Golden Gourami Does Not Seem To Eat

[bobman64]

About 8 weeks ago we acquired a 200 litre tank with fish. The tank underwent a 3 hour journey and we set it up using most of the original tank water. One of the inhabitants is a golden gourami and we have never seen it eat (apart from one bloodworm) in all the time we have had it. We have tried flake, pellets, algae wafers, frozen and fresh bloodworm, fresh brine shrimp, daphnia and peas. It takes some of the fresh food into its mouth and repeatedly spits it out before leaving it. Surely it must be eating something to survive that amount of time. It spends a good deal of time in the same place by a rock but does swim about freely as well and looks all right although I think it looks thinner. Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated. We did add two new gouramis to the tank but it bullied them so they were removed. We have also put the gourami in a tank by itself to see if it made any difference but it didn't.

 

[Corleone]

Many of my fish will repeatedly spit food out. They are usually eating it, just not all of it. Is he doing this at most feedings? If so, he is probably eating at least some of it. They seem to do this with mixed flake food or food that's too big, breaking off manageable pieces or sorting out the bits they like. My first instinct is to say it's fine, but I can think of a couple follow ups just in case:

How are your water stats? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc. Saving the tankwater was largely unnecessary (except in cases of "old tank syndrome" where water changes haven't been done regularly), though if tap water differs it probably helped ease the transition and reduced the stress of transport. The bacteria are on surfaces in the filter media which has to be kept wet during transport. Provided that was done right, you may have lost some bacteria but not much, 8 weeks would be enough to stabilize it. However, it's still always good to get the test kit any time something seems amiss.

How about tankmates? Maybe crowding or compatibility. Though, if it bullied the added gouramis (what kinds where they?), I'd guess it's not only comfortable in the tank but a dominant fish in the pecking order. My gouramis were occasional bullies before they were dethroned from the top of the tank.

 

[bobman64]

All the water parameters are tested very regularly and are fine. The filter etc. was kept wet during tranportation and we transported the water as there is a huge difference in the hardness of the water where the fish came from and our water here.

We actually see the gourami make very little attempt to take anything into its mouth and it spits everything out, ranging from flake for baby fish to bloodworm. He makes no attempt to eat at feeding time either in this tank or the tank we put him into by himself for a while.

The gourami we put in the tank were the same kind and he bullied them immediately. He is definitiely not being bullied by any other fish. Is it possible that he nibbles on the algae.

 

[Corleone]

If he's lasted 8 weeks and isn't showing any problems, he's almost certainly eating something, and as long as it isn't tankmates, it's probably something good. Maybe pay him extra attention to make sure he stays healthy, but I don't think I'd panic.

 

[bobman64]

I suspect he must be nibbling when we are not watching. He is definitely not eating his tankmates lol. He is not aggresive to them at all, only to the other gouramis we put in.

Thanks for your input, a second opinion is always welcome and it has put my mind at ease.