Dwarf Gourami

[john5748]

Last night before going to bed I was looking at one of my Dwarf Gouramis which was looking a little bit worse for wear, it was languishing down at the bottom of the tank looking as though it was gasping for air and very swollen around the gills.

I had a quick look this morning and couldn't find it, I have checked the whole tank again moving plants and decorations and it has gone

Can anyone shed any light on this matter as if it is ill I really need to find it so that I can isolate it.

Has this ever happened to anyone else, surely it cannot of been eaten by the other fish or just disappeared??

My other fish are all community fish (no pirahannas).

I have checked all my waters paramiters, which are all fine.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

 

[jimw13uk]

what other fish do you have in the tank - it is possible for a fish to be eaten by others quite quickly - you may eventually find a bit of a body in amongst the substrate.
Its happened to me a couple of times before

 

[john5748]

The only other fish in the tank are:

1 Dwarf Gourami
1 Moonlight Gourami
1 Black Red Tailed Shark
2 Loaches
8 Neon Tetras
2 Zebra Danios
2 Thai Glass Catfish
2 Barbs
2 Scissortails
3 Male Guppies
1 Female Guppie

and maybe the bones of a Dwarf Gourami???

Anyone would think I didn't feed them if that is really what happened.

 

[jimw13uk]

I would look for his bones as thats probably whats happened.
I found one of my fish stuck to the side of my filter - could he be there.

 

[john5748]

I will keep looking and keep you posted, many thanks for the advice

 

[keane]

The only other fish in the tank are:

1 Dwarf Gourami
1 Moonlight Gourami
1 Black Red Tailed Shark
2 Loaches
8 Neon Tetras
2 Zebra Danios
2 Thai Glass Catfish
2 Barbs
2 Scissortails
3 Male Guppies
1 Female Guppie

and maybe the bones of a Dwarf Gourami???

Anyone would think I didn't feed them if that is really what happened.

Out of all those fish in your stock list I think the most likely culprit could be your RTBS .

I take it your tank has a lid? My gourami have been known to try and jump out of the water when they are stressed or freaked at something. Have you checked behind the tank??

What size is your tank BTW?

steve

 

[john5748]

Thanks steve,

I don't think it could be behind the tank as there is glass and a wooden top covering it but if the house starts stinking in a few weeks I may have to rethink that idea

You may be right about the RTBS as it seemed to be smirking at me this morning

I cleaned out the tank floor this afternoon looking for fishy remains, not even a bone left!!!

BTW the tank size is 180 litres.

 

[leongreenway]

How big is the RTBS ? how big was the gourami ?

 

[pica_nuttalli]

have you got any snails? i had a male platy and my snails eat (in less than 24 hrs) well over half of a female that died in quarantine. it was disgusting.

 

[xanthianacid]

Out of all those fish in your stock list I think the most likely culprit could be your RTBS .

Stop picking on RTBSs!!!!

Most of the time our three RTBS are happy enough doing their own thing, but they will chase off (never nip) others out of their 'territory'.

I'm just so dissappointed they have gotten such a bad name.

As for culprits - alot of Dwarf Gourami are susceptable to internal parasitical diseases. You might have not known he was carrying that problem. Guppy's are known to be nippers too, sometimes we find they are the aggressive ones in peaceful tanks. And I've heard about Barbs but never kept, they have a very bad rep too...

 

[pica_nuttalli]

er, i think the RTBS accusation was on the final disposal of the gourami... the original post seemed to indicate that it was on its last legs already when the lights went out...

 

[xanthianacid]

Most fish will eat another fish if the fish is already dead. Or almost dead (they might think it's already dead). In the big tank we've got, a fully grown angel was severely fin nipped by everyone in the tank having a go, it was awful. We got him out and hospitalised him when we knew what was going on. Sadly though he never got over it and seemed to have damage to his swim bladder, he was vertical in the water and almost always at the top. He died on Sunday. When he was at his worst most of the tank mates had a go at him. The RTBS's and the bottom dwellers did not ever have a go though. Swordfishes, other angels were definately the worst. In my experience I've never seen a RTBS being anything more than territorial ie chasing but not nipping/biting. I'm sure there might be some out there that are like that, but I think that might be just like any sort of fish really - just that RTBSs have a bad reputation that is undeserved in my observation and opinion. Maybe We've been lucky and only ever got peaceful nice RTBS, but that seems unlikely. 3/3 good behaved RTBS and counting.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

eh, i think the only reasons your bottom dwellers didn't scavenge the body is it never made it down there. like you said, pretty much any fish will munch on a dead tankmate--its a function of access, not temperament.

i agree that its a shame RTBS have gotten such a bad rep when there are so many better fish to vilify, like kissing gouramis...

 

[xanthianacid]

Thank you Pica, I'm glad someone finally decided to support me on this besides my hubby!