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I just split up my male pearl gouramis because one wouldn't let the other come out of the corner.

They were in a 30-gallon tank; yesterday I moved the shy male and the female into a 55 gallon.

My plan is to eventually move the more aggressive pearl into the larger tank too, and see if they get along better in a larger space. But I wanted to give the shy one time to establish a territory first, so the macho one feels like he's the intruder and (I hope) behaves a little better.

So the question is: How long will it take for the younger one to establish a territory? When breeding, they recommend you add the female to the breeding tank 24 hours before the male. But is that long enough in this case?

LMuha

Personally I dont think time will make any difference at all. The older more aggressive one will still try to be the dominant male.
Very heaverly planting may help also plenty of top floating plant like "Water Sprite" could help.

Keith

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You're probably right ... I may ultimately have to split them up completely, but I thought I'd give it a try.

The interesting thing is that the younger one has clearly been staking his claim in the big tank (so I guess the answer to my original question is that 24 hours is definitely enough for a pearl to start staking out a territoriy!) Right after I moved him and the female, they went into hiding together. Then, a few hours later, they explored the tank side by side -- neither would let the other get very far away.

But yesterday, they were both out and about -- at opposite ends of the tank. Every time she ventured across his invisible line, he'd chase her back into the plants. So I guess he has a bit of a macho streak of his own.

I'm thinking about adding several more pearls (hopefully females), which may spread the aggression around a bit.

Fortunately, however, they don't seem to hurt each other (and I've had them about a year and a half now) but it can't be much fun to have your life confined to a six-inch square in a four-foot tank ...

Interesting update:

I left the shy male pearl and the female in the 55 by themselves for a week, until it was clear they'd picked their own territories. The shy male picked the right rear third of the tank -- but he seems to like to hide in the plants toward the bottom of the tank, even when he's not being bullied. The female picked a much smaller territory, but it's at the left top of the tank.

Yesterday, I put the more aggressive male into the tank. He immediately staked out the top middle, but all in all everyone's behaving themselves better than they were in my 30 gallon. (I hope it lasts!)