Kenneth the Balloon Molly

Question
I've had Kenneth for 8 months now with no problems, he's fat, round with a gigantic fin. Yesterday I put adwarf gourami in the tank and Kenneth won't leave it alone. His fins up and he's swimming in front of my gourami waggling his bum and keeps trying to mate with it. The gourami is getting annoyed and keeps biting Kenneth, even spitting out some scales but Kenneth is relentless. Should I separate them for now and get Kenneth some ladies, or is it a territory thing? Cheers, Carla x

Answer
Hey Carla,

I have always had weird stuff happen when i mix gouramis and mollies. They either nonstop fight or try to breed with each other.
Mollies (especially males) tend to try and mate with the gourammi and never leaves it alone, and eventually the gourami gets fed up and attacks the male. I have had male mollies die from gouramis.
I would just separate them and buy kenneth two or three ladies. then he can amte without getting attacked. Chances are, if you keep them together, he will keep trying to mate and the gourami will keep biting.

as for the gourammi, be careful with what tank mates you get him. Gourammis are agressive.
If you want more gourammis, have about ten. I know this sounds like a lot, but the way gourammis work is that they have a dominant fish and a bunch of recessive fish in one group. The dominant fish will be brighter in color and will always have his fins standing straight out. the rest will be darker and have their fins tight against their body.
the fish can change their colors from light to dark, so if the dominant fish dies then they all fight and the strongest one will end up as dominant and he will stand his fins up and be brighter.
if you look into a fish tank at the pet store and see gourammis, it is rather easy to pick out the dominant one. Along with the color and fin difference, you will notice he will have extra space around him that the other fish give to him, and the rest will be closer together.

dominant fish will attack other individuals... they just pick one or two fish to hate until they attack them so much they die, then they pick one or two more to hate until the tank is empty besides him. Thats why having at least ten of them works well, because they can't pick out individuals. Also, don't have any caves or areas a fish can be dominant over, otherwise you will have WW3 in your tank.

good luck with kenneth and your gourami!!
best wishes, chelsey