aggressive gourami

On 03 Apr 2006 00:19:05 -0500, Dale Henderson
wrote:


I have a 20gal aquarium with 7 tiger barbs. About a week ago I added 2
three-spot gourami's. Soon after I added the gourami's I noticed that
the bigger one was chasing the little one. I assumed maybe that it was
stess from being moved and the gourami seemed to always back off. But
lately the bigger fish is always chasing the little one. The little
one hides behind the filter and if the big one sees the smaller one
about, the big one relentlessly chases the little one.

At first I found it interesting that when the chase began the tiger
barbs would chase the big gourami, Now the tiger's seem to be
completely uninterested.

My question is what should I do about this behaviour. Is there any way
to stop it. I'm concerned that my small gourami is unhappy and
possibly in danger.


Thanks.


Yep, they do that, gouramies aren't as nice as people like to believe.
In a bigger tank you could add more gouramies, to disperse the
aggression. In this tank I would remove one or the other gourami,
nothing good will come of the present mix.