Dwarf Gourami

[SchottayB]

Hey guys, been a while! Quick question...

Think it's possible to keep one of these guys in a 60 litre tank with 8 other fish, being harlequin rosebarbs x5 and male guppy x3?

My mother has a obsession with the dwarf gourami, since I gave her my tank when I moved out she's wanted one!

Cheers

I'm not currently in the fishkeeping world myself anymore

 

[VaegaVic]

Would be possible, but be vary wary where you buy your stock from these days.
A lot of Dwarfs are getting something called the "Iridovirus" and once they are infected, don't last very long at all.

 

[SchottayB]

Would be possible, but be vary wary where you buy your stock from these days.
A lot of Dwarfs are getting something called the "Iridovirus" and once they are infected, don't last very long at all.

#105### . Thanks for the reply pal, guess I'll go out and grab one for her.

Would you know by looking at the fish be for buying him if he has this "Iridovirus"?

 

[ZoddyZod]

watch the guppies and the DG closely, you may find the DG takes an interest in them. I'm pretty mine harrassed a couple of guppys to death.

 

[VaegaVic]

Not really I'm afraid, it can lay dormant and then suddenly spring.
It won't effect any other fish in the tank as long as you don't have any other gouramis.

Just monitor them for a few mins in the shop, look for the usual signs of healthiness, perhaps ask if they can be fed for you to see?

"Infected fish develop a variety of symptoms, including loss of color, decrease in activity and appetite, the appearance of sores and lesions on the body, abdominal swelling and finally death. This fish disease is highly contagious, completely untreatable and invariably fatal.Dwarf gourami iridovirus is apparently very common. One recent study of fish exported from Singapore found that 22 percent of all dwarf gouramis carried the virus."

From Neale Monks.