Recently Aggressive Blue? Help

[buckrene]

So i have a 32 gal tank that for the last 4 years has had a pleco, a pearl gourami, blue gourami( both male), and an assortment of breeding platys. we put the gouramis in to force survival of the fittest on the babies, we were getting over populated. suprisingly there were a lot of survivors. and both gouramis got along.......anyway, about a month or so ago i started to get some new fish, rasboras, molly, red-eye tetras, cherry barbs. everyone got along well until the pearl died. Now it seems my blue is territorial and aggressive, he slowly picked of all my tetras one by one. he chases the mollys, and leaves everyone else alone........should i get another gourami? or more fish of each species thats being picked on? i think the pearl kept him under controlled, he was in the tank first. any comments of suggestions would be great, thanks.

 

[crazychris]

Blue and gold gouramis, especially males, are known for being aggressive and more so as they mature. Some females can be just as bad. I doubt that getting another would stop him. He'd probably just pick on the new one instead of or as well as your other fish still. Sadly I have to say I'd take him back to the shop if he's a bully or put him in another tank if you have one. That's what I've done with male blue gouramis in the past and now have a docile one that treats my other fish with total disdain but doesn't bother them at all.

 

[umpsfar]

My pearls do chase the blue and dwarf around, before that dwarf was picking on Angelfish and neon tetras.
weither another pearl would keep him busy or not is anyone guess.

 

[umpsfar]

I picked up a opeline gourami and he has now chased the dwarf almost to death.
So my 2 cents is another pearl could well do the job, if its larger than the blue it could well work.
GL

 

[umpsfar]

after reading your post , again.
and im sure you've read many posts to do with the introduction of new fish,
removing the Blue's for a while when introducing new fish (pearl) could solve terratorial issues and also moving plants and ornaments around,
before reintroducing blue into the tank will give the pearl an upperhand.