do dwarf gouramis eat plants?

[fishwatcher]

My dwarf gourami (Elvis, ladies and gentlemen) has taken to eating my plants a little. He's also nipping at the small snails in the tank. Is he THAT hungry or is it just something they do?

 

[trevo878]

All types of gouramies are notorious plant eaters. I used to have kissing gouramies in my 40G and they demolished everything. I didn't even bother putting real plants in with the honeys in my 20G.

 

[Annastasia]

I wouldn't say all types of Gouramis are notorious Plant eaters. I have had many types of Gouramis over the years, and none have really bothered my plants that much (except my Kissers).

Fishwatcher - I have noticed my Dwarf nipping at the plants a little too. It never seems to do much damage...and he gets plenty of food, so I don't think it would be a sign of hunger. Your guy may just be picking off little pieces of food, or algae. Not sure about the snails though. Do you watch at feeding time, and make sure he gets some food?

And trevo878, yes Kissers can demolish plants well. Since they eat algae, they usually pick pieces of algae off the plants, and end up breaking leaves, or splitting stems in the process, just because of their size, and their powerful mouth. They don't really eat plants much...it just may seem like that.

 

[fishwatcher]

He does seem to eat fine, he just kind of wonders around nibbling here and there. I havne't ever seen anything come off the plants, so I'm not sure what he's doing

I think it's so cute though!

 

[Briarmoor]

My gold female gourami is doing this plant nibbling thing too in the 20g. She didn't bother the broad leaf plant in the 10g, but is nibbling the grass type plant and some on the fern type plants in the 20g.

She is *always* looking for food. I am sure I am feeding enough. I have to get so creative just to make sure the corys get something. The neons have gotten brave and come to the surface. Otherwise, they know "pig fish" will eat it all. She even runs the corys off the algae disc. What is up with that? I have to drop their shrimp pellet in a corner at the very start of feeding so they have a chance to nibble. Once she gobbles up all her flakes/granules, whatever, she makes a beeline for their pellet and runs them off. She nips that pellet, moving it all over the tank. Then she gets so worked up with all the activity she has to zip up to the surface for air before racing back down to eat more. I promise I feed her plenty.

It will be nice to get her in the big tank once it is cycled and in with fish that can hold their own at feeding time. She is just so much bigger than everyone she's with right now.

P.

 

[FishSticks]

Hmmm that's weird I keep 3 Dwarf Gouramis and 3 Pearl Gouramis in my 55 gallon aquarium with some semi-delicate plants and they don't ever seem to bother them. I have noticed that once in a while my gouramis feel like breeding and they start picking around for small leaves and little pieces of hair algae to make their huge bubble nests. Maybe your dwarf is a bit randy like mine... Yeah baby, yeah

 

[fishwatcher]

That would be awesome! But I don't know how randy feeling he can get with no female around. He's the only gourami, period, in my tank.
Who knows! I'm just glad is something normal. Well, atleast fairly normal!