Can't get my female Dwarf Gouramies

kimbowee

Fish Crazy
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So I went on Friday to pick up my females that I special ordered and the LFS tells me his supplier does not sell the females. I spent the whole weekend visiting a number of shops & have called at least a dozen and only one place can actually special order them for me. Only problem is I don't like the shop. :/ Every time you go in their fish are covered in white spot, they have a bunch of incompatible fish in their tanks & they just generally do not look well cared for. I guess I will just have to give up on my quest. I refuse to give money to a shop that I don't like.

All 3 males seem to be doing fine on the tank. 2 have taken up residence in small pots & the 3rd calls the cave in one of the decorations home. There doesn't seem to be any aggression at all. 2 actually swim together at feeding time while 1 seems to like eating with the Hatchetfish. Should I still rehome one of the males to the 20 gal livebearer tank or just wait and see how it goes? The livebearer tank currently holds 1 male molly, 1 male 2 female fancy guppies & 2 Oto's. Was thinking about actually moving 2 male Gouramies to this tank. What does everyone else think?

The 30 gal tank has 3 male Dwarf Gouramies, 5 Hatchetfish & 3 Upside-down catfish.

One more quicky question. What other live or frozen foods can be fed besides Brine shrimp & blood worms? I wanted to try & give them a little more variety. I also feed the same foods to my livebearer tank so I don't want anything that can introduce diseases. Is it true that if its frozen livebearers won't contract diseases from it?

Sorry for the long post. I am just full of ?'s today.
 
The females are very hard to find. Maybe you could find them online and get them shipped to you. It would probably be kind of expensive though. I only found mine when my LFS bought a mixed group of dwarf gouramis from a distributor in Florida called FishMart.

Frozen "live" food should be completely safe for all fish to eat. Besides brine shrimp and blood worms, you could try tubiflex worms, daphnia and occassionally I give my beef heart cubes.
 
Right now I have decided to wait on the females. I went yesterday instead & picked up 2 more Hatchetfish & 2 more upside down cats which brings me to being fully stocked. Hopefully I will have my 55 gal back soon from the turtle who currently resides in it. Then I may decide to go online and order some females.

I thought I read that Tubifex worms could carry parasites that Guppies were especially prone to. I was wondering if the same were true about frozen Tubifex. Whats the difference between frozen & freeze dried? I was just reading somewhere today that the Tubifex could actually defrost and still live so I am guessing that the parasites could also still be alive.

Can you get beef heart cubes at an LFS or the grocery store? Never heard that one before but may be something to spice it up a little.

Thanks again! :p
 
About keeping all 3 males in the 30 gallon - it should be fine if you're not seeing aggression though the fact that one appears to have chosen a territory in the lower levels may suggest they feel a little cramped. Still, I recall suggesting you move one to the 20 because you were getting the females, if you aren't getting them after all, the 3 males should be ok in the 30 gallon permanently (assuming one doesn't decide to build a nest or something like that happens).

Beef heart is a rather messy food but should otherwise be available at your local butcher.

There are certain parasites that can be carried around in live (or frozen) tubifex. Other live and frozen foods carry similar risks. Frozen is generaly safer than live though and bloodworms are generaly better than tubifex. Brine shrimp are safest as they don't come from a freshwater environment. Daphnia are also usualy safe but not necessarily appreciated (depends ont he individual fish). As for freeze-dried foods, they have very little nutritional value but parasites cannot generaly survive the drying process so they are safe to use as a supplement or treat. Don't use them as a staple though, besides not being all that healthy compared to other foods, a lot of dry food can cause bloating or constipation (the same applies to flakes realy).
 
:) Thanks Sylvia!

All 3 of the males are out & about during the day. At night they are all going to their individual little homes usually after lights out. There is still plenty of room in the livebearer tank if a move is required. Will keep an eye open. Is there anything in particular I should be looking for besides outright aggression?

As for the flakes I didn't know that they caused bloating. Thanks for the info. THe LFS suggested alternating between flakes & brine shrimp every other day & blood worms on a weekly basis. I feed the bloodworms on Sundays as this is tank cleaning day. Should I switch my routine? Any suggestions? I have not yet bought any Tubifex & have been worried about feeding it to the guppies. Don't think I will be feeding any freeze-dried as it doesn't sound as if it has any nutritional benefits then.

Sorry for all the questions. Just trying to get up to speed and give my fishies the best that I can.

Thanks, thanks and thanks again! :p
 
Besides out-right aggression, if you see your fish hanging around the bottom - particularly if it's actualy sitting on the subsrate - this might be a sign of stress. It could be anything but it's one clue to incompatibilities (though more often than not the problem is disease). Don't confuse a gourami sleeping on the substrate for this though :). Besides that, if any of your gouramies becomes particularly skittish or hdies a lot or if a single gourami starts terrorizing the others, you'll know you have an aggression issue. An important thing may be to watch that, when your gouramies each go up to the surface to breathe, they aren't being violently chased away by the dominant fish (it may happen if they intrude on a tankmate's territory but the tank isn't big enough if they have absolutely no where where they can breathe without being harassed near the surface at all) .Also check (well all your fish) daily to ensure they aren't missing any feelers or scales and that they have not torn any fins. these things don't necessarily mean your gouramies aren't getting along - it could be their other tankmates or an accident involving the filter or an ornament etc. Still, it gives you a good chance to establish whether they're ok together or not. Something else you may want to look out for is aggression at feeding time. This will also give you a sense of the hierarchy - who's the dominant fish - and will show whether you may want to consider feeding a little at each end or several different types of foods (that sink at different rates) to make it possible for everyone to grab a bite. Some chasing around at feeding time is normal but shouldn't be overly stressful for any one fish. Realy it's just a matter of watching and getting to know each fish as an individual. You'll find it's easy to spot later if something's a'miss and your fish aren't behaving as usual or something's changed suddenly. It's especialy true of gouramies as they have very unique characters and each fish is totaly different from the next.

As for your routine, it sounds fine. All I'd suggest is to add some veggies to it. Gouramies do benefit from having a little vegetable matter - blanched zuchinni, cucumber and de-shelled green peas are often taken but you'll probably find not all gouramies appreciate all greens :p. It's also a good idea, as you feed flakes, to vary the brand or rotate between several brands and also to add some pelleted foods to the diet. The more varied the diet the more likely it is to cater for all your fish' needs. Oh and go for small pots of food (though I suppose this isn't always the most economical route :p) as flakes lose their nutritional value over time if not consumed so it's best to have several small pots that'll get used up relatively quickly and feed a different brand every other day or whatever (you may already know this - it's just a general tip).
 

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