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If anyone needs further proof that fish relate to the environment outside their tanks:

A couple of weeks ago I moved my 30-gallon from one side of the room to the other. All I did was take out about 15 gallons of water and slide the tank on the stand across the floor. In other words, I didn't rearrange a single thing inside the tank. But the male pearl gourami has gone absolutely nuts. He has every other fish in the tank (two more pearls and some platies) terrified to come out of the plants, because the minute they do, he charges them. His prior territory in the tank was limited to the left half. Now he's clearly staking out the whole thing. (These fish have been in the tank together for a year and a half.) All I can figure is that because the things he sees through the tank "window" of the tank look different, he feels he has to re-claim a territory.

The good news is that the only reason I moved the tank is so I could set up another bigger one to move them into. I'm going to move the other pearls first, then try moving Mr. Macho so he feels like he's coming into their territory and not vice versa. If he's still a pain, I'll have to keep him by himself or in a pearl-free environment!

Ungrateful fish!!!

So, how many tanks does that make?

Got MTS - Many Tank Syndrome? It's incurable, you know.

I didn't know a gourami could be that way. What's all in the tank with him?

In the tank with territorial troubles, I have three pearl gouramis and six platys. (FYI, that's a really great looking combo, if I do say so myself ...) When I bought the pearls, they were juveniles; the shop clerk and I were both pretty sure I was getting a male and two females, but as it turned out, one of the "females" grew up to be male -- thus the problem.

My plan is to get them into the 55, then add two more female pearls (which I hope will calm things down) plus a half dozen or so corys. If not, I'll have to separate Mr. Macho, but I have my fingers crossed that this will solve the problem, because I really want to use the 30 they're in right now for a small Tanganyikan setup ... (plus, even before that I'm going to need it to quarantine corys and new pearls.)

As for the rest of my tanks: I currently have two that are empty. When both are filled (soon! ) that will make a total of five: two 55s, a 30, a 20 long and a 10. (The 10 started out as a quarantine tank for an ailing dwarf gourami rescued from the pet shop, but after he recovered he he seemed so happy that I left him there and now use another 10 for quarantine.)

I could probably find space for more tanks, but am reining myself in, since I'm not sure I want to have to clean more than five!

Oh, and I have a 500-gallon pond in the back yard, too, which is what started this whole obsession in the first place ...

Sounds like fun. I need to get me a pond......But I need to get me a house and get out of this condo first

See if he has a bubble nest going. I had mine spawn (the only time so far) ,after I'd raised the temp for Ich. at THAT time, the daddy pearl was a BIT territorial. But more so toward the females than the males (weird). The males didn't seem to pose so much of a threat to his babies.
I've not had serious probs with Pearls being aggressive, but they are in a 6ft tank..then again, they stay together for the most part (and I have 4 males and 3 females). I've had various 3 spot gouramies, and dwarf gouramies, be nasty, but not the Pearls. With mine..the males harass the females SOMETIMES.. and the bigger females harrass the smaller females some..when everyone's not all schooling together.

Last edited by girlunderrainbow at 04-Mar-2005 20:36