Gourami Spitting Out Food

[lucasluke]

Just got my 2 dwarf gourami's today, earlier I tried to feed them and all the other fish ate fine, but the 2 gourami's ate the flakes then spit it back out again. Sometimes they eat the little bits but othertimes they just leave it.

Is it because they are nervous?

 

[fishprotector]

Could well be. I do not normally feed the tank on the day of adding new fish in order to let the filter catch up. As long as you aclimatised them properly then I would have thought that they will be fine once they are settled in

 

[lucasluke]

cheers - I only added about 5 flakes of food and they all got eaten so it wont harm the filter.

 

[KittyKat]

That is normal behaviour in most fish, but still be on the lookout for internal parasites and other problems because dwarf gouramis demand excellent water quality and may have too high con-specific territorial aggression for tank with the footprint of the average 12 gallon (depending on individual temperament).

 

[lucasluke]

That is normal behaviour in most fish, but still be on the lookout for internal parasites and other problems because dwarf gouramis demand excellent water quality and may have too high con-specific territorial aggression for tank with the footprint of the average 12 gallon (depending on individual temperament).

What are signs of internal parasites? They dont seem aggressive, they both hang around with each other hiding in the plants. No chasing each other or any of that behaviour.

 

[KittyKat]

That is normal behaviour in most fish, but still be on the lookout for internal parasites and other problems because dwarf gouramis demand excellent water quality and may have too high con-specific territorial aggression for tank with the footprint of the average 12 gallon (depending on individual temperament).

What are signs of internal parasites? They dont seem aggressive, they both hang around with each other hiding in the plants. No chasing each other or any of that behaviour.

There are a lot, it is best if you do some research about it. Most basic ones are sunken bellies, white and stingy poo, and worms hanging out of their arses.

Aggression very often comes out of nowhere, without any warning. If they're both female, they're probably fine, but if one is male, then you need to watch carefully. (Two males are almost guaranteed to kill each other, as I am sure you already know from your research.)

 

[lucasluke]

Just noticed something that wasn't there in the shop. In one of my guppys there is a small red worm thing hanging out of its #14###! While he was swimming some dropped out but some is still there, I cant see it anywhere else though what is it?

 

[KittyKat]

Poo or worms, is it wriggling and how thick is it?

 

[lucasluke]

It is hanging of its abdomen kind of area near the end of his body. It is hanging out around 2cm and as he was swimming around half of it broke off and floated to the bottom. I cant really tell how wide it is but it doesnt wriggle.

 

[KittyKat]

It is hanging of its abdomen kind of area near the end of his body. It is hanging out around 2cm and as he was swimming around half of it broke off and floated to the bottom. I cant really tell how wide it is but it doesnt wriggle.

That's poo

 

[lucasluke]

Phew! I started to panic after reading up on 'Camallanus' worms but after I saw some pictures I realized it wasn't what my guppy had. These worms look kinda see through but the poop was red and very log

This is my first proper time keeping fish so sorry if I am asking alot of questions!

Thanks!!

Oh and I didnt know about 2 male dwarf gouramis! I have 2 male ones

 

[KittyKat]

Oh and I didnt know about 2 male dwarf gouramis! I have 2 male ones

No offence, but how many times have you seen people getting told "research, research, research and then come back with questions"? The fish are *your* responsibility, which means *you* need to know everything you possibly can about all of them. You should be spending at least 3-6 hours reading everything you can find about every species you want to keep *before* you go and get it (you will probably know what good resources are once you have more experience, so will know what the best places to look at then and will spend less time searching for good material then). No, you can not rely on anyone else telling you what you should already know, especially not at the LFS.

So what you should have found is that most popular gouramis and Bettas have high con-familiar aggression, especially high territorial aggression between males (in other words, do not keep more than one male per tank unless the tank is quite large). Con-familiar means between members of the same family, which means between different gourami species (and technically, Bettas are gouramis). This is also why it is best to not mix different gourami species.

You will need to take one of the males back to the LFS or you will come home to one or both of them dead one day.

 

[lucasluke]

I was looking in this forum about Dwarf gourami's for ages. In the F.A.Q there is no mention of not keeping 2 together.
I cant get back to the LFS for a week or so, so unless I can sort something else out then they will have to stay there until next time I go.

 

[ripil]

my golden gourami always spits out food and has been happy in the tank for months now. i put it down to gouramis being anabantoids as my male fighter does the same thing. they breathe oxygen so might just feel full up already. my friends paradise fish all do it too so i think its a labyrinth thing.

 

[KittyKat]

I was looking in this forum about Dwarf gourami's for ages. In the F.A.Q there is no mention of not keeping 2 together.

You should be looking at more than just this forum: it is impossible for a single source to cover absolutely everything and not everything you see on this forum is correct or true. Try looking at the first 10-20 results in a search engine and taking the average.

A search for "dwarf gourami aggression", and you do want to know about the aggression of a species, gives me mostly results which say things along the lines of "dwarf gourami… males… territorial… aggressive towards other males… mix males only in large tanks".

I cant get back to the LFS for a week or so, so unless I can sort something else out then they will have to stay there until next time I go.

If they're still young, you will be lucky. You need to have something else ready, if only a divider or a large plastic bottle with the top cut off and tiny holes in the sides that can be sat in the main tank and one of the gourami can go into.