# Sudden Gourami aggression?



## herper147 (Feb 7, 2009)

So i have a basic 90litre tropical tank that i've had setup for about a year now and first of all hears what is currently in the tank:
1 bristlenose(baby)
6 neon tetras
2 swordtails(dad and son)
1 dwarf gourami
1 fighter fish

First of all i know these are probaly not the best choice of fish but i have a small spare tank on standby

The tetras and the gourami were the first fish i put into the tank and then two swordtails which then had a baby but sadly the female died shortly after i then decided after much research to add a fighter fish as many said they are fine in small communitys and i was worried about the gourmai and the fighter but they have never shown any aggression towards each other. But recently i noticed that the gourami was showing aggression towards the fighter and now hes trying to attck anything that goes near the top of the tank?
All fish feed fine and it seems to ignore the other fish during feeding, but then shortly after it goes back to trying to kill everything. Does anyone have any idea why? I thought it may be breeding behaviour but it has never had another gourmai in the tank and the tanks been running nearly a year and its never done this before?

any help would be much appreciated
thanks


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

The male dwarf gourami may be coming up to maturity and therefore is starting to think about breeding. In gourami breeding, the males will defend a patch of surface water heavily and then build a bubble nest when a female is present before chasing the female away from her own nest and young after spawning. Your case sounds like it may be this. Whilst the Fighter is not another Dwarf Gourami, the male DG may still see it as a competitor with the bright colours and feel intimidated, and hence bring out ever more aggression.

To resolve the situation, try moving a few things round in the aquarium to split up territories and to put all the fish on a new level playing field as such. Adding new plants is not always good here as they may stimulate him with a new building material, but java fern or anubias would suit fine (as the gourami will stay well clear of these two). You could also potentially add 2-3 female DGs to try and kerb his interest from the other fish, and adding multiple will mean that none will get excessively chased after.

Hope this helps,
Harry


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## herper147 (Feb 7, 2009)

Cleopatra the Royal said:


> The male dwarf gourami may be coming up to maturity and therefore is starting to think about breeding. In gourami breeding, the males will defend a patch of surface water heavily and then build a bubble nest when a female is present before chasing the female away from her own nest and young after spawning. Your case sounds like it may be this. Whilst the Fighter is not another Dwarf Gourami, the male DG may still see it as a competitor with the bright colours and feel intimidated, and hence bring out ever more aggression.
> 
> To resolve the situation, try moving a few things round in the aquarium to split up territories and to put all the fish on a new level playing field as such. Adding new plants is not always good here as they may stimulate him with a new building material, but java fern or anubias would suit fine (as the gourami will stay well clear of these two). You could also potentially add 2-3 female DGs to try and kerb his interest from the other fish, and adding multiple will mean that none will get excessively chased after.
> 
> ...


Hi after reading your post i sat and watched the tank for 10 mins and your spot on, i have let the plants gro a bit longer this time and one is starting to cover the top and just to the side of the filter the gourmai has made a litle nest and he seems to hover under it all the time hes not flying round the tank going after the other fish.
Think tommorow i will take out all the overgrown plants,will he settle down if i take out the nest?
Also i thought adding a female gourami makes the male extremely terratorial and aggressive? And the tanks not huge so if he chased the females away could they not be harrassed by him?

thanks for the great advice


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

herper147 said:


> Hi after reading your post i sat and watched the tank for 10 mins and your spot on, i have let the plants gro a bit longer this time and one is starting to cover the top and just to the side of the filter the gourmai has made a litle nest and he seems to hover under it all the time hes not flying round the tank going after the other fish.
> Think tommorow i will take out all the overgrown plants,will he settle down if i take out the nest?
> Also i thought adding a female gourami makes the male extremely terratorial and aggressive? And the tanks not huge so if he chased the females away could they not be harrassed by him?
> 
> thanks for the great advice


Yes - destroying the bubble nest should stop his aggression - the nest is effectively the cause of his boisterousness. Once that is gone he should stop defending territory and the other fish can resume normal life.

Adding female gourami can up the tempo but there are a couple of reasons for them:
1- The harassment will be towards the females as opposed to the other fish in the tank
2- Adding multiple females will stop one being picked on constantly as his interest will be divided up

However if your tank is not that large it may be best not to add females as the limited space can mean that the females can't get away to hide/rest/recuperate from the male. Depending on the size of the tank its down to your call - I'd say if the tank is larger than 70cm long, go for it. If not, simply leave him single. Before going down this route, try simply destroying the nest and see how that goes first.

Good Luck!

Harry


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## herper147 (Feb 7, 2009)

Yeah thanks i destroyed the nest yesterday and today he is fine and has gone back to normal like nothing happened:lol2:

Thanks for the advice glad that the other fish can live in peace now


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