Antsy Dwarf Gourami

[starrynightxxi]

poor thing's been pacing the tank, turns out all he needed was a bit of styrofoam to start a bubble nest. silly thing

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Lol. Funny.

Just so long as he's better now, that's good to hear.

 

[Qays]

how did you know it needed styrofoam?? funny little gourami!

 

[starrynightxxi]

he needed a distraction. I don't know if its a permanent fix, but its working at the moment. he's gone back to grazing and prowling through the tank so at least for a little while he's calm and I can go back to trying to see if there isn't some other issue. It may be water quality, though the teras are fine. I do regular water changes but no test kit. Going out for one today.

 

[TofuSushi]

We're taking your lead! We have a pacing gourami also.

However, I didn't have any styrofoam... I cut the top half off a regular plastic cup (a new, unused one) and placed it opening side down in the back corner of the tank... it's taped to the tank lid, surrounded by plants...

How did you put your styrofoam? I can't find any photos of how to place the cup in the water. Top side down, or on its side?

As of this a.m., he didn't seem too interested in it!

 

[starrynightxxi]

well, if you cut a cup in half and put it in cut side down, it should just float, this is commonly used for bubblenesters in spawning. in any case, i didn't present this as a permanent fix, it only seemed to distract him for a while. i think pacing in fish probably is similar to pacing in other animals and has something to do with having too little room to work off energy, a lack of stimulation, or something making it anxious (such as being new). This stopped my fish for a while, but not long after i moved him to a tank that was very heavily planted (in which he hid constantly), then moved him again to a larger tank that isn't as heavily planted, but seems to give him room to swim and work off energy, enough places to hide, and enough variation in things to look at and places to search for food.

In my (meager) experience I have found that gouramis can be very retiring so beyond a place to build a nest, he may need a densely planted area in the tank to get away from it all. If your fish is pacing the tank, try offering him some changes in the environment, such as caves, plants, walls to swim through and around.

 

[TofuSushi]

I took it out this morning. He seemed perturbed that i put something so close to his favorite plant. !


I swear he just needs a girlfriend.