Mean Dwarf Gourami

[deanrar]

I have 1 male dwarf gourami, 2 mollies, 4 cories and 3 kuhlis in a 34 gal planted tank.
I have had the gourami for around a month and he has gradually got meaner to the mollies which are now hiding more and being less active although it hasnt stopped them eating all the time. I just wondered how to get him to be less aggressive (maybe a couple of females), or other more attractive fish that could calm him down or other measures (reduce temp possibly?)?
Any help much appreiciated.

 

[deanrar]

I took a chance abought two little girlies for him as i have never found them in any fish shop near so thought i'd grab them while i could and as soon as he sees them just chases them around the tank, will he calm down or will he just continue to harass them?

 

[fishlette]

IME expereince there is nothing you can do to calm him down. however when i had an issue with my three spot gourami it was when i had very few fish in a huge tank. once i upped the population things started to become more harmonious. since i now have full population even the grumpy three spot has become generally quiet. every now and then he chases someone around but never for long and never having a detrimental effect on anyone

 

[deanrar]

Heres a couple fo pics of them:

All 3 of my dwarfs

My male chasing on of the females which i'm sure about this one is not as plump as the other and has wot looks like very pale blue stripes coming through

The one i'm not sure about

Any suggestions on whether this is a female or not will help and I apologise about the poo quality of the photos, its one of the first times I have really tried to take pics of them and they kept darting around everywhere.

 

[fishlette]

im no expert but i think they are all male. after doing much research trying to figure out how to sex them a while ago i found one site that says the females have shorter rounder dorsal fins and the males have longer dorsal fins that stretch almost to the tail. in the pic below the dwarf is a male and the gold gourami is a female by my understanding. note the difference in fin length and shape. hope this helps at all

 

[sylvia]

The two paler fish are females and your original is male. You cannot sex dwarfs using fin shape in the way that you can three-spots (of which gold is a color morph). The two species also aren't really comparable temperament-wise.

Anyway - yes, lowering the temperature could help (but do this very gradualy). You already seem to have plenty of plants - especialy floating ones - but if you have room for more, go for it

The chasing is to be expected - you just put two 'intruding' females into an established male's territory However, it should calm down once he gets used to their presence. It would help to add some schooling fish such as harlequin rasboras or black phantom tetras though.

As for the molly issue you had to begin with - that's typical. Mollies and gouramies just don't get along IME (and I haven't a clue why lol).

 

[fishlette]

The two paler fish are females and your original is male. You cannot sex dwarfs using fin shape in the way that you can three-spots (of which gold is a color morph). The two species also aren't really comparable temperament-wise.

so can i believe anything i hear or read anywhere else? doesnt seem so

 

[sylvia]

What? Where did you read that you can sex dwarfs exactly as you sex three-spots? They are not the same species (as you obviously know).

 

[deanrar]

cheers for the info my male has stopped harassing them as much hopefully they will all be friends lol

 

[deanrar]

watching the tank this morning and a bubblenest is being built with the male darting everywhere getting odd bits of plant but he is chasing the females even more now, is this normal? and will it stop once he has finished it? (this is his first bubblenest with females in the tank with him)

 

[sylvia]

It'll stop once the bubblenest is gone (and, yes, is normal). It seems your male feels like spawning I personaly would destroy the nest right now (or increase surface movement) because the females have only just been introduced so spawning or being chased around by the male is stress they could do without. Having said that, even if they spawn, the nest, eggs or - if they get that far - fry, won't survive for long in a community setting as they'll get eaten or starve. So even if you let the male indulge himself, it won't last long.

 

[Orbit887]

Introducing floating plants to my tank really helped to curb some of the aggressiveness that my male was directing to my female, gave them more territory to call their own.

I'd also definately say that you've got a male and 2 females, one of the females looks slightly more mature than the other one.

My male also builds bubble nests, more so now he's got floating plants to build them around. Usually does it after a water change, if I do a 20% one he might not, but if i do 30% he'll probably start on one. Shows he's happy in the tank, feels it's good enough conditions to try and breed in! The male usually chases the female away when he's building the nest, but when it's complete, and if they're acquainted well enough you may well catch them performing a little dance, nose to tail under the nest, if they're all new though, it may take a little while. Also, the first couple of bubblenests my male built, were to be honest quite rubbish and poor attempts, but they learn quickly!

 

[deanrar]

still being aggressive but not so much now and has been constantly making a bubblenest for about a week but he sucks at it. he keeps just shoving my floating plants in one plce but the never seem to stick even though the top current is now nearly 0 and he has been in the 'u' shape with them a few times and i have even seen the eggs fall a couple of times but no chance of breeding as he's a sucky builder. will he get any better with practice (must have made about 6 now as he starts a new one every time i do a water change)? or is there anyway i could help (i did buy aloy of floating plants to help him out too)?

 

[Orbit887]

Practice makes perfect with the bubble nests I think! Is the latest one he built as bad as the first one he made? My male got gradually better and better with each attempt. As far as helping him goes, I think you've done most of what you can do to help - the additional floating plants and having the surface current as low as possible for him, so maybe just give him time.

With the aggression, do you find he's more aggressive now or less so? My male will forget about bullying the female while he's building the nest, until the female swims infront of him trying to grab his attention, then he'll get more agressive than usual, but afterwards go back to building his nest. Once the nest is built though his aggression then seems to turn to all the occupants in the tank that come close!

One other trick I've found for curbing the aggression with the male gouramis, is to not over feed. If the fish is fed slightly less than usual, it'll then spend more of its time searching for food, rather than chasing the female. However i've found that when the male is fully fed, he then has no need or urge to search for food, so the majority of his attention then goes into chasing away the female.

Good luck to your little bubble nest builder!