New Juwel 96 Tank - Fish/Plants/Cycle Log

[bushbrother]

Just an update as I promised I would do, It has been about 5-6 weeks since I have had my fish and other than an unfortunate incident with my female gourami ramming itself into the bogwood, everything has been going smoothly.

I have been doing the 50% water changes ever week, and have got it down to about 10-15 mins now, so hardly any effort at all really The guppy fry have quadrupled in size and have started to turn a golden colour it seems, from what I have seen on the internet (google images) they seem to both be females. All the rest of the fish are very happy

Next weekend I will be going to get a replacement female gourami for my male since the loss of the other, it has taken me about 3 weeks to track down some that are of the same species (regular dwarf gourami, not a colour morph) and finally found some that are ready for sale this weekend (it seems there is not much demand for them as they are alot more plain looking). I was wondering if it would be preferential to get 2 of them instead of 1, would the male be happier?

 

[waterdrop]

Very, very nice when people give updates later after a cycle has finished. We really enjoy hearing!

Gouramis are among the few species that can have noticable individual personality differences, most often meaning the males show a range of behaviors and aggression levels on an individual basis. So of course it would be pretty impossible to predict how aggressive your particular male dwarf gourami might happen to be. That said however, if you still have stocking capacity left available in your tank then its reasonable I think to say that getting two females, to form a trio, might have the best chance of gaining you a nice little family. Mind you, female gouramis are not necessarily a piece of cake themselves, but let's hope you end up with a nice trio.

They are a stunning fish when they are all happy and all their colors are out. Ultimately you can usually get to enjoy them building bubble nests up amongst your floating plants in their chosen corner.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[drobbyb]

That's great! I'm so happy to hear that you have been keeping up with the waterchanges. Really, it's not that much more work

 

[bushbrother]

That's great! I'm so happy to hear that you have been keeping up with the waterchanges. Really, it's not that much more work

Hi Drobbyb/WD, thanks for the kind words. I do intend to keep updating and hope to add some new pictures too Its the least I can do after all the kind help I have been given ...

Drobbyb - I have a question I think you are best to answer, from what I can tell I have 2 male rainbows (red fins) and 4 female (yellow), one of the males is larger and has a much more pointed/pinched face (which is what I read determines a male for sure, as colours can change). Yesterday I saw this male doing a kind of "crazy dance", it was dashing in front of a female then kind of tilting its head downwards, then flaring all the red fins along its body, then when the female moved direction it would do the same again. It was not being aggressive but just seemed to want her to see, is this mating behaviour? It was pretty cool!

 

[drobbyb]

That's classic mating behavior It means they are healthy and happy.

 

[bushbrother]

That's classic mating behavior It means they are healthy and happy.

oooooooo thats awesome Will they breed? or do they need specialised conditions?

 

[drobbyb]

The beauty of rainbows is that they will breed without any specialized conditions, although they are egg eaters and will eat any eggs they find. Are you wanting to pull some eggs from them?

 

[bushbrother]

The beauty of rainbows is that they will breed without any specialized conditions, although they are egg eaters and will eat any eggs they find. Are you wanting to pull some eggs from them?

To be honest, I think I am a little new to the hobby to be doing things like that, I am just really happy that they are doing what comes naturally I guess I will leave them to it and see what happens, maybe later down the line I might try to keep some eggs, do you put them into a chamber within the main tank?

 

[drobbyb]

If they are the only rainbows in the tank, you simply drop in a spawning mop and collect the eggs. Then you remove the parents or move the mop into a seperate tank and a few days later you will have fry.

 

[bushbrother]

Another update from this weekend. I eventually tracked down 2 female dwarf gouramis on Saturday and added them to my tank. One is a bit bigger than the other and seems quite bold, the other is still very shy and hiding a lot in the plants, only coming out for feeding. One has a golden "fringe" on its lower fin, the smaller one has almost dark blue stripes it seems ... not 100% sure yet as it is quite hard to spot.

Might get some photos as the week progresses. The male seems happy though

 

[bushbrother]

Another quick update, everything still going well. I noticed this morning the 2 male rainbows doing their mating "dance" this time it was a little different. They were popping out from behind a plant, the going infront of the females, then dashing back in. The females were then following them behind the plant.

I did not see them mate at all, but the most fascinating bit was the fronts of the two males heads went an almost shining white colour, like a thick line going from their eyes up to half way down the top of the body, like a reflective strip. It has now disappeared. Do they have the capability to do that? It looked cool.