Pearl Gourami troubles...

When I bought this Pearl Gourami several months ago, he was a very lively fish. He was always first to get food, he would eat a lot, chase other fish around, and was generally the ruler of the tank (40g community).

These days he hides all the time and I can't get him to eat, and he even got ich once in pristine water w/all healthy fish. He's been like this for weeks now.

I don't know exactly when it started... but my red tail shark started to get more aggressive in the last couple months, and would endlessly chase around a mid-sized tinfoil barb. It is my belief that all this chasing unnerved my gourami and made him how he is now.

I bought a new 20g tank and put the shark in it to stop all the chasing in the 40g. After a few days the gourami was still hiding all the time, even though the tank was now calm. I put him in the 20g tank w/the shark and he just sits on the gravel in the corner all the time, and just goes up once in a while for air at the surface.

No matter what I put in, he won't eat.

(but he must be eating SOMETHING since he is still alive after weeks of this...)

The shark doesn't bother him. They are buddies.

What should I do??? My poor gourami used to be such a cool fish and now he just sits in the corner and doesn't even swim around....

He was definitely smaller when i bought him, so I guess that means he was a juvenile. I've had him since last spring I guess. Not sure when... around march/april. So lets say he's about a year old? I dunno...

I call it a "he" but I actually believe it is a female from what I have read about the markings on pearl gourami's.

In any case I am concerned for the fishes well being...

When he had ich I put him in a small (7g) tank for treatment where there was nothing for him to hide in/under/behind. 3-4 days in there he was floating at the top again like a normal gourami and while he still wouldn't eat with me in the room, I believe he WAS eating some freeze dried bloodworms that I put in there for him...


So I'm thinking about maybe putting him back in that tiny tank again w/nowhere to hide... so he gets used to being out in the open again... and ill try maybe feeding some of the same worms again... i dunno.... unlike frozen (thawed) bloodworms, the freezedried ones float, so I have a good idea if he's been eating or not. (the sinking ones get sucked into the filter or else get lost in gravel...)

i dunno... what do you think? .__. Any way to entice this guy to start eating again and stop being so afraid of moving? lol

Water quality is good. No problems. Filtration is great, everything is great.

I've never had any live food... i do frozen foods... I did see brine shrimp eggs last time I went to the LFS... might have to try this out. How would I feed that to him? Seems to me if I dump some in the water they will just go all over the place and not necessarily in the fishes mouth... should I get some kind of uhhh... syringe or something? To squirt them in his face?:O Brine shrimp are pretty tiny, right?


The fish is obviously more comfortable in a hiding spot... but thats the problem. He hides in the smallest spot he can fit himself into and doesn't MOVE. He just comes up for air every once in a while then right back down... it's not normal....


I have plenty of plants in the tank but he doesn't even hang around those actually... he used to like plants like that... now he tries to hide on the bottom inside or between decorations.

;|

Thanks for the advice... I think I will try to feed him some live food. I dunno about getting more of the same... Since I bought him I haven't seen a single other pearl gourami in any of the local stores. (there are 3 that I go to).


I will try out those brine shrimp eggs i guess.... im sure i will be back here if he doesn't get better!