what the hell

[cla55y19]

i bought 2 more golden gouramis today to make a group of 4 i watched them 5 mins before turning lights out and they were all fine i turned lights off and one started swimming on its side or verticly and letting the current push it round the tank it did this for 5 mins i turned light on and instantly it went back to normal then 5 mins later i turned it of and nearly just as quick it did it again wat is this about?should i be worried?

 

[sylvia]

I suspect it just fell asleep when the lights went out and let the current push it around while the others had found places with less current to sleep. What size tank do you have these fish in? Because they are territorial (and highly so), in a small tank some will not be able to establish territories and you'll end up with all sorts of problems. It may even be that this fish could not find a good place to rest because of this so it had to settle for the areas with current. Can you lower the current? If this doesn't help, BTW, you are going to have to watch very closely and determine any signs of disease as, from what you've said, it doesn't sound like its sick (if it was, the swimming problem would happen all the time - not just after the lights go out). Also, do you know the sexes of your fish? If you have more than one male you will almost deffinately have problems in anything less than a 55 once they are mature.

 

[cla55y19]

its a 55 gallon and i have 4 females i got 4 as i read 4 is the bare minimum you should have and if i can get more i will i was shoul i add one male to this group?

 

[XKrinXerZ]

I wouldnt worry about it if u say there are no visible, or physical problems with the golden gourami. That number in that size of a tank sounds good you should get more if you want.

 

[Mr Miagi]

I wouldnt worry about it if u say there are no visible, or physical problems with the golden gourami. That number in that size of a tank sounds good you should get more if you want.

Id stick with 4. I think im pushing the limits having 3 female and 1 male pearls in my 30gallon. But evrything is going fine for me. Id stick with 4. Maybe some other different species of gourami instead of adding 1 more possible male.

 

[sylvia]

If you stick to only females, you could probably still add 2-3 more but I would not reccomend it unless you realy, realy want them and are prepaired to remove some if necessary. However, don't add any males. It would be too crowded for males. A single male with the 4 females you have now is possible but it would have to be your very last gourami addition as most males won't tolerate other males of pretty much any similar species and they don't like being crowded. Also, there is no minnimum number for keeping three-spot gouramies - they do fine as solitary individuals and don't appreciate being crowded as they like to establish their own territories. I wouldn't add any other species of gourami either. There are exceptions - for example a moonlight or two would be ok if you stick to the 4 female golds you have and can ensure that all the fish will have places to hide etc (moonlights get to 7" BTW but are peaceful). Avoid adding any more three-spots (that is blue, gold, opaline, cosby, platinum, lavender etc - color morphs of trichogaster trichopterus) or any smaller gouramies such as those of the colisa genus as they will likely clash or be bullied respectively. In a 55 gallon, I would say you can fit 6-7 gouramies in max. but you are better off with only 5 golds/three-spots at most.

 

[cla55y19]

i dont plan to add any more i read on thinkfish that you had to have 4 but ive heard from a friend there no good, but any way they have pleanty of places to hide as its a very heavierly planted tank so hopefully they should be all ok