muz Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 I am new to this out and have a 60cmx30cmx30cm tank. I started out 5 weeks ago with 2 royal red and 2 royal blue dwarf gouramis plus 2 angels (same size as the Gouramis) and 5 Harlequins.The Harlequins were introduced to the tank a week after the others. the Gouramis are quite agressive chasing and nipping at each other and hassling the harlequins. one Harly has now lost a bit of its tail plus another Harly died after 5 days?. Then one of the Blue Gouramis got into a sulk and sat in the courner for a week without moving or eating before I decided to send hime to that great reef in the sky!!. What is the cause of this agression. Now on top of this one of the angels who had been looking less showy than the other ( its fins didn"t fan out as well as the other) died over night 4 days ago. have checked amonia and nitrite which are both fine. Ph was up a bit at 7.2 which I am told should be down to 6.8 - 7.0. The Gouramis at the fish shop ( Hollywood Albany) all seem to be happy together but mine seem to be very stroppy. Any suggestions as to whats going on would be appreciated Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morf Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 are blue gouramis related to the 3-spot, because they are well known for having the odd aggressive specimen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 What sex are they? I suspect your sex ratio may be the cause of the aggression. They should be equal numbers of boys and girls. I always found dwarf gouramis to be quite peaceful but I know others who have said the opposite! To sex gouramis, look at their dorsal (the fin at the top) and tail fins. Males have longer fins with long points whereas the females' fins are shorter and rounded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funkytown Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 I was concerned about this when deciding to keep dwarf gouramis, and it was suggested to me to only keep one dwarf gourami, or 4+. The idea being that instead of one dominant male beating up on the other fish, you have one dominant male beating up on 3+ other fish, and each fish gets a bit of a break, and the agression is spread out more thinly. HFF gets away with heaps to a tank because there are heaps to a tank, and no one fish is getting harrassed continually. The other side is order of introduction to the tank. The agro gouramis had time to settle in and stake claim to their territory, while the poor friendly harlequins moved in, looking for a home, had to deal with the bullies on the block. Next time, agro-est fish go in last...(so I'm told). I hadn't heard of the male/female ratio thing, but I'm a noob, and Caryl can pull rank on this one. This might be difficult though, as I haven't seen too many females for sale. HFF had a batch about a month ago tho. Fixes? I'm no expert, but with my limited knowledge, I might re-arrange the tank to up-root all my occupants from their favorite spots, and if I had space for more fish, I'd put them in at the same time. If dwarf vs dwarf agression is alright now, and it's more dwarf vs other fish, and you've got the space, give the gourami more targets to shoot at, and each one might get less hits. Stock the tank as you want to have it, and see how it's going. Otherwise, I'll do you a favour and find a home for your agro gouramis... Brian [Edit] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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