will a gourami kill everything in his tank?

[GirlxAfraid]

I have a ten gallon tank that is currently only occupied by a blue gourami. he's pretty big. about 5 inches. I know he's too big for the tank but i don't want to move him to the 55 gallon if he's going to kill everyone or anyone for that matter.

I found his only other tank mate (a two inch pleco) dead on the bottom of the tank this morning. his tail was all red (but from the inside). does the blood pool in fish the same way it does in humans or is this something else?

slowly everything is dying in there but him so i imagine he's the culprit.

 

[unwritten law]

What is in your 55 gallon? I think they are usually most aggressive to their own species and maybe since he doesnt have any room in the 10 he is being aggressive to anybody. Depending on whats in the 55 he may just want more room and that would give it to him.

 

[GirlxAfraid]

see that's the problem i have two dwarf gourami's in the 55. i planned on switching him out with one of the gourami's but i don't know if i can move both of them to the ten.

the rest of the 55 is:
2 baby convict parrots
6 assorted mollies
2 cories
and
a tiny cat fish that i forget exists

 

[joy613]

Each fish is an individual some might tolerate each other if they have established their own territories. I wouldn't risk 2 gouramis in a 10 gallon tank unless I had a divider handy as a back up plan until I got another tank. Second back up plan a rubbermaid tub with heater and filter. You might beable to turn it into something that looks like an indoor pond, something I have thought about. Three gouramis in a 55 gallon would really be pushing it.

 

[mistercoffee]

Hm that's a tough one I dunno. Maybe just leave the Gourami in the 10g by himself? Or buy him friend that he can get along with.

 

[misterking]

Gouramis are generally very peaceful to other fish... unless they look especially similar or are of the same species (mostly male-male aggression). I've kept gouramis will a whole host of other fish including plecos and never experienced interspecific agression. The only things that might be a bit agressive are the convict parrots..

I wouldn't chance the dwarf gouramis mixed with the blue long term, could lead to some serious aggression.. I say try it for a couple of days, and see how it goes. If it doesn't work keep him in the 10, or put the dwarfs in the 10. Because of their size they might be better suited.

Just out of interest do you know the sex of your gouramis? (Dwarfs are easy.. colour gives them away, the blue will have a pointed top fin if it's a male, rounded if it's a female). That might help determine the aggression we might expect.

 

[GirlxAfraid]

the blue gourami is a female. all this time we thought he was a boy.
the other two are males.

could nitrates have gilled my pleco and left only the gourami?

 

[misterking]

Some plecos can be notoriously sensitive to high nitrates, especially when young. I think the red blotch you described sounds more like a disease to me but I'm not too sure what it could be.

The two male dwarves are likely to, within time, become aggressive towards each other, so I definately would not move them both to the 10.. as I said, try the blue in the 55 for a couple of days, I woulda thought she'd be fine. You may find though that eventually it may be one of the dwarves you have to move to your 10 gallon to avoid aggression.