Feeding my Gourami

[WingedWren]

All right, about two weeks ago, my friend, who was in a desperate plight, gave us his six gallon tank and the gourami Alfred. Well, I didn't know what he was at the time, but he gave us the food he had been feeding him, which was cichlid food and said that's what he ate. Well, I did a bit of research and where I haven't found any pictures of his kind of gourami particularly, he has the two long fins on the front bottom. So, we put a small pleco in there with him and both my husband and I have a sneaking suspicion that Alfred was eating the plecos food. At first, Alfred would go straight up for the cichlid food and eat it right away. After we put the pleco in there, he wasn't too eager to eat his own food. Now that the pleco is out, he's not eating his cichlid food anymore. Are Gouramis herbivores mostly? I know that cichlids are definitly not... Anyway, I was wondering if I could get a bit of advice. Should I change the food to something that gouramis should have? Or since he's been raised on cichlid food...should I just continue to give that to him and pray for the best?

Laurie

 

[jaywings19]

I don't have any gouramis or plecos, so I can't comment on their eating habits. However, check out the site I linked below... it has great profiles on all species of fish. I linked you specifically to the labrynth fish page (bettas and gouramis). Perhaps you'll find a picture of Alfred there... then check out their profile for eating habits and such. Good luck.

http/www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/fw/ca...abyrinth%20Fish

 

[AquaNut]

I didn't check that link, but I can tell you that gouramis probably wouldn't be that thrilled with cichlid food. They are, indeed, omnivorous, and enjoy some plant matter or spiralina/algae tablets occasionally. Otherwise, I'd feed a good quality flake food with occasional frozen or freeze dried bloodworms.

 

[Inchworm]

I hope I may be able to help here, winged wren. I keep gouramis and have had them for some time.

It has been my experience that gouramis are easy to please when it comes to food. If it was eating something and all of a sudden stopped perhaps there is something else going on. Have you checked the water quality?

What was the pleco eating? If you were feeding it spirulina discs that is good food for the gourami too, but I do not think it is adequate for its total diet. Personally, I don't think there would be any harm done by feeding it the cichlid food if it is a good quality basic food. If it isn't eating, try live food especially blackworms. If it doesn't take that, you will know you have some other problem.

Please describe your fish. I'm curious now about what it is.

 

[WingedWren]

All right. The description of my gourami! None of the fish on that site really looked like him. He...or she because I don't really know what sex he is, looks most like the Thick Lipped gourami, but there are some big differences. Here's the link again, so you can look at that picture. http/www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/fw/ca...abyrinth%20Fish

All right, he barely has sripes. Like, sometimes you can see them, and sometimes you can't. They're not different colored stripes, just a lightening of his original color. He has a dark black/brown stripe from his eye that moves upward, unlike the pearl gourami, to the back 1/4 portion of his top fin. His eyes are red with a bit of yellow ring between the red and the pupil. He's three and a half to four inches and I have no idea how old he is. His top and bottom fins extend backward in a thin...strip. Kinda pointy. Anyway, he's shiny beneath the stripe, a very light blue shiny. That same shininess is patterned oddly upon the bottom half of his mouth. His fins are kind of dark, with small, light yellowish spots. His face is less..pointy than the thick lip gourami. He's not near as colorful as any of the other gouramis on the site, though I know there are differences between males and females. All right, I think that's as good as I can get it. Any specific questions about my description, go ahead and ask! I'm not that great at describing things, and I'm sure my description was completely...not understandable. Good luck!

Laurie

 

[Alien Anna]

In my experience, gouramis will pretty much eat anything they can fit into their mouths. My gouramis have even tried to eat gravel (must have been starving, poor dears). They happily eat blood worms, flake, catfish pellets, frozen peas, cucumber and I recently had a problem with one trying to eat the bubbles out of my CO2 diffuser (soda water, perhaps? ).

 

[Inchworm]

Oh, wingedwren, I just don't know. I looked at the link you gave me and at the description you provided and I just don't know.

So, I thought, "Why not bring in the big guns?" so to speak, and sent an email to Cichlidmaster asking him to take a look. My thinking was that if you were given cichlid food perhaps it is a cichlid after all.

Let's wait and see what he has to say.

 

[Alien Anna]

Oh, wingedwren, I just don't know. I looked at the link you gave me and at the description you provided and I just don't know.

So, I thought, "Why not bring in the big guns?" so to speak, and sent an email to Cichlidmaster asking him to take a look. My thinking was that if you were given cichlid food perhaps it is a cichlid after all.

Let's wait and see what he has to say.

I agree. That doesn't sound like a description of a gourami to me. It sounds more like a cichlid.

Here are some of the features of a gourami that I've noticed:

Like to hover just below the surface and will occasionally take a gulp of air from the surface which they may or may not blow bubbles with (this is males and females). Tends to "float" around the upper to mid-water area of the tank, treading water with his little side fins (don't know the proper name for them) and wiggling his tail just enough to stay stationary, gliding swiftly to another part of the tank on occasions. Will eat literally anything. Has flattish eyes that wiggle about, but not as much as a betta or plecs eyes (both of which protrude much more than a gourami's). Will periodically chase other fish away, but never really shows serious violence, except to other gouramis on occasions.

 

[cichlidmaster]

Laurie,

Although you have provided a very good description........it will be difficult to determine not knowing at least what family it is in.

Any chance of getting a pic and posting it??

CM

 

[WingedWren]

Heh! I also forgot to add that he/she has really long front fins. You know, the really decorative kind like angel fish have? I thought only gouramis have those? Anyway, I'll try to get my parents digital camera and take a picture one of these days. Thanks! He does a lot of what you said, Anna. Mostly stationary in the upper half of the tank, moving his side fins and rarely his tail fin. He does have flattish eyes that wiggle about. I'll just have to get a picture somehow.

Laurie

 

[WingedWren]

I gave Alfred an Algae and he pretty much ate the whole thing. This afternoon, with Anna's suggestion, I put in a couple frozen peas. Wow! He just attacked them! And he's still going at it... Thank you so much for your advice, everyone. I think he's going to be all right. My pea killing machine...

Laurie

 

[Whisper Odinsky]

In my experience, gouramis will pretty much eat anything they can fit into their mouths.

yep, anna.

those gouramis eat flakes, shrimp pellets, the betta's shrimp food, algae tablets, and when your not looking, neon tetras..
*and those plecos love the algae tablets...

 

[Inchworm]

I'm so glad to hear that Alfred is eating again. And I can't wait to see some pictures of him to try to identify him.

BTY, how's the pleco?

 

[WingedWren]

He's also happy as can be in with the mollies. I saw him out and about this morning, probably chasing the female molly from his skull. We got a skull decoration from PetSmart and he just loves it. Sticking to the underside of it all day. The mollies though, Bonnie (the female molly) in particular, love to eat his food. We try to get the wafer in the skull but that usually doesn't deter her. Someone said plecos liked lettuce so I put some in. It just floated and the mollies tried to swim at it to death but they didn't succeed. I also put a few cut in half grapes in there. I don't know if that's a big no no...but someone ate the inside of the grapes! Probably Bonnie... Her stomach knows no bounds. I took them out in the morning, but the water was cloudy already by them. I don't know if I'll do it again, but they loved them!

Laurie

 

[WingedWren]

You'll be happy to know that Alfred is eating happily now. The ammonia in his tank is completely cycled. Not the nitrites yet, but we're working on it. Every other day we give him frozen blood worms which he loves, and then the every other day we give him frozen peas! He's a lot more active and I think a lot happier. I also found a temporary home for Chuck the pleco! Thank you for that advice, Anna. He'll be happy in the 40 gallon tank with his new buddies. I just hope he doesn't get too attached... Anyway, so things are going well! Thank you everyone for your advice.

Laurie