Female Dwarf Gourami

[Matthew5664]

Hi there anyone got an answer to my question?

I recently bought a pair of Dwarf Gouramies for my aqu. The male is settling in fine and feeding from the top however the female seems to be very shy hiding is the plants and only coming out for the sunken flakes! Is this normal behaviour or is something wrong??? Food?




30 Gallon/120 Litres
7.2 pH
NH4 0
NO2 3mg/litre
NO3 0.1/litre
26.5 C /79 F

 

[kimbowee]

Part of the problem may be that your tank still has a nitrIte reading. How long has your tank been running and what other fish are in there? When did you add these Gouramies? Also, when you say pair do you mean 1 male & 1 female? I know the females are extremely hard to come by where I am from as most LFS only sell male. Maybe there could also be an agression problem.

Also, what else are you feeding besides flake? Gourami also need live or frozen foods such as brine shrimp, bloodworms or daphia.

I am no Gourami expert. Was hoping if you answered these questions to start maybe you could get a little more help from other people too.

 

[sylvia]

Any nitrIte reading is toxic to fish so that's part of the problem. Do a water change to bring it down and hopefuly your tank is almost fully cycled anyway.

Then answer all those questions.

Once your tank is fully cycled, if you aren't over-stocked (answer the previous poster's question and we'll let you know) and if the fish are all compatible, it would be a good idea to add one more female as dwarfs are better kept as trios (1 male, 2 females) rather than as pairs. This would also make her feel safer, less stressed and encourage her to come out more. HOWEVER, don't think about adding ANY more fish until the tank is fully cycled and stable and only if you're certain you have room for more fish.