# aggressive gourami



## bcart1 (Jan 26, 2010)

Hi,

I originally had purchased 3 Opaline gourami and put them in my 55 gal tank with 4 angel fish. Now, I lost one gourami about a month after i got it (it looked sick for a while so I had it in a 10 gal for a couple days before it died). Now, several months after that happened a second gourami got sick (lost color, acted sluggish), it died yesterday and now the remaining gourami is being aggressive toward my angel fish and the platies I have in there, all of the other fish are hiding in my plants or in my rocks. 

Is this common? I thought the Opaline gouramis were supposed to be more peaceful? What do people recommend I do? 

Any suggestions are welcome,
~BC


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

I think the answer to your question is in the Compatibility paragraph in our profile of this fish. The Opaline Gourami is one common name, another is the Blue Gourami, you can click on the shaded name to see the profile, or use the second tab from the left in the blue bar at the top of the screen to access the profile section of the forum.

The profile mentions possible aggression from a male, and the angels are too similar to be housed with gourami, one reason I always recommend not keeping angels and gourami together. The 4 angels will be nice in a 55g; I would remove the gourami, as this aggression is highly stressful to the angels and they will be less healthy and there could be even more trouble.

Byron.


----------



## bcart1 (Jan 26, 2010)

I don't have another tank large enough to house the gourami. Any suggestions about what I can do with it?


----------



## Inga (Jun 8, 2010)

bcart1 said:


> I don't have another tank large enough to house the gourami. Any suggestions about what I can do with it?


 
You could get a second tank on craigslist. ha ha Not meaning to sound sassy either. I had to get a second tank myself. I had a similar issue with my Gourami. I started with 2 Gold and 2 Opaline. They were gorgeous and I thought they would look awesome in my 60 gallon tank. They did look awesome but I had a very very aggressive Gold and SHE killed 2 of the others. I removed her and am down to 1 Opaline Gourami. This one is living happily with everyone. I did move her to my small tank temporarily as I hoped she would cut down the number of Guppy fry. So far, she is even too peaceful for that. I think it is an individual thing with fish too. Some are just more grumpy then others. Figures when I wanted them to be peaceful, I had one waging war. Now, I want one to eat the babies and she is the most peaceful fish I own. :-?


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

If you have no other tank space available, perhaps the store will take the gourami? Some stores will take fish in exchange (or even give it to them, considering the trouble it is causing it would be worth it). 

Or the last resort, destroy the fish. I have had to do this; sometimes even "peaceful" fish can turn nasty, as Inga said. You have to consider the whole picture; you have 4 angels that are being hounded and stressed, and they will more than likely succumb in time. Removing the culprit is the best cure for their long-term health and survival.

My next comments are not intended as blame to you, but just general comments to those reading: This is exactly why I so often encourage members to read the fish profiles before buying the fish; "normal" traits are usually mentioned, and while there are always exceptions, the "normal" is most likely going to occur eventually, so this has to be considered before getting this or that fish--if it happens, can you deal with it later? If not, avoid the fish.


----------



## VTonic (Oct 20, 2010)

I have had the same issue in the past with the same breed of fish. The blue gourami that I had was peacfull for some time and then went crazy and started attacking my other fish. If you dont have another aquarium to house it in then take it back to the LFS. If they wont take it, then, as Byron said. You may have to kill the fish. You cant leave it in the aquarium now or eventually youll end up with nothing but the gourami in there by itself.


----------

