gouramis... aggressive? color changes?

[hazee]

Hi everyone,

I have two honey gouramis, 5 rasboros and 2 clown loaches in a ten gallon tank. They are all pretty young and small at the moment.

They've been in there for a few months and all seemed great.

First one of the gouramis went from a whitish color to something resembling a reddish hue with a dark black area running from it's mouth all along the underside of it's body. It started hiding in the corner and now has made a bubble nest. I'm assuming the drastic color change is to do with the next etc.

The problem... 3 of the rasboras are dead. The two remaining rasboras are sticking very close to the bottom of the tank. Unusual for them. The second gourami looks great.

Ammonia is zero, nitrites are zero and nitrate is less than 50.

Would you think the nesting gourami has killed the rasboros?

 

[Shaunna]

I don't know but I did read when we got ours that the males often change colors drastically when mating and then build the nest and watch over them. Perhaps he killed the rasboras thinking they were a little too close to it. Is that wrong anyone? I just read that the other day, hope I got it right.

 

[lordroad]

In my experience, gouramis have been pretty brutal, even the dwarf ones.

Hurting tetras, stalking them.

I'll betcha dollars to doughnuts it's the gourami who's harassing the rasboras.

 

[jeremy]

First of all, you need a bigger tank for the Clowns. Secondly, the color change in the one dwarf is normal for males. Beautiful, isnt it. And third, I am gonna go with lord here and say that it probably was the gourami that killed the rasboras. In a ten gallon tank, there isnt much room for anyone else to hide in when the gourami are courting each other. My advice would be to get a bigger tank and see what happens. Or seperate the gouramis.

 

[phOOey]

as jeremy said, the change in colour is perfectly normal, it is what happens when the gourami's get ready for breeding. gourami's get very territorial when breeding and will aggressively defend their nest. most likely was the gourami killing the rasboras, and that is why the other to are staying near the bottom, as far away from the nest as possible.

 

[hazee]

Thanx everyone that was very helpful. I pulled the remaining rasboros out right after i posted and put them in my 55g where they seem happy for now.

Will the loaches hold their own against the gourami?

We've been kicking around some different ideas as far as what to do with the gourami's and loaches. They were all so small when we got them but we always knew we would have to move the clown loaches.

What if i put the two gourami's and the two loaches in a 20G? Would that be ok for now? Or should i seperate the gouramis? I was thinking of putting the female gourami in my 55G but i'm not sure how aggressive they are when in a big tank alone with many different kinds of peaceful fish?

 

[jeremy]

She would be fine in your 55. But if I may suggest, keep the gourami in the 10 and move the loaches into the 20 or 55.

 

[hazee]

So keep both gourami's in the ten and move the loaches? I'd love to have the loaches in the 55G but i'm scared they will eat some of my smaller fish. What do you think?

 

[hyunelan2]

The loaches shouldn't harm any of your fish. If you have snails, they're gonners, but your finned friends should be fine with loaches.

 

[hazee]

Okay.. thank you. When i first had my 20G a couple neons went missing and a cory. But looking back on it i probably just wasn't used to losing any fish at all at the time.

Thanx again.