Is my fish getting bullied??
I have 2 guramis and the silver one keeps pushing the yellow one along near its mouth and keeps swimming after it really fast every time the yellow one comes out from losing the pump. It also looks like it tries to boss the loaches around when it comes to food. Is there such a thing as fish bullying eachother or are they purely playing?
There can indeed be bullying. Gouramis sometimes are territorial, specially if they live in small overcrowded tanks. How big is your container? look up online tank size requirements for the type of gouramis you currently own. Normally gouramis don't show this behavior in large, ably planted tanks.
Gourami certainly can be aggressive toward each other - they are territorial, particularly the males.
In the long permanent status, the weaker fish can become 'depressed' and sick.
I would suggest separating the fish if you can, or else break up the space surrounded by the aquarium so that they can't see each other as much of the time.
If there are barriers formed by wood, plants, rocks, the gourami will sometimes run an area as their territory, staying in their own part of the pack of the tank, and guarding it against the other gourami.
As far as the loaches (What kind?) go, a bit of rough practice at feeding time is common, but I wouldn't worry too much going on for this.
Answers: Hi Yes It is called a pecking order. One fish will dominate all the other fish. They will tend to be the first to the food. They will pin the weaker fish into corners and in recent times generally be a bully to every fish in the tank. The best entity to do is remove the fish doing the bullying put them in a tank by themself. In month or two you can put the fish back within the main tank and see if they start bullying again or not. Most of the time they will be only just fine.
yes i would say that it is, and if you do not watch out, it will end up killing the other one as it is not getting the chance to enjoy any food and therefore becoming weak.
