nipping

[kevinh]

I don't know what to do, need some advice. I have 3 neon blue dwarf gourami. I've had thems for 2 months or so. The last 2 week the fin nipping has got real bad. They live with a cobalt blue lobster and thought he was getting them but after keeping a good eye on them, its not him. Out of the 3, there is one thats aggressive to the other 2
(these 2 have the most damage to the fins). Should i get rid of the aggressive one or add another and see if they will pair up?
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Thanks,
Kevin

[alexrex20]

If you remove the aggressive one, another will just take its place.

How big is the tank? Perhaps add some other fish (not more gouramis) to keep them busy. Like some larger tetras or barbs.

[kevinh]

its a 55g,3-dwarf gourami,2-neon and 1-cobalt blue lobster

[Fancyfish]

are you sure it's not the lobster? Maybe late at night when the lights are out? That damage does not look like what they would do to each other. Now if they were male betta's you would see that type of damage from fighting. But I don't remember that Dwarf's are fighters. Seems like they are real peacefull. Are they all brightly colored? If so, then they might all be males.

[cu0ngsayz]

WOW!!!!!! might wanna add more fish.. maybe some danios or ,like stated above, add some barb

[alexrex20]

dwarf gouramis are very aggressive to their own species.

[armthehomeless]

dwarf gouramis are very aggressive to their own species.

+1.

Kept one or at least 6.

[black_knight]

Most of the dwarf gouramis sold at pet stores are males. Dwarf gouramis are very territorial little fish. Trichogaster lalius (red flames, cobalt blues, ect.) formerly known as Colisa lalia is more agressive than it's cousin Trichogaster chuna (honey dews). They will spar much like bettas. Females are also nippy. Once established in a tank they will fight for territory. A few options:
Dense planting to breakup line of sight
Keeping a large enough group (agree with 6 or 8 in a 55 gallon as armthehomeless suggested)
I've tried dither fish but that's a hit or miss. Some will attack the dithers (rasboras), but some will ignore them all together and still attack one another. You really have to have alot of dither fish so they breakup the line of site. I kept 2 pairs with a group of 30 Pseudomugil signifers (pacific blue-eyed rainbowish) in a 40 gallon, they had the crap torn out of them. When I removed them and put in 10 rasboras, the males started tearing one another. I kept a large group in a heavily planted 10 gallon without problems.

[sunkenmetal]

More neons and some wisteria to block lines of site

[Totenkampf]

i just removed my last one, he was stupid enough to attack angelfish. i too have found them to be as aggressive as bettas, i also had better luck with honey dews in a community tank. i think the best way to keep them is in a larger group while in a species only tank, as previously suggested

[kevinh]

Thanks everyone. the first thing is, i'm going to plant my tank more to buy some time and hope it calms down enought to get my 20g setup and cycled. Than i'll move some fish around.

Thanks,
Kevin