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My Opaline gourami is being somewhat aggressive towards my neons and glowlights. He chases them for fun it seems. They stay on one side of the tank. It is heavily planted, so the neons and glowlights could hide if they wanted...but they don't. I don't see signs of actual nipping, but I'm sure it stresses the neons and glowlights out to be chased by the big bully.

The opaline is about 3.5-4 inches right now. He's the biggest fish in the tank (29g). He doesn't bother the cories or ottos.

I am thinking of setting up a tank centered on him...with some semi-aggressive tankmates that are braver than the neons and glowlights.
The tank I have available is a 38g tank. I thought about tiger barbs and serpaes, but decided the serpaes would be too nippy.

What about a school of tiger barbs? Would they be brave, but not too nippy? Any other suggestions?

I would like the tank to be low tech and moderately planted.

What about rainbows? Are they brave enough?

Thanks in advace for suggestions...

*Kristin*

wouldn't mix with tiger barbs.

try bottom fishes, and some key hole cichlids. it should be ok with that .

Blue tetras(cochus blues) might be a possibility. They chase much like the gourami but mine never nipped fins. A few people though have had nippy ones while others just thought they were active. It seems wild caught are much worse than tank bred. Also very hyper fish like danios would stay out of the way. White clouds can be very nippy so I don't suggest them. Loaches would work and be somewhat mid dwellers instead of just bottom.

serpaes really have an undeserved bad reputation for being nippy. almost all of the aggression and nippiness is displayed within the school, as for most other tetra species. so if i were you i would buy 8 or more serpaes as they tend to stay in the lower half of the tank, below the gourami's territory.

I'm really considering the blue tetras.

I know they don't need a school, but do they do ok in groups? I would like to find a type that would be in a group...the only group in the tank (except for bottom fishies). Do the blues do ok in groups of 6 or so?

I have heard that the serpaes bicker amongst themselves if given enough, but I don't want to chance it. If I ended up with a few nippy ones, I wouldn't have anywhere to put them...all my tanks have long fin fish (except the 29g when I move the gourami out, but its full).

I just thought of the tiger barbs as a semi-aggressive fish, but I really don't like them...so they're out.

The blues seem like the best bet. I saw some at a LPS yesterday, so I know I can get them locally.

What are the smaller loach types? I was going to go with cories for the bottom, but would a group of the smaller loaches work in a 38g?

edit: Well with the loaches and gourami, I'm thinking about an Asian biotope. I've always wanted to do a biotope setup. I have some Harlies that were planned to go into my new 55g...but they are fast moving. They may be a little small, but they are fast and my betta in the 10g gave up on chasing them a couple weeks after I got them. What are your thoughts on that idea? I would go with Asian plants too...and a group of the smaller loaches.

*Kristin*

6 of the blues might work but I would probably do 4-5. These guys are very active and fairly good sized. Definitely entertaining fish but so far mine have never nipped the other fish. Just made dashes past them so the other fish move out of the way. 3 can dominate majority of a 55g when they want so while they may get along as a larger group I think they'd appreciate more space. Cramping them might also part of the reason there are reports of them being nippy but I think 4 would definitely be fine and probably 5. You definitely don't need alot of these bright blue hyper fish to notice them.

There are tons of small loach species. It depends what your exact definition of small is. I have four 4inch yoyos in a 29g and there's still plenty of space so I would think any 4-5inch or smaller loach would work. There are probably a dozen or 2 species that match that description. You should see what your lfs carries.

I have decided to go with Harlies and an Asian tank. I just hope they are fast enough to make the Opaline tired.

*Kristin*

I can think of lots of SE asian fish that would be OK in your set-up (especially if you go with a 38 gallon tank). Loaches like the skunk loach, Pakistan loach, Yo Yo loach - as already mentioned any of the 4ish inchers would be fine. A single rainbow shark or red-tailed shark would fit in there, too.

If your harlequin's don't work out - how about gold/schuberti barbs, green barb or some of the other larger (and tougher) but not aggressive barbs?

Eric

Thanks for the suggestions Big E. I like the sharks...just not their attitudes. I know not all are real aggressive, but their individual personalities differ. I'd hate to get a mean RTBS that beats up on my loaches.

I have yoyos in my 55g and I thought about moving them and adding more cories to that tank, but I really like the polka dot loaches. They are very cute, so I think I'll go with about 4-6 of those in the 38g. I think they will like playing in the sand.

*Kristin*