say, but it isn't realy ideal. Do you know anyone who has a larger tank whom can look after him for a while?

Even a foot extra length in any direction would be better than the current tank


with regular water changes it may not be stunted, but it is a risk....Do the best you can, or try to find a new home for him

 

[Pinkyfish]

It's not my place to say, but it isn't realy ideal. Do you know anyone who has a larger tank whom can look after him for a while?

Even a foot extra length in any direction would be better than the current tank


with regular water changes it may not be stunted, but it is a risk....Do the best you can, or try to find a new home for him

I went to visit my lfs this morning and asked their opinion on my sailfin and they have told me my tank is ok for him as they may grow to 18 iches but most comman they only get to 30cm and because the tank is 2ft in wide thats plenty of room for him to swim about so there is very little chance of stunting grow and due to his age they know from experiance that their growth rate slows dramaticly once around 18 months old, they also thought the tank size suggested was i bit over the top.
on the subject of the gourami i have put a 2nd female in and she seems to have done the job now swaps and changes between the 2 of them so fingers crossed that will keep him happy lol

 

[rabbut]

Careful with LFS advise, though I agree in part with it. Their growth does tail off after 18 months, and 2 feet of wideth is fine ATM, it's the length I'm concerned about. They usualy stop growing at 30cm, due to stunting.
Glad that the second female is reducing agression
Regretable the LFS can advise tanks that are a bit skimpy on space to make sales, and pevent returns. I work in an LFS, and know how hard it is to sell a 10 inch pleco, even if it is the best specimin arround. I am always reluctant to take any common plecos off customers, and can see why some LFS may lie to prevent a return that would possibly be in one of their tanks for may months. Though their advise on this occasion was OK, the size of the tank he is in is a bit of a patch area, as many on here, muself included, feel that the tank will be a little crampt for him soon.

All the best
Rabbut