gourami vs firemouth

Question
hello karen,
           a few days ago i introduced two(2inch)firemouth cichlids into my aquarium which already houses 1 leopard pleco,1 mature blue gourami,3 pepper corydoras,2 leopard danios, and 3 scissortails, well the problem started right away, the gourami wont leave them alone ,he chases them all the time, ive read that firemouths can handle themselves? this does not seem to be the case in my tank.
my water is perfect,all my fish are very healthy, ita a 55gal and i have created some hiding places,what should i do? i dont realy want to get rid of anyone,
thanks for your time
steve

Answer
Dear Steve,
I know that according to alot of articles, gouramis are supposed to be good in a community tank. This is not always true. Fish all have different personalities. Some gouramis are very calm and cause no trouble and then there are others for some unknown reason can be trouble makers. This might be what you have or he may just need more time to adjust to the new fish. Maybe he really wants to let them know he is going to be the       nt   one in the tank. I know what you are going through with this since I have encountered similar situations.  Sometimes rearranging the tank so everyone that was in the tank before the firemouths, will have to set up new territories. Supposedly,when fish have set up their territory, they will try to defend it if there are new fish introduced. You could try rearranging things and see how things go.  I know firemouths are supposed to be able to take care of themselves and things may change in a few days. They could just be adjusting to a new tank and will decide after a few more days to fight back and maybe the gourami will back down a little. I've seen some fish that should be able to defend themselves be really shy at first then change after a few days. Give it little time and see what happens.
Hope this helps!
Karen