Blue Gourami And Red Ram Compatability

[eastybeasty]

hi everyone

well i'm going to be honest here and i will appreciate any help and advice given to me. This is going to be a fairly long post but just wanting to give some background information to help. my husband and I are fairly new to tropical fishkeeping. we've got a male betta (who is a fiesty wee thing but is fine!) in a 21L and got a golden ram, harlequins, phantom tetras and danios in a 60L and theyre all doing fine. we recently got a larger tank that looks lovely but has seemingly caused nothing but problems since we got it! We have tried to be responsible and do as much research as possible before getting fish but possibly we didn't do that well today. We've got a 140L tank now with one blue gourami (we had 2 gouramies and a leopard climbing perch, the leopard die we assume to stress as all water parameters were fine and also the smaller gourami died - we have assumed that possible over feeding due to trying to get the leopard to eat). This happened a while back so have left the gourami on her (I think!) own for a couple of weeks until the tank's clarity had improved greatly and could put any new fish into a stable environment.

We have been continually learning from our mistakes and knew we had to cycle the tank first which we did with the 60L with no issues. We got the larger tank second hand which had been running and we saw it working. When we got home we cleaned it and assumed the tank would be ok as the filter had cycled. We now know the whole tank needs to cycle as normal before addind any fish. (hence me mentioning water clairty previously)

The gourami we have now seemed to continually harass the other smaller gourami. Having never had them before I assumed this was normal. We think they were both females. Anyway we got 2 red rams today and asked for advice from the sales assistant before buying. She said there would be no problems with the gourami. However they were both pretty stressed when we got them home, they were gasping for air. We checked the water and it was 0.6 ammonia and 0 for nitrates and nitrites, ph was 6.6 so immediately carried out a 25% water change. This requires further explanation (sorry!) The tank is actually a coffee table tank, and it seems impossible to find daylight simulation bulbs that will fit in order to have a planted tank. My husband bought quite a lot of plants for the tank anyway to help lessen maintenance, choosing plants that needed low light. The clarity of the water hasnt been great and this combined with lack of correct bulbs has led to some plants decaying, requiring daily water changes. My husband moved some of the logs and rocks around in the tank earlier which we now think has led to the sudden ammonia spike as the levels were fine before we added the new fish.

One ram has now died. I'm not sure if the ammonia possibly killed it before the water improved with a change or whether it was just due to stress. The gourami had been trying to nip the ram's fins and use its whiskers to feel the rams, not sure if this is normal behaviour but was generally acting aggrsively towards already stressed fish. I'm now not sure if we should have more gouramies so the aggression is more spread out or if we shouldnt have been advised to get the rams at all. Could it be territorial behavious from the gourami after being on its own for a couple of weeks? The gourami is currently residing in a bag within the main tank while we wait and see if the ram is recovering which it seems to be slowly. This is far from ideal but dont know what to do for the best. We're considering returning the ram tomorrow and saying we've been given bad advice but really just need some guidance.

Sorry about the length of the post but I hope some of you kind people can help us!

 

[Ruskull]

I'm a newbie myself but I do have a bit of experience with Gouramis. Three Spot, Blue, Opaline & Gold Gouramis are all color variations of the same fish. They are quite aggressive, especially the males. I've never seen one hurt another but they chase each other relentlessly. The sex is best determined when the fish are at least 2-2.5 inches long. The males have a very long dorsal fin that comes to a point. The females have rounder, shorter dorsal fins and wider bodies. I had a large, almost 4 inch long blue female that I had to return because she was so aggressive.

I would not recommend putting these kinds of Gouramis with Dwarf Cichlids. You may be able to put Pearl Gouramis with Red, German Blue or Bolivian Gold Rams, but I'm not sure. I do know Dwarf Gouramis are supposed to be okay with these Rams.

 

[Ruskull]

The high ammonia is more than likely what killed the Ram. These are very sensitive fish and should only be added to well established tanks with no overly aggressive fish. I doubt a 20% water change was enough to get the ammonia back to zero................a larger water change or maybe even 2 water changes of 30% or more would be better. If your good bacteria are doing their job you should see zero ammonia with no hint of green. Ammonia is poison to fish. THgree Spot, Blue, etc. Gouramis are very hardy fish and they may be able to handle more ammonia than other, less hardy fish.

 

[eastybeasty]

thanks for the replies, we carried out a 25% water change yesterday but unfortunately one ram died yesterday and the other overnight. i dont know enough about gourami behavious to know if our one is normal or psychotic. im not too sure what to do now, i cant bring fish home that supposedly will be ok with this gourami after ive done as much reading as i can only for her to pick on them. i was wondering if i sohuld maybe get say another 2-3 blue gourami and maybe that would temper her aggression? i dont know if its a territorial thing or if shes just a bit mad. shes the only fish in the tank again just now....

 

[OldMan47]

At an ammonia reading of 0.6 ppm, you would need a water change of at least 58% just to drop down to 0.25 ppm. A safer way to go is to do a 75% or larger water change to give yourself just a little room. When I detect ammonia in my tanks, like right after a club auction using a new tank, I do what I call a 90% water change. What that means is I drain water until the fish are having trouble swimming then refill the tank.