Gourami Aggression! How can I stop it?

[sharkbait35]

Ive' just introduced three juvenile Gouramis into my tank; a male gold, female Opaline and a female three spot. I already have a gaint female 3 and a half inch platinum Gourami and as soon as the other fish were introduced the platinum Gourami began chasing all of them around.

I have three other guppies and the platinum Gourami behaves well with them but, the platinum finds it entertaining to chase the little Gouramis around. There are alot of hiding spots but the large female seems to spot them out when the go to breathe or eat and abuses them.

For the moment i have separated the platinum in another tank but, how and when will I be able to let the giant back in? Please Help!

[Lady Hobbs]

You probably won't. You have the most aggressive gourami's and all different species. In order to have that assortment, they need a large tank so they aren't in each others way all the time.

[Marina]

Hii i m marina and i have to ask u a question. When ur agressive gourami chases and abuses the smaller gouramis, do the small gouramis change color??

[sharkbait35]

To reply to lady hobbs: the gold, opaline, three spot and platinum are all color variations of one species, Trichogaster trichopterus (Blue Gourami) therefore they can breed with one another.
I followed the the ratio 10 gallons per gourami, however this platinum has a mindset to torment the other fish.

And yes marina they do change color, and there dorsal fins retract closer to thier body. However they do not completely change color they just become less vibrant then the were before.

[james481]

I have two opalines and two dwarf neon blue gouramis in a 29G tank. I found that the two neon blue dwarfs were fighting with each other fairly regularly. I added more and taller plants to the center of the tank to break up the sight lines, and that took care of the problem. Now they both have "their" halves of the tank and they can't easily see over to the other side, which seemed to take care of the problem. I haven't seen them fighting at all since I did that, so rearranging your tank with this in mind could help.