Help with dwarf gourami killing my other fish

[Sarlala]

Hey all,

Would really appreciate any help or advice please!

Relatively new aquarium owner and had 6 neon tetras and 5 guppies in a 15 gallon tank, then recently bought a male dwarf gourami as the fish shop owner said they were really peaceful and calm and would be great for the fish tank I have. All was okay until a few months later he's started killing (and/or some have just died possibly) my other fish and I'm now left with 4 neon tetras and 2 guppys which he is always chasing and terrorising and nipping at their fins. Today I've just put him in my spare 5 gallon fish tank as I don't know what to do, should I return him to a fish shop? Will I have made this worse by separating him into an even smaller tank by himself? The shop I bought him from has closed down now as well. Is the tank too small for him and I shouldn't have put him in there and it's about territory? My poor fish, i don't want to restock them if he's just going to keep doing this but now they are low in numbers..

Thanks!

 

[MaloK]

You have a 15 gallons tank. Add 2-3 more dwarf gouramies and a dozen or more neons.

If you want gouramies with tetras. You need to disperse aggression. The more important your school of neons looks, tamer the gouramies will be. Adding more gouramies will disperse aggression further. But a large swarm of neons can keep a gourami in it's corner.

Your tank would like a flourishing plantation of stem plants coming from the bottom to the surface.

 

[Sarlala]

You have a 15 gallons tank. Add 2-3 more dwarf gouramies and a dozen or more neons.

If you want gouramies with tetras. You need to disperse aggression. The more important your school of neons looks, tamer the gouramies will be. Adding more gouramies will disperse aggression further. But a large swarm of neons can keep a gourami in it's corner.

Your tank would like a flourishing plantation of stem plants coming from the bottom to the surface.

Oh that's great advice thank you very much!
I will see if I can get more neon tetras tomorrow, i thought more would be over stocking so that's good to know!

Regarding the gouramis, I thought they were aggressive with one another so didnt consider multiple? If I have a male, should i only get more males as all my fish are male at the moment to avoid breeding. They are hard to find local to me it seems

Just recently added plants so hoping they will grow nicely as they are wee at the minute

Thanks for your reply!

 

[noahm]

I have a funny story about dwarf gouramis letting out their feelings on whatever "looks" appropriate. I have a male honey gourami that periodically gets into the breeding mood and serenades one of my red racer nerite snails for days. It's the fish equivalent to dog on leg I guess. The nerite has yellow and red stripes, so I guess it's close enough for him to the real thing, lol, but he loses my respect nonetheless.

 

[Colin_T]

Do not add any new fish until you find out why they are dying. If your fish have a disease (dwarf gouramis, guppies and neon tetras are regularly infested with diseases), you could be adding new fish to a sick tank. Even if the fish aren't sick, adding new fish can introduce diseases that make the current members sick. And adding new fish will change the pecking order in the tank and put stress on the current inhabitants making the problem worse.

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What did the dead fish look like?

Post pictures of the remaining fish and one picture showing the entire aquarium so we can see how it's set up. If you have pictures of the dead fish, post them as well.

Post a video of the gourami harassing the other fish too. You can upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen and doesn't have black bars on either end.

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What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

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How long has the tank been set up?
How long have you had the neons and guppies and gourami?
Have you added anything else to the tank besides these fish in the 2 weeks before fish started to die?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the aquarium?

What is the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate of the water?
What sort of filter is on/ in the aquarium?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

Do you add any plant fertiliser, algae killer or anything to the aquarium?
Have you added any medications to the aquarium?

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If it's a dwarf gourami (Colisa lalius) then putting it in an aquarium that is 18 inches long or longer will be fine for the fish and if it is killing the other fish, that is the best thing to do. You can set the tank up with sand or gravel on the bottom, some plants (including floating plants), a filter and heater and let it live out its life on its own.

If the tank is less than 18 inches long or it's not a dwarf gourami but something that grows bigger than a dwarf gourami, then you will need a bigger tank for it or take it to a pet shop and get rid of it.