Can't Ever Keep A Pair Of Gouramis

[EllieW]

Hi

A few months ago I brought a pair (male&female) of blue dwarf gourami, all was ok for about 2 weeks then the male died.

I left it a few weeks before replacing him as the female looked a bit lonely. Then a week after i got her a new man she dies

Is this just a coincidence or am I doing something wrong and they cant be kept as 1 pair.

 

[ZoddyZod]

how long has the tank been set up?

what are your tank nitrite, nitrate and ammonia readings?

What other fish are in the tank? Have any of those died?

What size of tank is it?

 

[EllieW]

how long has the tank been set up?

what are your tank nitrite, nitrate and ammonia readings?

What other fish are in the tank? Have any of those died?

What size of tank is it?

The tank has been set up about a year.

I know my readings are spot on as tests were the first thing I did.

I have guppies, 2x bn catfish, mollies, danios.

I did have trouble a while ago with strange deaths but since treating that everything has been fine with no more deaths.
Just cant seem to keep 2 gouramis.

The tank is 180 l.

 

[ZoddyZod]

do you seen any aggressive behaviour between the gouramis? Is one chasing the other?

 

[EllieW]

do you seen any aggressive behaviour between the gouramis? Is one chasing the other?

No especially the latest pair, if anything they seemed to ignore each other. Unless at night they were having a go or something.

 

[ZoddyZod]

do you seen any aggressive behaviour between the gouramis? Is one chasing the other?

No especially the latest pair, if anything they seemed to ignore each other. Unless at night they were having a go or something.

OK, a pair should have enough space in a 180l to ease aggression anyway.

Do you always buy them from the same shop? What do the fish look like in the holding tank there? Are they any specimens that seem lethargic, or possibly sitting on the substrate?

 

[EllieW]

do you seen any aggressive behaviour between the gouramis? Is one chasing the other?

No especially the latest pair, if anything they seemed to ignore each other. Unless at night they were having a go or something.

OK, a pair should have enough space in a 180l to ease aggression anyway.

Do you always buy them from the same shop? What do the fish look like in the holding tank there? Are they any specimens that seem lethargic, or possibly sitting on the substrate?

Yeah i have always used the same shop. They are pretty good and keep them well, as far as I can tell anyway. They get high ratings in magazines I have read with reviews etc and I have never had any trouble with other fish

What would you do now? Shall I just keep the male on his own, it is ok to do that? Or try again and get a female

 

[ZoddyZod]

What would you do now? Shall I just keep the male on his own, it is ok to do that? Or try again and get a female

frankly I'm no expert, I'm just regurgitating the things I have read about them (before I purchased mine). It is apparently quite common for them to fall foul of a specific gourami disease, hence my question on lethargy.

I'm guessing you acclimatise them slowly? Do you know the difference in pH between your water and the stores?

 

[EllieW]

What would you do now? Shall I just keep the male on his own, it is ok to do that? Or try again and get a female

frankly I'm no expert, I'm just regurgitating the things I have read about them (before I purchased mine). It is apparently quite common for them to fall foul of a specific gourami disease, hence my question on lethargy.

I'm guessing you acclimatise them slowly? Do you know the difference in pH between your water and the stores?

Oh right never knew about a specific disease they could get. Come to think of it they are quite sluggish and lazy but I thought thats just how they were.

I don't know the pH difference to be honest. Strange thing is they only die when i buy them a new mate and not the actual gourami I have just bought. I had the female for a good few weeks and was doing fine until i got a male and she died shortly afterwards. I bet if I went out today and got a female the male would die. Its all very odd.

 

[ZoddyZod]

yep, there is a specific infection that they are prone to, which is why you should look for sluggish specimens in the lfs.....could be a sign that they are infected.

So it's not the new fish that dies? Interesting. Considering it was the established female that died after introducing a male, I would GUESS that she got bullied/harrassed too much. But this is a GUESS and maybe someone here with more experience can offer their thoughts.....

 

[EllieW]

yep, there is a specific infection that they are prone to, which is why you should look for sluggish specimens in the lfs.....could be a sign that they are infected.

So it's not the new fish that dies? Interesting. Considering it was the established female that died after introducing a male, I would GUESS that she got bullied/harrassed too much. But this is a GUESS and maybe someone here with more experience can offer their thoughts.....

No its never the new one. Im going to keep the male for a few weeks on his own, without introducing another female and see what happens I think. Thanks for all your help Zod

 

[keenonfish]

Can you tell us what your readings where exactly i.e. ph ammonia nitrite nitrate?

Gourami's are known as wife beeters and if you want to keep males and females I would get 1 male and 2 females. I have two males and they have altercations, in fact one of them lost a sizable patch of scales on one side until he learnt to defend himself. All seem to have healed now and they both get on with what ever gouramis like doing now. Floating plants like frogbit and riccia helps a great deal as they will act as a physical barrier - just make sure there are two separate territories so they don't squabble. They will also try to build a nest if they are happy!

Sounds like your gourami's may have succumbed to stress, bullying or water quality issues, maybe an undetected ammonia or nitrIte spike etc.. which will make them susceptible to disease.

 

[EllieW]

Can you tell us what your readings where exactly i.e. ph ammonia nitrite nitrate?

Gourami's are known as wife beeters and if you want to keep males and females I would get 1 male and 2 females. I have two males and they have altercations, in fact one of them lost a sizable patch of scales on one side until he learnt to defend himself. All seem to have healed now and they both get on with what ever gouramis like doing now. Floating plants like frogbit and riccia helps a great deal as they will act as a physical barrier - just make sure there are two separate territories so they don't squabble. They will also try to build a nest if they are happy!

Sounds like your gourami's may have succumbed to stress, bullying or water quality issues, maybe an undetected ammonia or nitrIte spike etc.. which will make them susceptible to disease.

Thanks for that, I will post up my exact results when i get home from work. Maybe the answer would be to get 2 females then. Would the 1 male be ok on his own if i was to just to keep one, or are they happier with females about.

Also, could it be they were only were fighting at night and he is a true wife beater and only does it when no one can see?

Infact I dont think i even like him anymore

 

[Littlemonkey]

They will beat up the female any time of the day. 2 Females would be better. As a previous post try and find out how long your LFS has had the Dwarfs before you purchase. If they are 6 months + and active then you've got a better chance of them surviving. I know I had a devil of a job just to locate 1 female as most LFS sell them in pairs and the females are generally not as attractive as the males. Good Luck.

 

[Reesy1989]

Agree with the other posts the minimum ratio of male to females should be 1:2 although the more females the better lol.

Water parameters are essential for gouramis. As someone mentioned about Gouramis unfortunately have no immunity to a bacterial infection, this can be cause by either high ammonia in the water or weirdly to stress?

Although if you always use the same stored I would suggest trying another store. I used pets at home for 6 - 8 months when I first setup my tank and everything was constantly dieing, since I have stopped using them and using a more fish specialist shop the suvival rate has increased.

My Suggestions

• 1. Change your store.
  2. When you get a new fish put them in a Quarantine tank for a week before adding them to a display tank as they need to acclimatise slowly and you can root out any problems the fish might have.
  3. Make sure that there is alot of hiding places like caves or tunnels or rocks to shy away in.
  Also one thing that I have personally had good experience with is alot of plants. The more plants that are in the aquarium the more objects there are to break up the line of sight for the male which means the aggression will be less.
  4. Stick to the ratio of 1:2 males and females.

Hope this helps.

Reesy