Crazy Gourami - help!

[Mrs_B]

hey there. i'm brand spanking new at this forum..and at tropical fish for that matter. anyways, i have a 55 liter establiished tank with tiger barbs, neon tetras, a shark and a clown loach. everyone has been fine, no fights or eaten fish. i went out two days ago and bought a neon blue dwarf gourami. again everyone is peachy,

however...

since yesterday the gourami has been swimming rather frantically up and down, up and down the front glass of the tank. it looks like its going crazy. i have tropical fish flakes and pellets, but it doesnt seem to be eating either of them. is there something wrong with this fish, or is it just adjusting? the area i live in doesnt have what you might call reputable fish stores, so i know my setup is a better quality environment than what it came from.

the tank has a good hidey hole piece of driftwood, natural looking gravel and two flat leaved plants. it has a box filter and an airstone. in the climate i live in, a heater isnt required. i havent checked the pH levels yet, but every other fish in there is fine.

can anyone help me? i dont like seeing that poor fish under so much stress.

thanks.

 

[Torrean]

first of all do you know what established means? (not trying to insult you I didn't when I started) What are your ammonia nitrite nitrate levels and PH may be very important so get a kit as soon as you can.

Second did you know that clown loaches like to be in groups and can grow to over a foot, not sure exactly how big but I know they are too big for that size tank.

What kind of "shark" do you have? If you don't know then describe it or please take a picture as some sharks grow over a foot.

How many of each fish do you have.

Do you have a thermometor in your aquarium. You need to maintain a temperature of between 76 and 82 degrees for your fish to be happy and most importantly healthy.

Gourami's will eat flake food I have two and they do so quite greedily.

How long has your tank been set up?

EDIT: yes I second that one Miagi sorry i didn't say so earlier. Welcome to the forums and I hope we can help you with any future problems that may arise.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Ok, gouramis do need heated water, so what temps does your tank stand at?

Gouramis also prefer some floating plants, adding some may reduce his ancious behaviour. Other plants in the tank are also greatly appreciated.
Live foods may get his attention and slow him down a bit too.

Yes, water quality, especially nitrates might have comething to do with it. Have you the resources to test your water? If not, a local fish store might test it for free or charge a small price for accurate and fast results.

It may be bullying aswell. Have you noticed anyone picking on the gourami?

AND welcome to the forums!
Hoep you find this place freindly and useful!

 

[Torrean]

hey mrs b i just thought of something. are you aware that gourami's are labrynth fish. This means they breath at the surface. I wouldn't call normal gourami behaviour frantic but they do swim to the surface quite often to get air. Is he gulping when he reaches the surface?

edit: I'm sorry if I came off as rude earlier, I just noticed a few things about your tank that I think you may need to prepare for.

 

[Mrs_B]

sorry i didnt post more details about the fish before. i just didnt want to seem like i was rambling on..lol.

mr_miagi - the tank temp is at 26*C which is 78*F, thats why i said i didnt need a heater. thats what i got told by the petstore anyways. any it never ever gets cold here - i live in Darwin Australia. i havent got a testing kit yet, are they availible at the petstore? none of the fish are picking on the gourami. i dont have any floating plants because i thought they were bad..again, something i was told by the petstore.

torren - lol..no offense taken. as far as the internet seems to tell me its established. i have a filter, clean tank, healty fish (from what i gather). the water was cloudy for a few days, but today its really clear. i know clown laoches like groups and the tank is measaly. the clown loach is only 2 inchs at the moment, and i have a tank i am planning to buy. this tank is sort of a temperary thing. at first i just wanted a goldfish, but my husband went a little crazy with the whole tropical fish thing coz his step dad used to have them...but after we got home and set things up, i decided to do a bit of reseach and told him if he was serious we needed a bigger tank. the other tank i'm buying is on a stand with a cabinent underneath. its got a built in hood and light and its a corner tank. its a 450 liter (118 gallon) tank. i think it might be a bit big for us, but when i showed hubby the other tank, similar but only like 300 litres, he whined about it being to small..lol. cant win!

i wrote a shark before, but i have 2. discovered hubby added another. anyways. i have:

1 pink or albino shark - 2 inches
1 rainbow shark - 2 inches
3 neon tetras - 1 inch each
2 tiger barbs - 1 inch each
1 clown loach - 2 inches
1 neon blue dwarf gourami - 2 1/2 inches

the tank has been set up for a week and a half. i know, i know...i didnt let it run to get a ecosystem or whatever it is. again, my impatient husband who aparently knows better than me.

and yeh, like i said..only fish having problems is that gourami. the rainbow shark is very territoral with the albino shark, but he's claimed the driftwood and the albino has the filter...so they dont seem to be having issues. neither one has ripped fins or anything...yet.

 

[Mrs_B]

lol..just posted...torren - he isnt gulping or anything. he swims up and down, back and forward over and over, and occasionally he'll pause and pop upto the surface, take a little breath..and then its back to crazy swimming. i read two articles on the net about hyperactivity. one said it could be from ammonia or nitrate or pH, which i guess might be right...and the other said overheated water..which isnt the case.

ugh! fish! lol..i love keeping them, but i forgot all the details you have to consider.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Yeah, fish keeping is a bit more than just fish in a bowl.

I think you need a heater. It comes off and on whenever it needs, so if it doesnt need to be on, it wont come on. Besides, Darwin doesnt stay warm all year round, and at night water can become considerably cold because it loses heat fast. Fish cant takle temp fluctuations well. This could be one cause of your hypo fish.

Another maybe water params. A tank needs to be cycled. And their are really no excuses for not doing it. Impatience will kill, (not trying to be nasty ) but your bacteria in the tank wil not be able to cope well with the waste your fish produce. Id do a small 20-25% water chabge today till you can get yourself a test kit or two!

Floating plants arnt bad by any means, i think you would be far better off finding an actual fish store rather than a pet store. Some pet stores have absolutely no clue when it comes to fish.

 

[Torrean]

hmm. That may be another problem. Does the albino have red fins? If so then it is a rainbow shark as well. They are aggressive towards there own species. If you want to keep both of them then your going to need atleast a 55 gallon aquarium

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10675

established means that it has cycled. this is when your ammonia reaches 0 nitrites =0 and nitrates are greater than1 Your tank has not done this yet and probably has a high ammonia level right now. How long has he been in this aquarium. He may be suffering from ammonia poisoning. It happened to my blue three-spot gourami. Do a partial water change, 25% and hope for the best.

Go to the pet store tommorow with a water sample and ask him to test it for you. Also ask if they carry bio-spira. This will help speed your cycle.

read these
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=13133

I think they are the right ones. I hope they help


edit: sorry i got distracted for a second and posted some bad info. If you want to keep the rainbow sharks then you will need to buy 2 more and get a 55+ aquarium. This doesn't take into account the clown loaches as they may need as much as a 90 or more

edit again: sorry it must be getting late. More bad info. If you want to keep BOTH of the rainbow sharks then you will need to buy 2 more and a 55 gallon aquarium. If you only want one then that's fine but if you want two then you need four. i hope this makes sense

 

[Mrs_B]

mr miagi - i'll look into the heater thingy then, thanks for the advice. as for finding a fish store...very hard in darwin. people tend to not supply for hobbiets of anykind here..unless you enjoy raising cattle. lol. there is one place i might try, but they specialize in Koy..so i'm not sure how useful they'll be.

torrean - lol..yeh, i read that you either keep one shark, or you keep more than 4. i want to give the red-finned albino to my mum, but hubby doesnt understand that there is a problem..keeps saying "they'll sort themselves out or one will die." hmm....not the way i think about it! any tank we get wont be under 300 litres..which is about 80 gallons. the gourami has only been in the aquarium for 3 days. thanks for the links..checking them out now.

 

[Torrean]

3 days is long enough i believe. Watch out for spinning that's what mine did before it died. It spun in circles then stopped and sank then spun and sank ... then sank and stayed there. All I can say is do a 25% water change with declorinated water then do 10% changes daily until your tank cycles.
your husband is right
They'll sort themselves out or one of them will die. Then again what is right. You should probably be the one making the decisions concerning fish in your household. Unless there food then he can have his say.

The place that specializes in koi will probably be able to get you anything you need but they probably won't have it in stock. So just because you can't find it on the shelves doesn't mean that they can't get it.

edit: how long has the gourami been doing this?

 

[Mrs_B]

just did a 20% dechlorinated water change and i swear the gourami is swimming even more franically...plus the rainbow shark is chasing EVERYTHING including my poor clown loach, but especially the ablino shark - maybe irs just coz i upset them changing the water? its still not even paying a single bit of attention the the gourami.

uh, we got the gourami on friday morning and it was absoloutly fine all day. but then saturday at about luchtime it started doing this, and today is sunday..so two days.

as for hubby...yeh, he wont be making any descisions on the fish anymore.

 

[Torrean]

do you have any caves or heavy plants? the rainbow may want somwhere to hide and that's why he's being so aggressive right now. Rainbows usually don't get REALLY agressive until about 3-3 1/2". good luck. The gourami is probably just freaked out by the water change like you said. I hope he's allright. oh btw did you do a gravel vaccum along with the water change? You should push the gravel vaccum slightly into the gravel to suck up poo and food. Also feed every other day until your tank cycles. Or better yet skip every third day so the hunger doesn't complicate matters.

 

[Mrs_B]

there is a piece of driftwood in there, which i soaked for 48hrs before putting in. its got a great hidey area that is like a tunnel - and the rainbow shark is in it almost all the time. there are also two plants. one is kinda just a twiggy thing with round broad leaves, and the other is the same, but its all thick and the rainbow shark hides in that sometimes too...its not flimsy coz the clown loach sleeps on the top leaves.

thing that REALLY bothers me with those sharks, is the albino had claimed the back of the box filter and hid from the rainbow shark there..but that bugger is searching the tank for him now..so it has nowhere to hide.

edit: yeh, i did a clean of the gravel like that. sucked a lot of cr*p out..including some pellets my hubby fed them that none of the fish are interested in.

 

[unionman125]

I think it is a combination of factors contributing to this issue. If i were you, I would buy an amonia testing kit today. If it reads zero then you don't have a cycling issue. If it is at one or two mg/L or higher, then keep donig a 40% water change every day until your morning amonia reading is zero.

If you do get that test kit, please post the results. I think we would all be interested in it .
Good luck

 

[unionman125]

p.s. what is you tank cleaning procedure?