A question about gourami's and neon's

[LJH]

question 1)

2 of my neon tetra's are changing colour before they where a light orange now they have changed to a bright orange I only noticed it lastnight I had a look in the books I have for diseases but none say anything about the colour turning brighter what is this and is it natural?

question 2)

I have some bottom feeding fish and I drop in a pellet for them every day, but the gourami's seem to like this food so a fight between the gourami and the sucker fish breaks out are gourmi bottom feeders as well and are they natrually aggressive? also one of my gourami has changed colour it started out as a pink colour but over time it has gone like a greyish pink, the greyish one is a right bully picks on my other gourami (named pinky) and that one is shy and stay's out of perkies (the greyish one) way is this normal for one to change colour as in maturity or is there something wrong with perky?

 

[aernympha]

i dont know much but i would of thought changing colour was just natural and i have read that gourami are very teritorial maybe hes amale and now he is mature .... or dominating fish... and i didnt think catfish where the sort of fish to fight with others either... must be tasty foo du have there!!! lol

 

[juliethegr8t]

To your first question - I would think this is a very good sign that your neons have become brighter. Usually this is a sign of good health, when a fish has nice vibrant colors. Also it could be due to an increase in temperature.

Gouramis aren't normally bottom feeders, but if you're dropping the food in and they're hungry, of course they're gonna try to catch it! I would suggest you do one of the following:

Use a turkey baster to drop the food right in front of your bottom feeders, so the Gouramis don't have time to get to it. OR you could feed the Gouramis their flake food or whatever you feed them at the same time as feeding your other fish - and hopefully they'll be distracted.

Also, I don't know why your Gourami has changed color - since it has gotten duller, it may not be a good sign. However, do you know if your fish is female or male? Because female Gouramis are naturally a more greyish color, and she may have matured. If not, keep an eye on it and make sure there aren't any other signs of stress or disease.

 

[LJH]

Thanks julie,

all the fish seem healthy the neons's in particular, with the gourami I put in the pellet and the flake food at the same time, the greyish gourami see's the commotion on the bottom of the tank and knows there is food there, so she (yes both are female) goes down for some, I have tried dropping flake food near the gourami's but the neons get there first (greedy little sods they will even take flake food from my fingers), once perky knows there is food at the bottom of the tank she just goes after it, pinky doesn't seem that bothered she just keeps hiding at the back of the tank.

anyhow thanks for ur help, I think I might have to start feeding the bottom dwellers live food but knowing perky she will go after that as well

 

[pebbles]

i keep gouramis alongside corys and other fish. nearly all my fish like to feed from the bottom . the only way i have found around it, is to feed less flake food and more bottom feeder food in several different places. live food or frozen usually encourages them to feed more normallyfrom other areas of the tank but they only get that as a treat . pebbles