"Gems" - Anyone know about these Freshwater fish?

Yea, I am watching it closely and have no reserves about returning it if need be. 6 inches is much too large for a 29 gall.
I wanted at least one big fish for my tank though ( well one about 3 to 4 inches), as all my other fish are so small.

I had bad luck with dwarf gouramis a while back. I bought one at Petco and it died 2 days later. I looked up the symptoms and it had a disease specific to this hybrid. I took it back and lo and behold the majority of the store's dwarf gouramis in that tank had died to. More information on the disease said that it can lie dormant in the fish for up to a year before it gets sick and dies. I don't want to buy a fish knowing it "might" have a disease which could kill it anytime. It makes me sad.

Any suggestions on what would be a good bigger fish for my community tank? One that swims mid to top of tank?
 
Evanleigh said:
Yea, I am watching it closely and have no reserves about returning it if need be. 6 inches is much too large for a 29 gall.
I wanted at least one big fish for my tank though ( well one about 3 to 4 inches), as all my other fish are so small.

I had bad luck with dwarf gouramis a while back. I bought one at Petco and it died 2 days later. I looked up the symptoms and it had a disease specific to this hybrid. I took it back and lo and behold the majority of the store's dwarf gouramis in that tank had died to. More information on the disease said that it can lie dormant in the fish for up to a year before it gets sick and dies. I don't want to buy a fish knowing it "might" have a disease which could kill it anytime. It makes me sad.

Any suggestions on what would be a good bigger fish for my community tank? One that swims mid to top of tank?
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Dwarf gourami should only be acquired if one knows the source of the fish, and by source I mean the breeder not the store. The iridovirus is a serious issue, and can affect other fish too, and there is no cure.

To the question of suitable fish...this is not easy in a smaller tank (a 29g is "smaller" in this context). Dwarf cichlids naturally come to mind, but these tend to be fish that remain in the lower half or even lower third of the aquarium, as they are substrate feeders. A Bolivian Ram for instance would be good in a 29g, but it is very much a substrate-level fish. I have one that is close to six years old now, and he has never ventured above mid-tank, and that was only to "lay down the law" to the Bleeding Hearts. Honey Gourami could work, a trio (one male, two female) would be nice and colourful.

I tend to stay with smaller fish in smaller tanks. This creates the visual sense of more space than there actually is, whereas as soon as a larger fish is introduced, you make the space seen smaller. Depending upon water parameters, there are many options for a habitat tank of some sort.

Byron.
 
I might try the honey gouramis, but adding 3 of them into my tank might put it at max limit. My fish are all small but including the Jewel and 2 shrimp, I have 17 in my 29. Will 3 more still be ok if I take the Jewel back?
 
Evanleigh said:
I might try the honey gouramis, but adding 3 of them into my tank might put it at max limit. My fish are all small but including the Jewel and 2 shrimp, I have 17 in my 29. Will 3 more still be ok if I take the Jewel back?
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I need to know what these 17 fish are. Previously, 7 glowlights and 5 corys plus shrimp were mentioned, but nothing else. Three Honeys are no issue with these though they might eat shrimp (?). The Jewel will be an issue not far off, I really would remove it soon before other things happen.
 
The other 2 are the Danios I couldn't catch to remove. I caught 3 of the 5 then gave up lol.

I have noticed bites taken out of the top dorsal fins of 4 of my 5 corycats. I have never seen or caught the Jewel doing this, but they do all scurry around together after the wafers when they drop to the bottom, but it is the only other fish that could be doing that. I can't take it back until I'm off work on Friday, but it is definitely going back.

Regarding the Corycats... one of them is missing all of it's "whiskers". My gravel is, for the most part smooth gravel and I have sand. Any idea why they are gone? I couldn't be the Jewel could it? Is it my lava rock? It might be sharp if they are foraging around on it.
 
jpappy789 said:
It could be sharp decor/substrate, but poor water quality is also a possible cause...definitely make sure your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate are in order.
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Yeah. It could also be general stress/abuse. Mine were great for 6 months until my newer male bn pleco matured and claimed all food that hit the bottom. It's a 4 foot tank, so I assume they had enough food with scattered pellets, but they all just started fading whiskers while some of them started losing eyes.
 
There are a few reasons for barbel degeneration on corys, as others have mentioned. When all is said and done, it is primarily the substrate. All species like to dig to varying degrees; those with pointed snouts have been shown to be deeper diggers than the rounded snout species. But the inherent trait is there, regardless. And all species live over substrates of mud or sand, depending upon location and season. They really, to be fair to the fish, should not be over gravel of any description. Now, I am not saying this will always cause issues; but as the fish are designed by nature to root around in fine soft substrates, approximating this in the aquarium is bound to have more success.

I had a group of corys in a tank with Flourite substrate, not realizing just how sharp this stuff is; very quickly, within days, it caused issues for several of the fish. One panda cory was so bad it lost about a third of its mouth. I removed them as soon as I spotted this, to a tank with sand, and now some three years later they are all fine; the barbels grew back on some but others were too far gone. The little fellow with only part of its mouth is still rooting around, though rather comically, as digging into the sand is not so easy without the equipment.

My acquaintance Heiko Bleher, whose name will undoubtedly be well known to many, has often written that corys must be over sand. And there is much wisdom in this advice. Not only is the sharpness significant, but given their digging/sifting behaviours, this is just not possible with gravel. And the citation from Loiselle in my signature block says it all.

Byron.
 
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My water quality is always right on. No Amonia or nitrites. Nitrate .5. No chlorine, the water is a bit hard but I live in the desert. I do water changes and clean the tank every week without fail.

I'm thinking that Glabe might be spot on with the corycat problem as being stress.

I don't have the perfect sandy substrate in my aquarium but I don't have anywhere else to put the corys. I'm just starting out with this hobby. I don't have room or the money for more than the one aquarium right now. If I don't have the perfect sandy bottom, should I just take return them to the LFS? They will probably die in those tanks. It's crazy to think someone who isn't an aquarium professional can have the perfect paramaters for every single species of fish you put in your aquarium. Of course I want them all to be happy and healthy and try everything I can to make it that way. It's just frustrating to be trying to do all the right things and that's never good enough.
 
Your Cory problem sounds to me like it's due to the Cichlid nipping at them. If only one is missing his whiskers and the others look ok that confirms my suspicion. You gravel looks pretty good.
You could try a soda bottle fish trap to try to catch those remaining Danios along with the troublesome Jewel chiclid.
I second the idea of adding 2 or more Honey Gouramis but only if your water parameters are excellent. They can be hard to acclimate but are really nice fun fish which take up little bioload.
 
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