# Pearl Gourami Bad Behavior



## Prometheus (Feb 12, 2008)

I have two pearl gouramis and the male is aggressive towards the female. He chases her and nips at her so she hides in the grass all the time. He also started chasing the second biggest fish in the tank which are a pair of sunset platy's. He doesnt bother any of the other smaller fish . I have neon tetras, a lampeye killifish, and a spotted danio. I thought the pearl gourami's were supposed to be pretty peacefull. Is this normal behavior?


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

What size tank do you have? With most gouramis, the male will pursue the female pretty strongly. I prefer having more than one female per male. Many gouramis, including Pearl Gouramis, are usually peaceful with most other fish. As you've seen, there can be unpredictable exceptions, such as with your platties. They may see them as competition for food. Platties usually just go after food wherever it is. Pearl Gouramis can get a little territorial at feeding time, but usually not very bad.


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## Prometheus (Feb 12, 2008)

Thanks. It's a 30 gallon. So if I get another female then you think he wont be so aggressive? Or maybe he wont be able to chase both of them?


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

Yeah, well, it at least splits up the aggression. And, it seems to me that when a male (of almost any chasing variety) gets distracted by another female that he tends to pause a little while sometimes and not chase either one. With only one female, once he gets on her trail he can be relentless. The females seem to recover rather quickly once the pursuit ends if the pursuit hasn't lasted too long. Constant chasing of one fish leads to stress, which can lead to physical problems such as susceptibility to disease.

IMHO, a 30 is a bit small for Pearl Gouramis because of this courtship chasing. Because Pearls are pretty good sized fish, I'd prefer a tank of at least 4 feet, but with enough plants they might do okay in a 30. You may want to evaluate your own feelings about this aggression. If it disturbs you, you may want to see about going to a different type of fish for your 30. It has taken me a long time to come to understand the level of aggression I'm willing to accept.


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## Prometheus (Feb 12, 2008)

Okay thanks for the info. I think I'll get another female.. since I don't have any larger tanks. Why is the male so agressive towards the female? Would they ever mate or does that require some other special conditions?


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

Yes, he's wanting to mate. The Pearl Gouramis that I have now are the first ones that I've had in a normal tank environment (I once had a LFS) so I don't recall exactly how they breed. Many of the gouramis are bubble nest builders. They build a nest with bubbles or bubbles and plants on the surface and put their eggs in the nest. This usually doesn't produce offspring in a community tank. That doesn't usually stop fish from trying. lol The frustrating part is that the better condition the fish are in, the more they want to breed.

My cherry barbs do a lot of chasing. I've only had them about a month and I've got about 5 fry surviving in a community tank. That's not likely to happen with the gouramis, though, because of the nest required.


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## Prometheus (Feb 12, 2008)

Interesting. So I assume the male would build the bubble nest? I haven't seen any attempts at bubblenests, though. But maybe it's because there is a bit of water agitation from the filter. The female hides as much as possible. She will appear in the grass when I feed them but wont go to the surface to get food because he's always ready to chase her away  So I guess this is something that's not going to go away.


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

It MAY not go away.

There's a lot of things that can affect tank dynamics. That's one of the big reasons you have to evaluate how you feel about aggression. Is it at a normal level? Or are fish actually getting hurt, which can punish your heart and/or your pocketbook. If it breaks your heart to see fish chase one another, you might want to consider possibly changing directions now, getting rid of the Pearl Gouramis. If you think you can accept it as normal if it can be constrained, then you might want to add another female. 

And, you could try adding one or more fish that might challenge the Pearl a little. It is possible that the right fish might somewhat put him in his place and he might not chase the female so much. That COULD involve at least some aggression. Again, if all aggression is disturbing to you or the lack of tranquility doesn't fit your notion of what an aquarium should be, you might want to change directions.

Another possibility is to see if you can trade for a different male. Not all males get as "ramped up" as your is.


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## BruceWatts (Mar 1, 2008)

Are you sure that the other fish is a female and not just a younger male? You can tell by the dorsal fin, the males being longer and more pointed. It is easy to mistake a younger male for a female. If it is a female then I would get a second one as suggested above. 

If the male starts building a bubblenest then the agression may increase. Make sure you take some steps to protect the weaker fish or you may lose her.

Bruce


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## Prometheus (Feb 12, 2008)

Yes I am sure she is female.. They are both the same size and she house a more round dorsal fin and his is pointed. I don't think he can build a bubble nest anywhere because of the water movement on the surface but I haven't seen him try either. He hasn't only been chasing the platties during feeding. He chases them until he gets the air knocked out of him! Then he has to go back to the surface. This happens even when there's no food around too. Although I am not sure how he behaves with the platties when I am not there watching them. I think a little agression is okay and the platties seem to forget about it right after it happens but not the female pearl. She's ALWAYS hiding from him and scared to come out for food. I worry that if I get another female, he will just be chasing both of them since he's terrorizing the platties too. Is there another fish I could use for counter-terror?


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

You'll probably want something that will confront the Pearls without really tangling with them. I have some Neon Rosey Barbs that sorta serve that purpose. I'm sure there are a lot of others. I've only had my Pearls for a couple of weeks, though, so they haven't really shown much aggression yet and they're in a 100 gal tank. There have been a few very, very minor confrontations with the Rosey Barbs, though -- both sides back down quickly. That's the sort of interaction that you'd be looking to accomplish.


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## seattle_530 (Sep 27, 2007)

You always have to be careful with any gourami species because territory always seems to be a factor. You are correct in some respects, pearls are the most peacful of all gouramis in my opinion however that does not make them the most peaceful fish. As far as displacement of aggresion by adding another female, I had 2 males and 1 female (did this on accident because i purchased them when they were to young to sex) in my 55 gallon well planted aquarium i added another female. The dominant male chased her so bad she jumped out of the tank. So really like ranchwest said you have to evaluate how much aggression your willing to tolerate. If i were you i would see about getting a bigger tank and see how they do. Adding another female might work however then you are cutting more into your males turf and she may not be as tough as your other female and die from stress. Its really a tricky situation, I would know i have the same problem. As far as the platies, my platies get chase by everything in my tank from my female betta to my pearls and they could care less, good tough fish.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

I've had several pearl gourami's over the years, and ultimately gave them all away.
they simply are not good community fish. they didn't do any damage, but they would
restrict the movements of other fish, and my tank simply was not big enough for me 
to tolerate that behavior. I now have a school of dwarf gourami's, that can be a bit
bossy, _but not as persistently territorial as the larger pearls would be_, So I'm happy.

for example, one pearl would terrorize my flag fish - who themselves are pretty tough fish,
and the flag would cower in a corner most of the time, and steal food whenever the pearl
was on the opposite side of the tank. now that my pearls gone, my flag is everywhere in
my tank, skoaling and playing tag with all my other fish. I just didn't like how my pearls
seem to _oppress _other fish in my tank, even when they were not actively pursuing them.


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