question for gourami owners

lilcavy2

lilcavy2

AC Members
Mar 3, 2009
90
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Tampa, FL
Hi,
I would like to have a Blue Gourami tank (20 gal. hex) but I can now see that these are rather delicate fish. 3 of the 4 I bought died in 7 days :uhoh:, I am going to treat the survivor with Maracyn-Two because it seems that showing symptoms=death within 1 day. I would like to know how you kept them healthy after purchase. Is there any prophylactic treatments you applied after obtaining them while they were quarantined? Is there any illness that they are particularly susceptible to (besides Dwarf Gourami disease - that I've heard of)? I saw a recommendation for Honey Gourami being hardier stock. If the blue one lives, can I home it with a honey one or would they fight because they are different types of gourami? Thanks much!
 
I'm curious to see the outcome of this thread. I'm interested in dwarf gouramis also, but have never kept them before.
 
bcarm said:
If you are talking about Dwarf Gouramis I've never had luck with keeping them. Always seemed pretty weak.
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I am, I don't know about lilcavy though. I just assumed it was dwarf because of the tank size.
 
These are not Blue Dwarf Gouramis, just Blue Gouramis; it's just that the only disease I ever saw associated with Gouramis was in the dwarf variety. This is a cycled tank that has been running for 2 years. Water parameters are ammonia 0, nitrate 10ppm, nitrite 0, alkalinity 180, pH 7.8. No other fish, just snails (malaysian trumpet). Fish that previously inhabited tank were/are healthy.
 
Male gouramis tend to be aggressive towards each other. Assuming your gouramis were male, it could have been injuries or stress resulting from aggression that caused their deaths.
 
I didn't see any aggression between these fish. They actually seemed to really enjoy each other's company and would swim in pairs (not necessarily the same two each time). I posted pics of the last dead gourami in the illness forum. He appears to have had skin irritations. The very first symptom they would manifest was trouble breathing and would stay on the surface gulping air (I am assuming due to bacterial infection). I am only going to buy one more for that tank.

So are the honey gourami hardier stock in people's experience? Can one of those live with a blue one?
 
lilcavy2 said:
The very first symptom they would manifest was trouble breathing and would stay on the surface gulping air (I am assuming due to bacterial infection). I am only going to buy one more for that tank.
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Correct me if i'm wrong but don't gouramis breath some amount of air normally like other anabantiods? This might be why your gouramis were/are gulping for air.

Also I would not add any more fish to that tank until you figure out/treat the problem. I would also quarantine new fish if you don't already.
 
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