Hi, I recently posted here about adding salt to help treat an old gourami with fin rot and something fuzzy (the gourami came with this problem when I first inherited it). Good news: The salt is the one thing that has finally improved the gourami's condition. I'm using it in combination with Melaflix and Plimaflix, and the fungus has almost completely disappeared, and one fin actually seems to be regrowing. The bad news: The two younger red honey gouramis I bought, think I would prevent the old guy from being "lonely," seem to be growing territorial. They pick at and chase the old one. He's slow, he's tired, he's old, and I'm thinking he'd be happy in my old 10 gal. tank, by himself. I have never cycled a tank before. I was going to get a filter for the 10 gal. and run it inside the larger tank for a week to seed it with bacteria. I would then use some gravel, plants, and rock decorations from the larger tank, along with the seeded filter, and some old tank water, and fill up the 10 gal. With all these factors in place, what kind of cycling process would I be looking at? When could I move old gourami over? Thanks for your help.
Goutami & salt, pt. 2: cycling dilemmas
- Thread starter LeahK
- Start date
If your older tank is fully cycled, you could take some of the filter media to seed the filter on the ten gallon. I think this is a good plan. You could also put some gravel either in the tank or in a new nylon hanging in the tank to help establish bacteria. You can also squeeze the filter media into the new filter to help seed the cycle. Might be better for your old codger than having him wait a week or two as the stress of being in the tank could exacerbate his health issues. Hope this helps. Good luck!
edit: the tank water would help with acclimation, but doesn't provide any useful bacteria.
edit: the tank water would help with acclimation, but doesn't provide any useful bacteria.
Maybe I'm obsessing over this 
. I read conflicting reports over whether gourami like to be in groups, or whether they're territorial and don't mind being alone. Now, old gourami has staked out an "Egyptian urn" decoration as his own. If the little guys go in there, he chases them out. However, if he leaves the urn, the little guys tend to chase him and he doesn't resist them. He goes to the top to take a gulp of air and then goes back in the urn. So, I mean, whether he's in the urn or the 10 gal., he's still in a rather small space. Maybe he's perfectly happy having claimed the urn territory, and I just am anthropomorphizing his fishy sensitivities by thinking otherwise. Opinions? Help? Should I just relax?!?
. I read conflicting reports over whether gourami like to be in groups, or whether they're territorial and don't mind being alone. Now, old gourami has staked out an "Egyptian urn" decoration as his own. If the little guys go in there, he chases them out. However, if he leaves the urn, the little guys tend to chase him and he doesn't resist them. He goes to the top to take a gulp of air and then goes back in the urn. So, I mean, whether he's in the urn or the 10 gal., he's still in a rather small space. Maybe he's perfectly happy having claimed the urn territory, and I just am anthropomorphizing his fishy sensitivities by thinking otherwise. Opinions? Help? Should I just relax?!?gouramis are not schooling fish, they do not need others of their own species. When kept in groups, typically trios of 1m/2f work out best. If you even are suspecting he is unhappy with the others or being excessively picked on, being by himself would be better. If you put him in a ten gallon, he will be fine. As long as he isn't being overly stressed in the larger tank (his urn territory) he should be ok. My concern is that he has been battling this rot and that the stress of the new gourami could complicate his recovery. I would lean towards putting him in the ten until he is all healed and then potentially try reintroduction to the tank with the other gourami. I had to do this when my male was being beat up by my female (yeah, he is a wimp). After re-introduction they have done fine, but while he was healing it was not working at all. Hope this helps
you can move him over as soon as you move the filter media over. With him being a lessor bioload then your media is accustomed to, you should experience little to no cycle. Still monitor for a week or so closely, but i would imagine it will be pretty silent.
Everything I'd say has already been said by Ms. Nothing to add, except for the sooner you move him, the better. Give him less stress and a chance to heal.