Strange Behavior

sounds like an internal problem, due to disease or a fight

with the offbalanceness of behavour, i might wonder about damage to her swim bladder.

i wouldn't rule out the possibility that it had an encounter with your other female gourami. in my experience, they are nastier than the males, especially to other females.

maybe she lost a fight and got hurt, or lost a fight and decided the bottom is better off.

Wow, that is a little more than overstocked for a 20 gallon with the types of fish you have in there now, I think. Your gourami could just be stressed out from over-crowding........or at least, if she's sick, that's most likely the thing that led her to get that way.

How long have you had the tank? In a cycled tank that is at its stocking capacity, ammonia should be 0ppm. The biological filter should be taking care of the fish waste. You could help your fish with stress, and help your tank deal with bio-load issues, by adding some plants. These will consume ammonia and nitrates and leave whatever ammonia is left over for your filter. Also, fish like plants. It mellows them out a bit and gives them a place to chill when tank life gets to be too much to handle.

It might be a good idea to take all of the mollies back as well as your zig zag eel as it's maximum size is something like 3 feet. That's a big fish.

That would leave you with a fair ammount of schooling fish (tetras), some active mid-upper level fish (the gouramies) and some bottom feeders (cories and shrimp). Throw in some plants and you'll have a really nice tank.

As for the gourami, if you can quarantine her and treat with one of those stress chemicals until you make some changes, that might improve her situation. I'm sure others could give you some better advice on how to immediately improve her situation so she doesn't simply die if you give them some more info on her behavior and how the other fish interact, etc.

Your other option is to take her back to the LFS that you bought her from before she gets any worse assuming you've only had her for a day or so. You could bring her back, make your changes, get your tank parameters in order and then get another gourami and maybe some other smaller fish when/if you think your tank is ready.

Good luck!

i totally missed the ammonia reading.. nice catch Ghost. any ammonia reading is indicitive of insuffecient filtration and/or an uncycled tank

yeah, youve got other problems comin with that tank setup, but to each their own, i guess.

Thanks, Indiginess.

Just a little clarification of my post............If you're thinking about taking the gourami back at all, do it no matter how long you've had it for. Most LFS's should take a fish if you can't possibly hold on to it anymore. My LFS took back my zebra danios and I've had them for a few months. They were zipping all over the place, nipping my angels and just stressing everybody out in general. Granted, they were extremely healthy but, if your gourami is just stressed, it shouldn't be a problem.

I mentioned taking it back if you've only had it for a day or so because a good LFS should give you your money back or some kind of credit.

indiginess said:

i totally missed the ammonia reading.. nice catch Ghost. any ammonia reading is indicitive of insuffecient filtration and/or an uncycled tank

yeah, youve got other problems comin with that tank setup, but to each their own, i guess.

Click to expand...

Guys, just a note further to that ammonia reading -- she's also doing TWO changes of 25% a week. That's a LOT of ammonia in a short period of time.

Roan

Wow, that's something I missed. That means either, A) waaaaay over-stocked, B) not cycled or C) (and this is most likely) some combination of the two

Notice the title under her avatar...."really new at this"....I'm wondering if she'll come back or not now that she's been sufficiently reprimanded on the stocking of her tank......



Hello Bunny, Glad you stopped by for some advice ! This is a good place to come with questions. Don't be discouraged !!

There are a few very helpful stickies in the "Freshwater Newbie" section here at AC....that can help you out with information about cycling and stocking your tank. You may want to give them a read if you haven't already.

Your gourami sounds as if it has some type of swim bladder issue going. Did you notice any odd swimming when you purchased it ? Sometimes fish don't develope properly as fry and the swim bladder gets stunted. These are usually culled by a reputable breeder....but it's possible some get by accidently. The reason the other fish are picking on it is because it is weakened to some degree.

You may want to quaranteen that fish if you can...that way it won't be bothered by the others and will have a better chance of healing, if possible. If you JUST purchased it and it's within the guarantee time, I'd bring it right back. (PetCo has a 15 day guarantee on thier fish !) Don't get anything to replace it with as your tank is a bit over max with the numbers you have in there now. The only treatment I think you can do for now is to keep the fish in very clean water and away from the other fish and the stress caused by thier harrassing. It's usually a good idea not to treat with any meds unless you have a sure diagnosis...meds can be harsh on a fish.....however, sometimes a bit extra aquarium salt can help some.

You'll have to do some big water changes a couple of times a week until your cycle settles down...to keep those ammonia and nitrite readings down throughout the process.

All the best Bunny ! Again, don't be discouraged......we all learn as we go along....read up on those stickies I mentioned and you'll be all set in no time !

well put EMG. no need to bully someone who wants help.