xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
So a few weeks ago I got a male dwarf Gourami (standard colour morph as far as I can tell).
At the time I could not source any females but one of my LFS ordered some in for me. I added 3 of these 1 week after the male.
The tank is 70L and densely planted. Other fish are lampeyes, neons and corys.
The male seemed happy enough by itself, cruising around the tank. However as soon as I added the females it went nuts on them, chasing and badly nipping. This lasted for about a day and then he seemed to chill out. He still shoo'ed them away if they got close but wasn't going out of his way to try and attack them.
However for the last week or so he is generally hiding up in the plants at the back of the tank. Still eating and looks healthy, but I rarely see him. The females are almost always together cruising all over the tank and seem pretty happy. There has been zero aggression from the females to each other or the male. Generally if they see him they move out of his way before he gets close, they are also half his size.
I haven't kept these fish before so not sure what is considered normal and what isn't. I got the females specifically because I didn't want the male to be alone but seems like he was better off by himself. Everywhere I read said that 1 male to multiple females is generally the best option.
Not sure if there is anything I should be doing here? If needed I could set up a secondary tank short term but I have nowhere to keep it long term.
At the time I could not source any females but one of my LFS ordered some in for me. I added 3 of these 1 week after the male.
The tank is 70L and densely planted. Other fish are lampeyes, neons and corys.
The male seemed happy enough by itself, cruising around the tank. However as soon as I added the females it went nuts on them, chasing and badly nipping. This lasted for about a day and then he seemed to chill out. He still shoo'ed them away if they got close but wasn't going out of his way to try and attack them.
However for the last week or so he is generally hiding up in the plants at the back of the tank. Still eating and looks healthy, but I rarely see him. The females are almost always together cruising all over the tank and seem pretty happy. There has been zero aggression from the females to each other or the male. Generally if they see him they move out of his way before he gets close, they are also half his size.
I haven't kept these fish before so not sure what is considered normal and what isn't. I got the females specifically because I didn't want the male to be alone but seems like he was better off by himself. Everywhere I read said that 1 male to multiple females is generally the best option.
Not sure if there is anything I should be doing here? If needed I could set up a secondary tank short term but I have nowhere to keep it long term.
