Agressive Gourami

[Alan Walker]

I am new to the aquarium hobby. About a month ago, I got my first
aquarium, a 35 litre bench top unit. I went to my local fish store
and asked their advice on how to stock it. Now I'm hooked, buying
books, reading up on fish and plants, planning to establish a much
bigger tank.

As a result, I have learned that maybe the LFS did not give me the
best possible advice. They sold me three plants, two small goldfish
and two miniature gouramis.

One gourami is about 1-1/4 inch or 30 mm long. The other is about 1/2
or 2/3 that size. The large gourami harasses the small one
mercilessly. Now the little one spends most of its time hanging
motionless in a corner of the tank.

Other than getting rid of the larger gourami, what could I do?

[Happy'Cam'per]

Hi Alan

I would go back to that LFS and give them ********!!
Seriously, take the goldfish back and possibly one of the Gouramis aswell. A
35l tank is WAY too small to accomodate your lifestock. In that size tank
your Gouramis will be forever quarelling and it's just way too small to even
consider Gold Fish. Perhaps 5-6 Neons or other smaller fish would do nicely
as a substitute. Get more plants if you can, the more the merrier, when
you're ready to take the planted tank jump I'll see you over in the plants
NG :) HTH.
--
"In the beginning, God said the four-dimensional divergence of an
antisymmetric,
second rank tensor equals zero, and there was Light , and it was good."

"Alan Walker" > wrote in message
m...
> I am new to the aquarium hobby. About a month ago, I got my first
> aquarium, a 35 litre bench top unit. I went to my local fish store
> and asked their advice on how to stock it. Now I'm hooked, buying
> books, reading up on fish and plants, planning to establish a much
> bigger tank.
>
> As a result, I have learned that maybe the LFS did not give me the
> best possible advice. They sold me three plants, two small goldfish
> and two miniature gouramis.
>
> One gourami is about 1-1/4 inch or 30 mm long. The other is about 1/2
> or 2/3 that size. The large gourami harasses the small one
> mercilessly. Now the little one spends most of its time hanging
> motionless in a corner of the tank.
>
> Other than getting rid of the larger gourami, what could I do?

[Sue]

"Alan Walker" > wrote in message
m...
>I am new to the aquarium hobby. About a month ago, I got my first
> aquarium, a 35 litre bench top unit. I went to my local fish store
> and asked their advice on how to stock it. Now I'm hooked, buying
> books, reading up on fish and plants, planning to establish a much
> bigger tank.
>
> As a result, I have learned that maybe the LFS did not give me the
> best possible advice. They sold me three plants, two small goldfish
> and two miniature gouramis.
>
> One gourami is about 1-1/4 inch or 30 mm long. The other is about 1/2
> or 2/3 that size. The large gourami harasses the small one
> mercilessly. Now the little one spends most of its time hanging
> motionless in a corner of the tank.
>
> Other than getting rid of the larger gourami, what could I do?

Buy two new tanks - you need at least a twenty gallon one for the two
goldfish and one at least 30" long to keep a pair of dwarf gouramis or 2ft
long for a pair of sparkling gouramis. The goldies & gouramis require
different temperatures but the original tank will make a decent quarantine
/hospital tank for either set.

[Elaine T]

Alan Walker wrote:
> I am new to the aquarium hobby. About a month ago, I got my first
> aquarium, a 35 litre bench top unit. I went to my local fish store
> and asked their advice on how to stock it. Now I'm hooked, buying
> books, reading up on fish and plants, planning to establish a much
> bigger tank.
>
> As a result, I have learned that maybe the LFS did not give me the
> best possible advice. They sold me three plants, two small goldfish
> and two miniature gouramis.
>
> One gourami is about 1-1/4 inch or 30 mm long. The other is about 1/2
> or 2/3 that size. The large gourami harasses the small one
> mercilessly. Now the little one spends most of its time hanging
> motionless in a corner of the tank.
>
> Other than getting rid of the larger gourami, what could I do?

If you want to keep all the fish, you could try providing a LOT of
floating cover for the gouramis. If you have bright, fluorescent light,
get lots of bunch plants like anacharis, hygrophila, or rotala. Plant
some and let them grow up to the surface and let some others float to
provide immediate cover. If you're not sure of your light (ie your
current plants are not doing well) get floating silk plants with big
leaves. The smaller gourami who is being chased may be able to find
enough hiding places to be OK.

Another temporary solution, if you're hanging onto one of the gouramis
for your bigger tank is to move the smaller one to a breeding net.

If all four of your fish thrive and grow, your tank will end up
overstocked, but if you're already planning your larger tank that's not
a worry. ;-) As others have said, goldfish need a lot of water and
prefer colder water than tropicals. In the long run, you'll need to
figure which you want to keep in each tank and separate them.

--
__ Elaine T __
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