rainbow shark chasing gourami!

[WOGGIES]

Hello! I recently got 1 dward gourami and added it to my 40g tank. I have an assortment of other fish in the tank. My rainbow shark has been terrorizing the dwarf gourami ever since i added it! It just chases it around and sucks on it (since it can't bite, i think). Why is it doing this?? Why does the rainbow shark hate the gourami so much? Is it because its the largest fish in the tank? It doesn't chase any of the other fish, except the g a e occassionally.

Also, what are those string things on the gourami for? That hang off of its body. thanks!

[Drumachine09]

Rainbow sharks are a very agressive and terittorial fish. Although a member of the minnow family, it sure lives op to its name aggression wise as a shark. You need to move your decorations around. The rainbow shark has established a territory, and he feels the new gourami is invading it. A quick shuffle and you should be ok.

[WOGGIES]

thanks druma. But how come it only acts this way towards the dwarf gourami? Is it because it is a new fish? Other fish can swim right next to the rainbow shark and the shark will not react at all. But, if the rainbow shark sees the gourami it automatically starts chasing it and sucking on its body!

[Lady Hobbs]

The string things are it's feelers so it can find where objects are at night....and food. I had Moonlight gourami's and their feelers are really long.

[Drumachine09]

Its the new fish. He sees him as a threat, because he has never seen him before. Just do a shuffle and it should subside

[WOGGIES]

cool! thanks for the information. Ill change the decor around when i do my water change on sunday!! hopefully everything will be back to normal.

But, how come gouramis have "Feelers" and other fish generally do not? Does it have very bad vision?

[Incredulous_Ed]

cool! thanks for the information. Ill change the decor around when i do my water change on sunday!! hopefully everything will be back to normal.

But, how come gouramis have "Feelers" and other fish generally do not? Does it have very bad vision?
It's because they live in stale water that is often dark, and they help them to be aware of their surroundings.

[WOGGIES]

thanks for the info everyone! Unfortunately, i did my water change today and changed the decor,but the rainbow shark is still chasing the dwarf gourami

[Drumachine09]

thanks for the info everyone! Unfortunately, i did my water change today and changed the decor,but the rainbow shark is still chasing the dwarf gourami

You might either just let it ride out, or get rid of the RS.

[RobbieG]

I've kept the two together for a while by having a few decorations that have open space at the tank bottom. (A fake hollow log and a fake tree stump) These both had an open space between them and the tank bottom that my Rainbow Shark called home. My Gouramie kept more towards the top half of the tank most of the time so they left each other alone.

The Rainbow Shark sucking on the side of the Dwarf Gouramie can be VERY bad for the Gouramie. The RS is damaging or eating the slime coat off of the DG wich can very easily lead to an infection