Help with some Gourami's

NGerdes

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Jan 19, 2003
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Little background. My tank has been cycled for about 8 months now. I have a 10 gallon tank and had some zebra danios. I recently gave them to a friend who started a new tank (fishless cycle) because I wanted a little change. Anyways, my tank's readings are Amm=0 Nitrate=0 Nitrite=??? After I moved out the Danios I did two 30% water changes without the fish in the tank and let it run empty for a week. So I don't think the Nitrites would be a problem My PH is a little high at 8.0, but it is steady and consistant. The hardness is also slightly high at 13 GH but it is also steady and consistant. I was always told a higher PH and Hardness would not be a problem as long as it was consistant because fish would adjust.

Anyways, the question at hand, I purchased three Dwarf Gourami's yesterday (2m 1f). I floated the bags and integrated the tank water with the bag water for the fish to adjust. The whole introduction took about 1 hour. Today, the male gouramis have seemed to be loosing color. The head of the fish that were bright blue yesterday when I put them in, have faded slightly and has become almost spotty. They are still very active and feed fine when I feed them yesterday (about 4 hours after they went into the tank) and when I feed them today. Their activity seems fine. Could the discoloration be from the stress of the new tank and the higher PH? Will the color return when they get fully adjusted? I don't see any signs of Ich or sickness like that. Any other ideas of what it is and what I can do to remedy it or will it just be a time thing.

Also, one more thing, I have a frend that has recently purchased a Dojo, which I believe is a type of a kuhli loach type of fish. It is a nocturnal fish, correct? So it should be feed before lights out, but what kind foods should it be feed? And what will be the maximum legth that it will grow to? And is it a fish that should be kept as a single species in a community or with others of it's kind?

Thank you in advance for the answers.
 
are you getting mixed up between nitrites and nitrates. it would be unusual for nitrates to be 0 but it is important that nitrites are 0.

if you emptied your tank for a week you'll have lost some if not most of your beneficial bacteria because they'll have had nothing to feed on. this could be causing water problems. if so then this combined with the stress of the move could well be the factors behind your fishes loss of colouration.

test the water, do water changes as necessary and hopefully your fish will settle in and regain their colour.

as for the dojo loach, its much bigger than a khuli although it is a similar shape, and it is a coldwater fish. they like some company of their own kind.

mine are active all the time, eating anything that hits the bottom of the tank and occassionally coming to the surface for flakes. they love bloodworm though. they also like to bury themselves in the substrate so sand or fine gravel is best.
i always thought they didn't get much bigger than six inches but i recently saw a specimen in my lfs that was at least 12 inches and probably 1-2 inch in diameter. the owner assured me it was a dojo so i'm not sure what they're maximum size is.

regards
 
I checked the levels right before I left for the store and I checked them today before I posted the original thread and had Amm = 0 and Nitrite = 0. So I'm guessing the PH would be OK. I'm thinking about getting a Dojo myself because they look cool. What would they be like by themselves. He asked the LFS people and they said that it would be OK by himselft in the tank. I'm getting pictues of the Gourami's to post to show you what I'm talking about. Give me a couple minutes.
 
don't know anything about posting pics...sorry.

dojo will be fine my himself but they do like company also. it can be fun watching them interact with each other.

regards
 
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