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Hi this is my problem I just started a new 30 gallon tank and I'm pretty new to aquariums so I went out and bought 2 Golden Gourami's and one Neon Dwarf Gourami didn't want to over load the tank with to many fish at once anyways this is my problem the Golden Gourami's are very agressive towards the Neon Dwarf is there any way to fix this???

Golden gouramis (especially the males) are, by their very nature, pretty aggressive. They also get fairly big; I had two males that were pushing 6 inches. The problem is all of the gouramis occupy the top of the tank, and with such a small tank, there will be friction. Include the golds' natural territoriality -- it can rival some cichlids -- and I bet the dwarf is going to be harassed to death. If you do have two males, they will then in all probability turn on each other.

In my experience, dither fish don't really work on gouramis. I'd say you're going to have the problem until you either get a larger tank (think at least 55 or, better yet, 75 gallons) or get rid of the at least one of the golds. One gold and a dwarf can coexist, provided you luck out on getting a mellow gold.

You can try to keep your current setup and install some plants or driftwood to try to break up the territories, but frankly, I don't think that would work in a tank of your size.

On a different note, it's good that you didn't want to overload the tank with fish all at once, but I have two points:

1. The golds put out quite a lot of waste, and they get big enough where they should really be kept in a bigger tank. At a max, I'd keep only 1 in a 30 gallon for waste and aggression reasons.

2. Dwarves have become pretty sensitive to water quality as the captive stocks have been bred and re-bred back into each other. I'd be surprised if your dwarf survived the cycle.

Joe Potato

funny thing about all that is the Golds are pretty small and the Dwarf is quite a bit bigger and yes I see the two golds snippin at eachother too I have no Idea what to do

Just to make sure we are in fact talking about the same thing, is this your fish?

If it is, as I said before, 30 gallons is too small for two of them; you're always going to have aggression trouble. They will soon grow up into labyrinth bruisers of the highest order. If they are very small, you may not be able to sex them for a while. Once they get about half grown, you can tell males from females via males' dorsal fin extends out to a very noticeable point, whereas females' stay short and are rounded off. Females can be relatively peaceful, but I still wouldn't recommend more than one gourami for a tank of your size.

I suggest getting rid of one and hope the one you keep will leave the dwarf in peace, although I suspect it won't.

The ideal situation is you just have one gold gourami in the tank to reside in the upper water zone. You can have some sort of mid-water school (one of the more robust tetra or barb species) and some bottom feeders no problem. I never saw my gouramis go below about halfway down the tank.

Joe Potato


Edit: To clarify, I was speaking of the golds not going to the bottom. Dwarves will go down to the bottom, but I've never seen them do it unless it is for some reason (chasing food down or avoiding larger fish).

I can take a picture and show you

thats it

funny you say that about gourami not going to the bottom the dwarf hangs out at the bottom goes up for air then goes back down

The colors are very washed out (from the camera and/or stress from being added to a new tank), but I do indeed think that is the Gold Gourami I've been posting about. At the very least, I can say that it is certainly a Trichogaster species. Do the colors in your pic accurately match the your fish's colors in real life?

Joe Potato


Edit: The dwarf may only be hanging out at the bottom because it is being bullied.

no the light messes it up the color this one is alitte blurry but you can see the colors alot better http://www.photodump.com/viewer/antman08015/101_0253.html

If the gold gouramis are getting along but picking on the dwarf I'd just get rid of the dwarf. Move it to another tank or return it. Sometimes the gold gouramis will get along fine with each other and sometimes they don't. It's a bit of a gamble but when you throw another gourami species in the mix your definitely going to have issues. Dwarf gouramis are nearly as agressive as the golds and you will have fights as they get bigger. I wouldn't count on a gold and dwarf getting along any better than 2 golds.

In fact they may also be getting along because they are male and female or at least both female. I couldn't get the first pic to work but the 2nd is definitely a female. The dwarf would be a male since they rarely sell female dwarf gouramis. They are just a plain grey color instead of flashy like the males. That will cause issues if the other gold is a male.

when i had my 55 gall set up, i had tried mixing gouramis, i had one male pearl, 1 female pearl, and a female blue- and got them all at once as babies- i had no major problem for a couple months- then war broke out. i tried every posible situation and arrangement, nothing worked- i could not keep more than one gourami in the 55 gallon tank without a fight, it was moderately planted,had drift wood and caves for hiding spaces, and 12 danios as dither fish....
mixing gouramis is a gamble, some wont tolerate any other gourami, others will... if your already having problems- id pick one of your 3, and return the other 2.

here are pics of all three http://www.photodump.com/viewer/antman08015/101_0252.html http://www.photodump.com/viewer/antman08015/101_0254.html http://www.photodump.com/viewer/antman08015/101_0262.html http://www.photodump.com/viewer/antman08015/101_0256.html http://www.photodump.com/viewer/antman08015/101_0265.html

Well, it looks like you have one male and one female gold. The dwarf is definitely a male.

My advice still stands: your best bet is to only have one gold gourami in the tank. I think hca said it best when she said "id pick one of your 3, and return the other 2."

Joe Potato

I'd bet the male and female would get along but it is a gamble. I've had several of those in the same tank before but you still may find one beat up one day so your choice. The dwarf will probably not get along with either so if you want to keep it you definitely would be best off returning both the others or the dwarf could live in a slightly smaller tank like a 20g maybe lightly stocked 15g if you are set on keeping all of them.

well I sat and watched the tank for like an hour or so and now the "Male" Gold I think doesn't really mess with the Dwarf.. now the dwarf is the one that picks at the male gold and the male gold picks at what I believe to be the female I really want to keep the Dwarf I like the colors problem is the local fish store has a no return policy on fish no matter what the problem and the only spare tank I have is way to small it's only a 5 gallon so I'm kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place... buying another tank 30 gallons or bigger is a space problem seeing how my apartment is crowded as it is.. so I really don't know what to do

My advice in your situation is to get a lot more plants , you need to provide a place of refuge and at least a chance for them to divide up the tank .
I have a lot of Gourami's in my 60 g and yes there is aggression at times between the different types.
I've found that if you have a couple of different areas heavily planted with some clear areas in between you can give them different places to run and hide.

This might give the Dwarf a chance , however be warned I've found the Dwarfs really hard to keep with any other Gourami . I've lost 4 over time and have given up on them , so it might be best to try and do a deal with your LFS to save the Dwarfs life .

Good luck .
Garry

You don't need a tank over 30g if you move the dwarf. You just need one over 10g. A 20g would be great but even a 10 with only the dwarf in it would be better than nothing if you absolutely cannot get a bigger tank considering that no matter what you do to your current tank 1 of those gouramis is probably going to end up dead. Adding more decorations and plants may help but they aren't even adults yet and they are picking on each other. When they get to be adults they are going to try to stake out more territory and have a shorter temper for other gouramis in their space. In that small of a tank they probably aren't going to be able to stake out enough territory to keep all of them happy and out of each others way. If you ask around some fish stores or even individuals may take 1 or 2 of the gouramis for free but most stores here don't refund your money unless the fish dies and you bring in a water sample that tests out good.