Dwarf Gouramis - Hardy?

[ShyKitty91]

Hello,

I have been researching which fish to get for my 30G aquarium for some time now and wanted another opinion and/or advice.
It has an appropriate heater and a filter meant for a 70G (was given to me, figured it would be better in the long run.) Also has an air pump. I intend to put a male dwarf gourami, 3 angels, and a apple snail in it (only one snail because breeding would be.. Very bad.) Also, the pH seems to hover around 8-8.2 and the temp, even when fiddling with the heater dial, seems to stay around 25-27C. I intend to do 1/4 water changes every weekend when cycling and then every second when established. I have to get my water from another town (ours has high sulfur and iron and is yellow and is sickening to even humans even when filtered.)

My question, however, is about the dwarf gourami. My tank is new (a week old on Saturday). And I have read on a number of sites that dwarf gouramis are hardy and can be used to help cycle. True? I would like to get something in there.

I intended to buy a few taller plants when I get my gourami (for the angels to hide in.) Any suggestions on where to put them?

 

[LittleMissDynamite]

Hello,

I have been researching which fish to get for my 30G aquarium for some time now and wanted another opinion and/or advice.
It has an appropriate heater and a filter meant for a 70G (was given to me, figured it would be better in the long run.) Also has an air pump. I intend to put a male dwarf gourami, 3 angels, and a apple snail in it (only one snail because breeding would be.. Very bad.) Also, the pH seems to hover around 8-8.2 and the temp, even when fiddling with the heater dial, seems to stay around 25-27C. I intend to do 1/4 water changes every weekend when cycling and then every second when established. I have to get my water from another town (ours has high sulfur and iron and is yellow and is sickening to even humans even when filtered.)

My question, however, is about the dwarf gourami. My tank is new (a week old on Saturday). And I have read on a number of sites that dwarf gouramis are hardy and can be used to help cycle. True? I would like to get something in there.

I intended to buy a few taller plants when I get my gourami (for the angels to hide in.) Any suggestions on where to put them?

Hello,
I wouldnt go for dawrf Gouramis.I have found them very tricky indeed and lost two out of three.You say your tank is a week old.Has it gone through the nitrogen cycle yet? Make sure you get a water test before you put any fish in. I found putting four Danios in did the trick and were very hardy.

 

[ShyKitty91]

Hello,
I wouldnt go for dawrf Gouramis.I have found them very tricky indeed and lost two out of three.You say your tank is a week old.Has it gone through the nitrogen cycle yet? Make sure you get a water test before you put any fish in. I found putting four Danios in did the trick and were very hardy.

That's what I was thinking at first. But I don't want danios in my tank for the long run and they take forever to die. My mom had danios, mollys, platys, etc. and her danios lived 4 years longer than the rest. Even after she stopped cleaning the tank and filter.... Which is really mean..

With one dwarf gourami, 3 angels, and an apple snail the tank would be 95% stocked. If I get danios I wouldn't be able to get my gourmai until they die.

I am not sure what part of the cycle it is in. Ammonia levels are at 2 or so right now and there's barely any NO2. I don't have a NO3 test though.

What else could you recommend? I love the color of the male gourami. I considered the honey gourami too.. But I heard they are harder to take care of then dwarfs. I have also considered a male betta.. But he will put my angels through hell.

Really I was just wondering if dwarf gouramis are hardy enough for it to not be cruel to put it in there.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Please don't use ANY fish while cycling your tank, which will take several weeks. Click on the "New to Fishkeeping?" link below my sig to see what you should be doing.

If you end up getting fish before the tank is ready, you'll need to do at LEAST daily 50% water changes. If you can manage to get some mature filter media from a friend or LFS (local fish store) that would be the very best you could do.

Please read the beginner's section. Please.

And by the way, the rocks you have as your substrate are going to be hell to clean.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[ShyKitty91]

Please don't use ANY fish while cycling your tank, which will take several weeks. Click on the "New to Fishkeeping?" link below my sig to see what you should be doing.

If you end up getting fish before the tank is ready, you'll need to do at LEAST daily 50% water changes. If you can manage to get some mature filter media from a friend or LFS (local fish store) that would be the very best you could do.

Please read the beginner's section. Please.

And by the way, the rocks you have as your substrate are going to be hell to clean.

Welcome to the forum!

I'm not a beginner but thank you. Though it has been many years since I've had to cycle a tank and I've never cycled a tank as big. I'm graduating from walmart fish you could say.

The whole filter is from a friends tank, their last fish had died after 10 or so years and they didn't want another one. The rocks aren't as bad to clean as you would think. Maybe I'm just used to cleaning them, I don't know. They are sparse as they were originally in a 15G, part of the back doesn't have any rocks at all.

Thanks for the welcome.
Joined to mingle with other fish keepers. Learn from others experience. Plus the lady at the pet store that always seems to be there when I go in is.. Well.. Doesn't know alot about fish and going to her for any kind of fish advice would be pointless.

 

[Didge007]

I own a dwarf gourami male and while I consider him to be one of the hardiest in my tanks...he's not hardy enough to use for a 'fish-in' cycle. If your considering a 'fish-in' cycle I would recommend heading to the beginners centre and reading up on it. I realise you say your not a beginner, however there is a lot of really good information over there

 

[Carlovel1]

Dwarf Gouramis normally are not hardy . They are very susceptible to infection and disease, and most of them actually actually already carry a disease when you buy them. Read up on Dwarf Gourami disease and peoples experiences of them to understand them a bit better. Wild Dwarf Gouramis tend to be hardier though and Honey Gouramis are great alternatives, but you will need to 'fishlessly' cycle your tank before adding any fish.

 

[trianglekitty]

Unfortunately Dwarf Gouramis are very vulnerable. Many of them are infected with Dwarf Gourami disease, which is always fatal. My dwarf gourami managed to survive six months after onset of symptoms, but that was only because I did daily water changes every day and dosed the poor thing with everything under the sun. I would never have exposed him to the ammonia in a cycling tank.

I can't even support buying them when they are knowingly sold with this virus- instead of breeding for flashy color, they need to focus on breeding for health.

 

[ShyKitty91]

I own a dwarf gourami male and while I consider him to be one of the hardiest in my tanks...he's not hardy enough to use for a 'fish-in' cycle. If your considering a 'fish-in' cycle I would recommend heading to the beginners centre and reading up on it. I realise you say your not a beginner, however there is a lot of really good information over there

Ah, all my experience is with the very common, very cheap fish you get at walmart. That's why I was asking. I have been reading up on dwarf gouramis (and angels, for months actually) and read mixed things. Ranging from "very hardy, great fish-in cycling fish" to "I wouldn't get gouramis at all they die too easily."

I think I am just gonna cycle it like I did when I cycled my first tank. Bottle of cycle as per instructions and a pinch of crushed to a powder fish food every few days. The water I am using now seems to be cycling faster though, it's softer.

I remember growing so attached my fish that I cried for days after one would die. And I don't really want that to happen again.

 

[ShyKitty91]

Dwarf Gouramis normally are not hardy . They are very susceptible to infection and disease, and most of them actually actually already carry a disease when you buy them. Read up on Dwarf Gourami disease and peoples experiences of them to understand them a bit better. Wild Dwarf Gouramis tend to be hardier though and Honey Gouramis are great alternatives, but you will need to 'fishlessly' cycle your tank before adding any fish.

Unfortunately Dwarf Gouramis are very vulnerable. Many of them are infected with Dwarf Gourami disease, which is always fatal. My dwarf gourami managed to survive six months after onset of symptoms, but that was only because I did daily water changes every day and dosed the poor thing with everything under the sun. I would never have exposed him to the ammonia in a cycling tank.

I can't even support buying them when they are knowingly sold with this virus- instead of breeding for flashy color, they need to focus on breeding for health.

Are honey gouramis less likely to have this disease or..? All the reading I've done on dwarf gouramis never mentioned them being susceptible to illness so I didn't know to look more into it. The person at the LPS I spoke to about them didn't mention anything either. Figures.

 

[ShyKitty91]

I found the site that initally set me looking for info on dwarf gouramis as a fish-in cycling fish.
www (dot) aquariumpros (dot) com /articles /fishcyclefw (dot) shtml

After research I had ruled out alot of the suggestions in the gourami section.

PS. I apologize if posting a site is not allowed.

 

[philrag11]

Hi,

I'm only a newbie myself but just thought I'd add a few comments from what I've learnt during my fishless cycle...

Firstly I can highly recommend the beginner's section which despite the title has some pretty detailed information and is well worth reading through.

The general consensus seems to be that fishless cycling is the most humane way of cycling a tank, as regardless of how hardy a fish is you are still basically exposing it to 'poison' which doesn't seem fair even for the most hardy of fish!

I would highly recommend the 'add and wait' method of fishless cycling using ammonia. That way you can easily monitor the levels of ammonia you are adding - a lot more accurate I would imagine than 'guesstimating' with fish food.

Apologies if you've already read through all the fishless cycling info - I'm from the UK so don't know what your experience is when you say you've had "walmart fish"? Also I wouldn't know how easy it is to get pure ammonia to do a fishless cycle although I'm sure someone would be able to advice you as to where it can be bought....

Regards

Phil

 

[ShyKitty91]

Hi,

I'm only a newbie myself but just thought I'd add a few comments from what I've learnt during my fishless cycle...

Firstly I can highly recommend the beginner's section which despite the title has some pretty detailed information and is well worth reading through.

The general consensus seems to be that fishless cycling is the most humane way of cycling a tank, as regardless of how hardy a fish is you are still basically exposing it to 'poison' which doesn't seem fair even for the most hardy of fish!

I would highly recommend the 'add and wait' method of fishless cycling using ammonia. That way you can easily monitor the levels of ammonia you are adding - a lot more accurate I would imagine than 'guesstimating' with fish food.

Apologies if you've already read through all the fishless cycling info - I'm from the UK so don't know what your experience is when you say you've had "walmart fish"? Also I wouldn't know how easy it is to get pure ammonia to do a fishless cycle although I'm sure someone would be able to advice you as to where it can be bought....

Regards

Phil

I am very aware of all the ways to cycle a tank, I've read and reread over 10 different ways to do so over the last few months. The ammonia used for cycling is $30 a bottle where I live (opposed to $5 for med. sized can of fish food.) Adding ammonia is still a guess. Hardness of water and pH influences the ammonia you put in your tank.

I assume you are refering to the process of adding ammonia until it hits a reading of 5 and testing twice a day for two weeks to make sure it stays at that level. If that be water changes or adding more ammonia. Then for the next amount of time doing 1/4 tank changes every few days waiting for it to go back down to zero.

Walmart fish are various danios, guppys, mollys, goldfish, betta, minnows etc. I've never seen a fish, other than betta, sold for more then $3 there. Recently I haven't seen any fish at all at any of the walmarts my family goes too.

Right now I have a filter full of "seeds" and using a product to cycle. Adding fish food would only be to speed the process up even more.

 

[trianglekitty]

Dwarf Gouramis normally are not hardy . They are very susceptible to infection and disease, and most of them actually actually already carry a disease when you buy them. Read up on Dwarf Gourami disease and peoples experiences of them to understand them a bit better. Wild Dwarf Gouramis tend to be hardier though and Honey Gouramis are great alternatives, but you will need to 'fishlessly' cycle your tank before adding any fish.

Unfortunately Dwarf Gouramis are very vulnerable. Many of them are infected with Dwarf Gourami disease, which is always fatal. My dwarf gourami managed to survive six months after onset of symptoms, but that was only because I did daily water changes every day and dosed the poor thing with everything under the sun. I would never have exposed him to the ammonia in a cycling tank.

I can't even support buying them when they are knowingly sold with this virus- instead of breeding for flashy color, they need to focus on breeding for health.

Are honey gouramis less likely to have this disease or..? All the reading I've done on dwarf gouramis never mentioned them being susceptible to illness so I didn't know to look more into it. The person at the LPS I spoke to about them didn't mention anything either. Figures.

It only affects dwarf gouramis and their color variates (sunset gouramis, powder blues, etc.). Honey gouramis are a different species and are not affected.

Here's a link with more information: http/bettatrading.com.au/Dwarf-Gourami-Fact-Sheet.php

 

[ShyKitty91]

It only affects dwarf gouramis and their color variates (sunset gouramis, powder blues, etc.). Honey gouramis are a different species and are not affected.

Here's a link with more information: http/bettatrading.com.au/Dwarf-Gourami-Fact-Sheet.php

Ah! Thank you kindly.