Very aggressive Opalne Gourami

KyleBradley

KyleBradley

Large Fish
#1
Feb 13, 2006
143
0
0
Massachusetts
#1
I had two Opaline or Blue Gouramis-I don't know which is which, but then I added three smaller ones.. Anyway, one of the larger ones keeps chasing the younger ones around my tank and bullying them to the point that they run into the glass.. Is this just playing, or is it dangerous? He doesn't bother the tetras or the guppies-just the Gouramis..

When he's not chasing them, he hangs out inside the log on the bottom. Does this guy have a bad attitude, or what? Can he hurt the other fish?
 

tropicalcrazy

tropicalcrazy

Large Fish
#2
Nov 19, 2008
702
0
0
Des Moines, Iowa
#2
gourami's can be extremely aggressive towards each other. their are some individuals that have luck with keeping multiple gouramis but for the most part they usually are picking on the other and eventuall will die. the larger they get the more aggressive they get. even in my 55 when i had a gold and blue gourami the gold was extremely aggressive and would barely let the blue eat and same when i had an opaline and a dwarf powder blue and the opaline picked on him like crazy.

gourami's you can tell sex by their bottom back dorsal fin. males have a shorter and more pointy dorsal fin and females longer and rounded at the tip

the difference between blue and opaline is opaline is a little more silvery. but sometimes you can get the 2 pretty close to the same color so sometimes you cant tell the difference. i think also you can tell by the position of the black spots and how many their are i cant remember though
 

misterking

misterking

Superstar Fish
#5
Aug 12, 2008
1,124
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0
Manchester, UK
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#5
3rd and 4th look like females to me with their rounded dorsal fins. Top one I can't make out because the tip of it's dorsal fin is hidden. If I'm wrong about the others (been a while since I had gouramis), and the larger one's a male, then you have a very bad male-to-female ratio and that's why you're seeing the aggression. Sounds to me like it's established its territory as the whole tank in the extra time it's been in there - try rearranging the decorations and plants, see if that confuses his sense of territory and stops or decreases the aggression.

Out of interest, have you posted this on PFK? I swear I saw exactly the same thread lol.
 

misterking

misterking

Superstar Fish
#11
Aug 12, 2008
1,124
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0
Manchester, UK
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#11
damian09 said:
usualy ratio is 2.1 female to male or 3.1 female to male
Click to expand...
Pretty much that, as long as there are more females than males it should be ok. Keeping more than one male together would need a tank of at least 55g IMO.

And Practical Fish Keeping, a similar forum which releases a magazine here in the UK. Apparently someone had bought two opaline gouramis and one was terrorizing the other so yes, very similar situation. Male gouramis can be very aggressive to each other as highlighted, and my guess would be your original is a male. Of course there are exceptions, I've kept a male gold and male blue together before on two different occasions with different fish, once at the very start of keeping fish and once running up to about a year before I went on this seemingly never-ended break...
 

KyleBradley

KyleBradley

Large Fish
#12
Feb 13, 2006
143
0
0
Massachusetts
#12
Thanks fo the info..

Update: I have separated the offender-the aggressive Gourami.. He was a real jerk!! He liked to stay in the log on the bottom of the tank, and I observed him coming about 3/4 out and looking around for fish to chase and then going back in.. He was just always looking for trouble, but when he chased the other Gourami tonight that was his same size, which he'd previously left alone, I knew he was getting out of control.. Now he's living alone in the 20-gallon hex with the crayfish.. I've moved the 3 cories over to the 35 gallon to keep the white gravel clean..

I have 4 other Gouramis-3 smaller ones and one older one, and they seem to get along fine.. Is this normal? They all seem really peaceful.. Does their attitude become more cantankerous as they age?
 

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