Lonely Kisser

[cla55y19]

i had a pair of kissing gourami and the other week one died im not sure y it just got really skinny and wouldnt eat i tried moving it to its own tank to make sure it would eat but it just got weaker an smaller and then died? what i want to know is the one i have left can i add a couple more in with it or would it not accept smaller ones as its quite large now cheers

 

[sylvia]

How big is it? What other fish are in with it? And how big is the tank?

You are better off leaving the single one on its own. Not only because it'll act aggressively towards new additions, but also because what you described is either a bacterial or parasitic internal infection and you should wait a while to make sure none of the remaining fish have it.

 

[Rensky]

How big is it? What other fish are in with it? And how big is the tank?

You are better off leaving the single one on its own. Not only because it'll act aggressively towards new additions, but also because what you described is either a bacterial or parasitic internal infection and you should wait a while to make sure none of the remaining fish have it.

I had 4 gouramis in my tank, and i am no fish expert at all, in fact i'm in the middle of a fish crisis due to ignornace, but my gourami died similarly to yours, this is what I think happened, when they would "kiss" which i think is a form of aggression it seemed like her puffy lips began to dissapear, in fact i'm sure they were bitten off, then it wouldent eat, then sat on bottom and eventually died, but perhaps i'm wrong, but i could swear the other kissers yanked her lips off,, anyone else ever observed this kind of behavior?

Rensky

 

[sylvia]

It's plausible that the kisser's mouth was injured due to the fighting and that these injuries were then infected, causing more serious damage that prevented it from feeding. I would think it unlikely, however, and have never seen it before, for the other fish to have taken the 'lips' off directly.

Should add that the probable cause of the fighting (and, yes, the 'kissing' is a display of aggression) was that you had 4 in a tank. Kissers require at least 30 gallon per fish if you want to avoid competition over space. Of course I don't know the size tank you had them in but it's a possibility.

One last thing, unless you bred them (which i'd love to ehre about), there's no way of accurately sexing kissers.

 

[Rensky]

Well i certianly dont breed them, and I had 4 of them in a 29 gallon tank, big no no, but I had no idea, i have way too many fish in my tank (just finding this out), as far as their sex lol i just thought it/she looked like a girl thats why I reffered to it as she, I have 2 left and they are really sickly now and not eating, along with my pictus's.