Unhappy gourami

[webdesigner]

Males have a pointed dorsal while females have a rounded dorsal. Not a good idea keeping more than one male.

These are both male dwarves. Female dwarves are rarely available at the LFS because they are a plain drab gray.

 

[webdesigner]

I have a honey gourami that the lfs told me was a male , ive had it a few weeks now. While in another lfs on Tuesday I saw a honey gouramie that was a nice red colour, while talking with the sales man he said mine was a female as it was plain. I bought the red one and soon had him in his new home. He looked happy enough and was wandering the front upper tank all afternoon and most of the evening. I went in to turn the lights of at 11 pm and their he was dead in a corner, or that’s what I thought. When I went to fish him out he swam away. Since then he sits on the bottom mostly in the back corners but some times at the front. He looks dead till you look real close then you can see him breathing. Every so often he swims to the surface for air then wonders to another part of the tank and settles down again. I’ve never seen him eat but he doesn’t seem to be losing wait.

My original gourami has also coloured up and is a nice dark honey colour which has an orangey tint to it from certain angles. His top fin is a pale yellow and his belly fin is black and he looks great. Hes also all over the tank now instead of hiding in the back ground.

Is my new fish ill, just unsettled by the move or feeling intimidated buy the gourami that was already their and either way what can I do.

Per your description, I think you may have two males, one of which is competing for territory. My male honey gouramis readily change from a pale tan to dark brown and orange. Combine that with the fact he's under stress from being shipped to the LFS and now introduced to your tank and hopefully you've got some standard circumstances he can cope with and will recover from.

 

[Que]

So it seems most here are saying 2 male DWARF gouramis should not be in the same tank together. Do I have this right? Because I have 2 and they're buddies. They were sold as males and the tank in the store was filled with all males.
You're doing what I think is the best you can right now and hopefully things work out.
When your fish is back to normal, and skippy is back released, I would watch your tank closely and see if a territory problem exists and try to rule that one out.

Q

 

[webdesigner]

So it seems most here are saying 2 male DWARF gouramis should not be in the same tank together. Do I have this right?

Q

No, steveakam has -honey- gouramis (colisa chuna) which are slightly more aggressive than dwarves (colisa lalia). steveakam also has particularly stressful tank conditions which are contributing to the alleged aggression or sickness. Chances are they'll eventually warm up to each other as stressful factors subside or one will pass away and prove to have been ill.

Groups of common male dwarf gouramis (colisa lalia) can normally be kept together, given sufficient space, without a great deal of aggression (as far as gouramis go) and should not be confused with honey gouramis (colisa chuna) .

 

[steveakam]

I really don't think you are changing your water too much. 25% a week is what people generally regard as the minimum. Does the LFS owner you talked to keep fish himself or just at the shop? I would think keeping fish in a shop would be quite a bit different since they obviously OS tanks all the time.

yes he keeps his own fish and has been trading in this city over 20 years.

hes well known and ive noticed a bit more expensive that most. though not as expensive as pets at home.

 

[steveakam]

You might be adding fish too quickly. The good bacteria have to be allowed to "catch up" to the new waste load whenever you add fish. Of course, if you monitor your water parameters like a hawk and do more water changes as necessary you can get away with more. Ditto if you have live plants and excellent filtration.

I watch my waters all the time (paranoid). apart from a very small nitite spike the other week i get 0 amonia and nitite all the time

 

[steveakam]

its definitely swim bladder trouble, today when he’s tried to swim he’s been all over the place including upside down (belly up). he’s looking very weak I don’t think hell last. If theirs no improvement tomorrow I think I may have to put him out of his misery. as for aggression I’ve witnessed none at all. Quite the opposite. They treat each other with total indifference.

 

[yourchoice]

This gourami is either too young to sex or it's 100% female.

I wanted a picture of the yellow ones here but it did not work.

Common name of these are Three Spot Gourami.They are most common blue or yellow in color.The way you tell them apart is by the fins.Can grow 4 inches.Classified peaceful or semi-aggressive.

 

[yourchoice]

The blue -orange and the reddish brown ones in the other picture are common name Dwarf Gouramis.Males can been seen in any color combo of blue-orange-red .They bred all the red and orange out and came up with a powdered blue(baby blue)I don`t know if you can find females which are powdered blue or not..The females are grey-silver with very faint srtipes and are easy to identify..Classified peaceful.Grow to 2.5 inches.

 

[steveakam]

Poor little fish died this morning.

I took a ride to the lfs I bought him from this afternoon, I had bought the fish their on Tuesday last week. As soon as I walked he said how’s the fish, I told him and he replied “ that happens with young fish, they just die for no reason”.
I told him it was a swim bladder problem and described the symptoms. Apparently I was wrong (according to him).

When I told him I had medicated he said “why bother at £2.20 it’s cheaper to buy another fish, the medications nearly £4 a bottle”

I said he was a beautiful fish it seemed wrong not to try, any way not knowing what had caused the problem it seemed sensible to treat the other fish in the tank just in case.

When I bought him he was the only honey gourami in the shop. Today he had nearly a dozen in the tank, 2 of these seemed to be showing the same symptoms as mine. I don’t think ill be buying any more fish from this place.

Experience is a good teacher. Bad experience teaches you lessons your less likely to forget.