Dwarf Gourami Strange Behavior

[pribilfausch]

Hi all, i'm new to the fishkeeping hobby, but am loving it and am already addicted. I recently purchased a 10-gallon setup, planning to keep a small community tank. I had the tank running for 3 days with substrate and live plants, in which I had a thick, healthy bacterial bloom (I think this was due to using some old gravel that used to be in a Betta tank). I then up and purchased a Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami, and took all the "proper" steps to acclimating him to his new home. A day later, the cloudiness from the bacterial bloom cleared up. Currently, he is the only fish in the tank, as I wanted to wait long enough for the tank to cycle before I added a small school of Neon Tetras. Anyway, the Gourami has been showing some odd behavior. He doesn't recognize the floating flake food that I give him, but will sometimes eat it when it gets waterlogged and starts sinking to the bottom. I think he is also nipping on plants. Is there any way I can get him to recognize a regular feeding by me?

Another thing, he seems to be showing some strange behavior of exploration. All day long he will run his nose up and down the walls of the tank, on each wall of the tank. He swims around erraticly, sometimes bumping into walls. Seeing as I am new to the hobby, is this normal for a dwarf gourami? If not, what can I do to remedy this.

Thanks to all who read this and respond.

Eric

 

[pribilfausch]

Another thing: I thought that this up and down behavior might be him eating the algae of the glass, because his mouth is open as he glides up and down the glass. Could this be a reason?

Thanks,

Eric

 

[wetwetwet]

Firstly hi and welcome Eric

Exactly how long has the tank been set-up and when did you add the fish?

Have you got any test kits for the water?

The tank water will go through ammonia and nitrIte spikes while it is cycling - this can be very tough on the fish. You could do with the test kits and be prepared to do some large water changes when you get the spikes.

Was it your intention to use fish to cycle the tank? IMO gouramis do not make good fish to do this with - they can be quite demanding on water quality...

If he doesn't like taking flake from the surface you could try holding it under the water before you let go

small artical on cycling HERE

Keep us upto date and let us know how you get on

 

[Snugz]

Hi. I have 2 neon blue dwarf gourmis (recently seperated due to fighting) and they both didn't want to eat from the top at first. They would wait till it sank a bit and then ate it. After a week or so and the got accustom to their new home, they started reconizing me as feeding time and coming to the surface to eat. As long as it's eating I wouldn't worry too much and give it time, it'll probably start eating from the top too. As for the glass and plants thing, I really couldn't tell you as I've never had it happen. As for not using gourmis to cycle www, my LFS recommended to use them because they are labyrinth fish and can handle higher ammonia and nitrates a bit better by breathing air. I used them to cycle 4 of my tanks and had no problems. Maybe I was just lucky. But thats what I was told. I'm young & nieve, thats my excuse for going along with it if it was the wrong advice. )

 

[wetwetwet]

Maybe I've been unlucky with gouramis,

.....but they where the first casualties I'd had and so no longer keep them tough I wasn't using them to cycle a tank. If it works for you.....

 

[pribilfausch]

Well, the tank has been running since last Tuesday, and the gourami has been swimming since friday. I don't have any test kits, but -realizing the need- am planning to go buy one. I've already done two one-gallon (10%) water changes for good measure, but I'll get a kit when i go to the LFS (college keeps me busy). Thanks for the help, and I'll let y'all know how things turn out.

 

[pribilfausch]

The thing is, I've only actually seen him eat once. The rest of the time when I feed him, he ignores or doesn't see the flake floating down and then the flake just sits on the gravel. Is it common for fish to take four days to start eating regularly? Thanks all.

 

[wetwetwet]

Thinking a bit more about this last night, I had dwarf gouramis and according to this site they are prone to dropsy.

HERE

My pH was at about 7.8 whereas this artical says they prefer 6.5-7 , may this was the reason that I was unlucky with them....

Back to your question I would have thought you'd have seen him eating by now. Can you check with the lfs to see what they were feeding him....

btw try not to leave any uneaten food in the tank as this can lead to further pollution/water problems

 

[Snugz]

I really don't think the ph caused a problem because my ph is at 7.8 and they're thriving. Just luck of the draw I think.

 

[wetwetwet]

It seems it is only the dwarf gourami colisa lalia that is prone to dropsy.

I think I went through 5 of these fish, (it was a while ago), not all at the same time. I think it was suppossed to be 1 male to 2 females but one would develope dropsy, be replaced etc. untill I gave up replaceing them. They were in a community set-up and were the only fish that were getting ill. The water was fine as I've allways done 25% weekly changes....though thinking about it I did have high nitrAte problems (came out the tap at 50-60ppm), so it may be that???

I know that alot of people say that fish can handle high levels of nitrAte (unless through nitrate shock) but it is my opinion that high levels while maybe not directly an ailment make the fish more susceptable to other diseases/problems...

Anyone else had problems with dwarf gourami 'colisa lalia'