Community Tank setup

[KabirK_]

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting on this forum as I’m usually on Reddit.

i have a 30 gallon that’s nicely filtered and planted, my setup isn’t anything crazy but this is my 2nd ever tank besides my main one. I have a decent amount of experience with regular common live bearers such as mollies, platy, guppies, etc.

but in this tank I have a thriving community of neons tetras, rummy nose, tiger barbs, kulli loach, snails etc. I haven’t had any problems or concerns with the tetras and all as I’m quite familiar with their behaviour and patters. Though today I have added 4 gouramis to the tank as I wanted to try something new. I buy all my fishes from the same one store near my house that’s owned by an old couple who have had it since 1982, well experienced people and they told me it should be fine, gouramis do get somewhat bossy but other than that the interaction between the communal fishes and gouramis is fine.

but I’m just a bit unsure of what to understand from the gourami behaviour, I have 4 in total, 

-3 gold

-1 opaline

It’s a 3:1 ratio female:male to I’m not worried about male on male aggression. Though I notice they still chase each other, not really any hard biting but literally just chasing each other ever so often. The tank is fairly new but has been well cycled, the fishes aren’t showing any sign of water related problems. It’s jsut the agression.

is this maybe because it’s the first day, or possibly something else? Again I’m not to sure as these are my first step into the real of bigger fish.

any advice or feed back is great!

****Tank is cloudy due to water clarifier that I had added****

Thanks👍

[Tlindsey]

On 1/16/2024 at 10:39 PM, KabirK_ said:

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting on this forum as I’m usually on Reddit.

i have a 30 gallon that’s nicely filtered and planted, my setup isn’t anything crazy but this is my 2nd ever tank besides my main one. I have a decent amount of experience with regular common live bearers such as mollies, platy, guppies, etc.

but in this tank I have a thriving community of neons tetras, rummy nose, tiger barbs, kulli loach, snails etc. I haven’t had any problems or concerns with the tetras and all as I’m quite familiar with their behaviour and patters. Though today I have added 4 gouramis to the tank as I wanted to try something new. I buy all my fishes from the same one store near my house that’s owned by an old couple who have had it since 1982, well experienced people and they told me it should be fine, gouramis do get somewhat bossy but other than that the interaction between the communal fishes and gouramis is fine.

but I’m just a bit unsure of what to understand from the gourami behaviour, I have 4 in total, 

-3 gold

-1 opaline

It’s a 3:1 ratio female:male to I’m not worried about male on male aggression. Though I notice they still chase each other, not really any hard biting but literally just chasing each other ever so often. The tank is fairly new but has been well cycled, the fishes aren’t showing any sign of water related problems. It’s jsut the agression.

is this maybe because it’s the first day, or possibly something else? Again I’m not to sure as these are my first step into the real of bigger fish.

any advice or feed back is great!

****Tank is cloudy due to water clarifier that I had added****

Thanks👍

@KabirK_ Welcome to the forum. 

Sounds like the Gourami are establishing a pecking order. I've personally had 4 female Pearl Gourami that displayed the same behavior. 

[Cinnebuns]

Hey!  Welcome to the forums!

How sure are you of the sexes of the gourami?  Often when you get gourami from a store, they are too young to sex. I imagine they are young as well because 4 of those type of gourami in a 30 would not fit at all. I would barely even recommend 1 tbh. I once had 1 gold in my 29 and very quickly realized my mistake and took it back within an hour. Based on the pic they do look young. As they age they will out grow that tank. It also makes me still wonder if they are old enough to sex. 

[KabirK_]

I’m confident of their sexes due to the fin shapes and body. There is only 1 male and it’s a gold gourami, long dorsal fin, slim body shape, etc. all the females display the signs of rounder bellies, rounder dorsal fin, etc. though gouramis grow to 6”, 30 gallons is still quite large, and if  you follow the “inch per gallon rule”, they only take up 24. Alongside that, I have a bigger filter for this tank as I had one laying around. It’s rated for 50 gallons. So having decent mechanical and bio filtration I’m not worried about that. Ofc a 50 gallon would still be much better but I’m sure this will be fine. The behaviour has actually gotten better now in the last 2 days. They have seemed to find their own areas and now just act like any of the other fishes. 

[Lennie]

Hello

 

Sadly 30g is too small for gold gouramis. They are big and aggressive. So far the aggression I observed is limited to gouramis only, but mainly towards their own kind. Mine don't even care about the betta in their tank.

I had a 1m:2f in a 100x40x40cm/160 liter/42ish gallon tank. I have more decorations and plants compared to your tank. The females were very aggressive towards the male when they started growing. I have never observed a slight aggression coming from the males side.

My females were so full of eggs looking healthy. I was considering if I should try breeding but the aggression issue may make it hard to rehome the babies. Aaaaanyway, NExt morning feeding time, the male is nowhere. I checked everyone inside and outside the tank. I haven't even seen fishbones or anything. I am pretty sure the females killed him even in my tank size but I have no proof.

Now only two females left. This time the dominant female started to bully the other female. These guys are weirdly aggressive. It works the same way. The dominating ones don't even allow the other one even swim properly and make it sit on the substrate. If moves, starts chasing again.

I had no issues for a long time until they started to grow. So that's my warning. would love to share a positive experience but I wish you the best with a group of 4 in a 30g

Edited January 18 by Lennie

[KabirK_]

Fair point, I guess I’ll just see how this goes for a bit because just like you mention the betta and gouramis, mine also don’t really care about anything else. Neither have they been nipping at each other anymore. Luckily the fish store I buy from will gladly take them back even if it’s a year later.

[Lennie]

On 1/19/2024 at 4:55 AM, KabirK_ said:

Fair point, I guess I’ll just see how this goes for a bit because just like you mention the betta and gouramis, mine also don’t really care about anything else. Neither have they been nipping at each other anymore. Luckily the fish store I buy from will gladly take them back even if it’s a year later.

Yea this morning, with the first lights in the tank I saw an extreme aggression from one female to another. She basically plays to kill. She does not even let the other one swim, move or even go to surface to breathe. If the other one attempts to go breathe from the surface or literally move, the bully literally attacks her so hard. I left the bully female in the main tank and removed the other one into a different tank. Otherwise by being exposed to constant stress and targeting, it would die too. 
 

weird enough, these two females were hating the male together this way. Now they turned to each other out of nowhere.

I’m thinking if these guys need to have very crowded groups for a pecking order in a large tank, or should be kept alone. Please keep me updated based on your experience in the future when they grow up to their full size

I hope for the best for you