Gouramis have long been considered to be among the most popular freshwater aquarium fish. There are many different types of gouramis, and some of them are truly stunning to look at.
Many will have slightly different behaviors as well. You might have gouramis that are a little more aggressive or some that will be timid.
If your gouramis don’t usually hide in the fish tank, then you might be surprised if they suddenly start hiding. Why would gouramis suddenly become shy or choose to hide in the aquarium?
Keep reading to learn why this might be happening. You’ll be able to react accordingly once you have a better idea of what is going on.
Gourami Hiding in Corner
It’s normal for gouramis to hide in corners under certain conditions. Below, you’ll see some reasons why this might occur.
1 – Some Types of Gouramis Are Shy
It’s possible that you might have a gourami fish that is considered to be a bit shy. For instance, honey gouramis are well known for being fairly shy fish.
These gouramis are rather small compared to many other types of gouramis. They only grow to be two and a half inches long at maturity.
Honey gouramis happen to be among the most peaceful gouramis that you can buy. As such, they make very good community fish tank members.
The honey gourami fish will be shy in many different situations. If you have fast-moving fish that are the same size as the honey gouramis or larger in the tank with them, then they will be quite intimidated.
To avoid making the honey gouramis feel nervous, it’s best to put them in a community fish tank with fish that they will be comfortable with. Take a bit of extra time to learn about good tank mates for honey gouramis to have the best experience.
2 – Gouramis Might Hide When First Introduced to a Tank
Did you just introduce your gourami fish to the aquarium? If you recently bought the fish, then it makes sense that the fish might feel as if it needs to hide.
Being plucked from a fish tank in a pet store and transported to a new environment can be a scary situation for a gourami fish. It might take a bit of time for the fish to get used to its new environment.
Also, if you didn’t take the time to properly acclimate the fish, then it’ll be more likely that the fish will feel insecure. Fish experience shock when they haven’t been acclimated in the right way.
To acclimate a gourami fish to a new fish tank, it’s recommended to float the bag on top of the tank for a while first. This process goes best when you slowly add aquarium water to the bag to get it used to the type of water in the tank.
At the very least, floating the bag allows the water in the bag to naturally warm up to the right temperature. It’ll then be less shocking for the fish when it is finally properly introduced to the tank.
If your fish appears to be a bit skittish for the first few days, then it’s probably nothing to worry about. Sometimes gouramis will hide a bit when they’re new to the fish tank.
It might even be the case that the gourami fish won’t have much of an appetite. Some gouramis won’t eat for the first couple of days in a new aquarium.
After some time has passed, the gourami fish should start acting normal. It’ll likely come out of hiding soon enough.
3 – Bullying
Could it be possible that one of the fish in the tank is bullying the gourami fish that is hiding? This could be the case in a number of different scenarios.
You’ve already heard that many types of gouramis are great community tank fish. For this reason, many people buy gouramis specifically to be part of a community aquarium.
If you don’t research things thoroughly, then you could put gouramis in with fish that they aren’t compatible with. There are some types of gouramis that are so peaceful that they will be susceptible to getting bullied by bigger, more aggressive fish.
Perhaps you put your gouramis in a fish tank with a type of bully fish. This fish might be chasing the gouramis or even attacking them sometimes.
This might cause the gourami fish to try to hide so that it doesn’t have to deal with the aggressive fish. This happens quite a lot in fish tanks.
Of course, you should remove the offending fish from the fish tank and put it in a separate tank. You shouldn’t have fish living with fish that they aren’t compatible with.
It’s imperative to research compatibility when putting together a community aquarium. Otherwise, you’ll encounter situations such as this.
Sometimes fish might even get killed if you make mistakes and put fish that are too large in the community tank. It’s easy to see why you need to be careful knowing this information.
Keep in mind that some gouramis are considered to be aggressive, too. Blue gouramis and kissing gouramis will sometimes wind up being bully fish toward other types of fish in community tanks.
4 – Strong Water Flow
Gouramis are good swimmers and can generally swim fairly fast. You might not suspect that these fish wouldn’t like strong water flow in the tank.
You’ll find that gouramis actually prefer to be kept in idle water. Since you’re not going to have idle water in your fish tank, it’s good to know that they do just fine in low-water-flow and medium-water-flow environments.
Tanks that have very strong water flow might make them feel a bit uncomfortable, though. Some gouramis might choose to hide instead of swimming around normally in this situation.
Sometimes the fish might hide for just a little while, too. Hiding could be in an effort to rest and regain some stamina.
You might want to consider adjusting the water flow a little bit. Perhaps adjusting things enough to make the flow closer to medium water flow will be a better situation for the gourami fish.
5 – Solitary Gouramis Might Not Feel Comfortable
Many enthusiasts think that it’s wrong to keep a single gourami fish by itself. However, many people have good results keeping just one gourami fish in a tank.
If you’re caring for one gourami fish in a community fish tank, then it might be hiding due to being uncomfortable. It’s said that single gouramis will sometimes appear to be a bit sluggish, too.
You might have a better experience if you choose to keep gouramis in pairs. Generally, people prefer to keep gouramis in pairs or in small groups.
Consider keeping a male and a female gourami together in an aquarium. You can also keep a male gourami fish with multiple females.
Male gouramis don’t get along with each other, though. Avoid putting multiple males in the same tank.
Gourami Hiding Behind Filter
A gourami might hide behind a filter if it feels that the filter provides it with good cover. This can be caused by all of the reasons listed above.
Gourami Hiding and Not Eating
If a gourami is hiding and not eating, then it’s likely that it is afraid of something. It could be that the gourami is being bullied as mentioned in the bullying section.
Why Is My Dwarf Gourami Always Hiding?
Your dwarf gourami is likely always hiding because of one of the reasons listed earlier in the article. It could be related to bullying or it might be that the gourami feels shy for some reason.
Final Thoughts
There are many different things that could be causing your gourami to hide in the fish tank. It might simply be that you have a shy type of gourami.
Shy gouramis might hide if they feel a bit intimidated by some of the other fish in the tank. Be careful and ensure that you only keep these gouramis in community tanks with fish that they are comfortable with.
Gouramis that are getting bullied might also need to hide. Don’t put your gouramis in a fish tank with fish that will bully them.
New gouramis might feel skittish when first introduced to a tank. They might hide for a few days and then gradually open up to exploring the tank more.
Water flow can be an issue for some gouramis. A very strong water flow might make them hide and rest for a while to conserve stamina.
Solitary gouramis are also more sluggish than gouramis that are kept in pairs. Your gourami fish might be better off if it is kept with other gourami fish.
Jeff has always enjoyed having pets, but as a child, he was drawn to his family’s fish tank. Being able to maintain a small ecosystem and observe the behaviors and interactions in the underwater world peaked his interest early on and has kept him hooked until this day. On Avid Aquarist, Jeff shares everything he’s learned about helping aquatic life survive and thrive in a home aquarium.