Is it a phase?

[Jambot]

So my male dwarf gourami for the past two weeks or so had been making a rather large bubble nest. I've had him for a few moths now and he's never made one before. I have a male golden wonder killifish and a male lyretail swordtail in the tank with him. Before ever making the bubble nest they were all a happy family, well they never attacked each other anyway. But now, my dwarf gourami has been chasing my golden wonder killifish all over the tank. When I saw this behavior I thought that maybe removing the nest would solve the problems, but he just made another one.

I wasn't going to really worry about it since my killifish is way too fast and my gourami could never do any damage too him, he just launches an attack then retreats to the little rotala indica forest where his nest is. However I just noticed my swordtail's tail is torn and bloodied, which I can only assume was from the gourami, it's just fin damage so I'm not that worried about his health.

I'm assuming this recent aggressive behavior is him protecting his nest and the territory around it. My question being, since there are no female gouramis in the tank will he eventually stop trying to build a bubble nest or is this behavior going to remain? If it is, I'm afraid I'll have to return him to the LFS I bought him from.

[StevieD]

You may try taking him out of the tank he is in and placing him on his own for a week or so and then re-introduce him to where he originally came from. This could not work but it is worth a shot. I would definitely think about getting another 10 gall with a female in it though. Looks like you have a male worth keeping.

Stevie D

[Serephine]

I agree with Stevie D's advice. In addition to taking him out of the tank and then re-introducing him again. If you don't have a spare tank to place him in for the time being, I've read that sometimes rearranging the decorations and plants in your aquarium to form new territories sometimes helps... but then the same problem might start back after a while. I guess the permanent solution is to get a female for him. I'm trying to get my male dwarf gourami to breed with my female right now actually but he seems very reluctant and is not even attempting to make a bubble nest so you're really lucky that yours is doing it with no female around!