Newbie - Advice On My Gouramis

[TallTony]

Hello all, I have a newly (fishless) cycled and planted 54 litre tank with the following occupents - 1 x male dwarf gourami, 3 x sparkling gouramis and 6 x cardinal tetras.

My dwarf gourami is pacing back and forward constantly, primarily against the glass - is this good? I guess he's trying to establish his territory? Should I get another couple of dwarfs? Or return him to the LFS (is this easy to do?). I think he is stressing out the tetras a little in his antics.

Secondly, my sparkling gouramis seem okay but 2 have paired up (an producing eggs) leaving the other all alone. Will this loner survive or should I get him a mate?

Cheers!

 

[gourami_fan]

How many gallons is that for your 54 liter tank? I think that if you add a few more dwarf gouramis, you might be overstocking it.

As for why the dwarf is pacing back and forth, I'm not sure myself.

Your sparkling gourami that is left out will be fine on its own.

 

[TallTony]

Thanks GouramiFan. Regarding the tank, it is around a 14 gallon so I calculate that I could fit one more dwarf in (tank capacity = 14", tetrax6 = 6", spar. gx3 = 3.75", dwarfx1 = 2" leaves 2.25" of fish left).

Thats good news about the third sparkling gourami being okay, actually in the tank this morning he/she was chasing around with the other.

Upon reflection, another issue with the dwarf (called Nigel as in Mansell due to blue/red colouring) is that he is gasping a lot. None of the other fish are, and the water parameters are spot on. Is he still settling down, or??

 

[gourami_fan]

Sorry, but I'm not sure why it would be gasping. Since its such a subtle syptom, there can be many things wrong with it, or nothing at all. My pearl and gold gourami sometimes do that, but not often. Dwarf gouramis tend to get sick and die alot, so just keep an eye on him and see how he progresses.