Vicious Gourami question

[luvnature]

I have a tropical tank set up for a while now and i currently have 2 tiger barbs, 2 clown loaches, 1 Peacock Eel, 1 Opaline Gourami (male) and 1 Gold Gourami (female).
I HAD a power blue dwarf Gourami (male), a Gold male Gourami and another dwarf Gourami (male) that my Opaline Gourami killed! Ggrrrrr..!!
I just love Gouramis and want to add another but im afraid he will kill those too. He hasnt killed the female Gold Gourami but he does harrass her.

My question...(Steph,* Sasami i hope you will be around) is should i do it?? I was thinking maybe he would be better with female Gouramis only?? I really like the males though. They are much more beautiful with their pointy fins and anal fins, imho. I know that it is wise to have more females than males. Doing the opposite will stress out females with harrassment by so many more males.
Back when the Opaline killed the other two Gouramis i only had one female but she was added after two of the other males were killed. Is my Opaline just a big bully? After that there was left the 2 males and the one female and he soon did away with the gold male. ( he was so beautiful)

Should i try to add another male or just stick with females? Do you think i should try 3 females and maybe 2 males? What ratio of males to females do u think is safe??Or do u think my Opaline is a bully and would kill them all?

[Sasami]

Wow. Opaline Gouramis are usually pretty peaceful. I'm guessing that like you said, he doesn't like other males.

I personally don't like keeping more then one male Gourami in the same tank because I've noticed that even if they don't kill each other one will often bully the other. Actually, I usually just stick to one Gourami total...but that's because I have smaller tanks .

I would definately not try another male but females might work. Having at least three females and one male would probably be good.

Remember, Gold Gouramis and Opaline Gouramis are just different color variations of the same fish. Which is why males are likely to fight.

I'm surprised he killed your Dwarves, though. That's a bit concerning.

If you get a couple new females and he starts bullying those then you may want to consider seperating him . You could divide off a portion of your current tank or set up a smaller one just for him. Or return him which I'm sure you don't want to do. Then you can try keeping male Gouramis again.

When you add the new girls (if that's what you decide to do) first take out the Opaline...put him in a cup or something. Re-arrange the tank decor and maybe add a new plant or something. Only put the Opaline back after the girls are already in. This will make him less territorial. You could actually try this while adding a male dwarf but since your Opaline seems so male-aggressive I wouldn't do it.

[luvnature]

thanks Steph! I knew you would have good advice.
I do know that a gourami is a gourami despite their color difference...just like us people! We are all the same inside..hehe.

I hate that the males have spoil everything sometimes! Why cant they just be nice to each other?!!

Im going to try to add maybe 2 more females..sigh*...i wish they could be males...they so pretty.
I will keep u posted. Thanks again

[Skratikans]

are the female gouramis colorful as well, i know they are not as brightly colored, but could you do a school or them in a 65gal tank?

[luvnature]

they are colorful but not as much as the males....also the males have beautiful pointed fins. Females are generally more rounded. They all are beautiful but i prefer the males....its the girl in me i guess....lol.!

They would look wonderful as a school in a 65 gal tank!

[Skratikans]

aww darn, i really like the males too......lol
but i wonder if they get along in the pet store tanks together if they would get along in my tank?

it is ok to add tiger barbs with them..and a few female beta fish??

[luvnature]

At the petstore they generally aren't there long enough to establish who is dominant so there isnt really a fish who takes on the bully role..this is MY tank..role. ..they all are fairly new to the tank and stressed out so you might not see a lot of fighting but it you watch for a while you will see them get grumpy with each other.

I have tiger barbs with my gouramis and they are fine..they do not get picked on by the gourami cuz they are too fast for him. So they are safe. They dont bother him either. A female betta i think would be fine. I tried to put my male betta in there but he thinks he is Jaws and tried to shred everyone up. So i had to take him out. Male bettas are generally peaceable within a community tank...sometimes though, like mine they do not. Ugh..fish personalities! LOL. They are all different like us.

[Sasami]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skratikans aww darn, i really like the males too......lol but i wonder if they get along in the pet store tanks together if they would get along in my tank? it is ok to add tiger barbs with them..and a few female beta fish??

Tiger barbs are ideal tank mates for Gouramis .

However, I would be really super careful with trying bettas. Because bettas and gouramis are realated they do tend to fight sometimes. In fact, female bettas sometimes fight with each other. You need to have a ton of hiding spots and it's better to add them all at the same time or at least re-arrange the tank when adding a new betta or gourami.