How To....

[l.michelle]

Take care of a Gourami?

The reason I am starting a new topic, please forgive me, but this is an emergency. At the pet store in town, they have 3 Golden Gouramis, two of them are chasing the third one around biting him constantly, the poor thing has no tail left. I, of course, told the lady that works there, she went to take a look, i followed, she told me that there is nothing she can do, and that they will probably continue until it dies.

I don't want that poor thing to die, but I know nothing about Gouramis. I have 5 bettas, so I know about fish but not this type.

Can you please anyone tell me what size tank is good for one, can one live on its own? What food? Medication to help him? what ideal water stats would be? If they like gravel or sand? How heavily planted?

I feel so bad for this poor fish that I want to buy him and fix him. Please let me know, I am very worried about him!

 

[Majjie]

Hi l.michelle

I haven't kept golden gouramis but I'd guess that you'd need at least a 20g tank for one. I believe their maximum size is about 6 inches.

I think keeping one is fine - they are only aggressive to other three spot gouramis, so you could have a few companions if you wanted. It'll be the time scale that's tricky - if you're setting up a new tank - no time to cycle the tank.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Gouramis basically need the same sort of care that bettas do, however gouramis need more of a real tank setup as opposed to the smaller spaces bettas can be kept in.

Spawning is handled in a similar fashion as well.

Part of the problem in the fish store is they are in a smaller open tank. If they were in a larger space with plants etc to break up lines of sight and provide hiding places the problem would probably not be happening.

 

[sylvia]

There is a big difference between how most people keep bettas and how most people keep other gouramies (BTW, bettas are gouramies). I personaly keep both the same way and don't like keeping betta splendens in tiny 1 gallon tanks but this is a totally irrelevant matter so I'll stop rambling and get to the point

You need at least a 20 gallonbut, if the fish is a male, many other fish won't work with him so you may find it difficult to satisfy your plans for the tank later on. Just keep that in mind as you may well need to stick with bottom-dwellers and/or some hardy mid-water fish. other gouramies are not going to be an option realisticaly speaking. If you get a larger tank than 30, you may be able to include more three-spots later on but it'll be touch and go as to whether things work out.

The tank will need to be cycled. Most betta owners don't bother with cycling (which I think actualy isn't realy a good idea as bettas would also benefit from having stable conditions in cases where their owner can't manage a water change on time) but this won't be an option with a fish that lives in a larger tank and certainly not a good idea for an injured fish that'll be especialy prone to disease. The only solution iI can suggest would be to ask your LFS for some old filter media and gravel to take home along with your fish - that'll supply at least some of the 'good' bacteria you need for the tank to cycle quickly. Next you'll obviously need a filter to put that filter media in though preferably one with an adjustable flow as, like bettas, three-spots preffer a gently current. A heater is also necessary though I'd reccomend the temp. be kept at about 77 deg F when you first bring the fish home so that the fish is less likely to develop secondary infections over the injury.

Food is the same as with bettas and three-spots like having lots of plants (it encourages them to be more active and come out more often as well). Like bettas, male three-spots may build bubblenests occasionaly even when they are without females and they'll usualy incorporate some floating plants or bits of soft plants into their nest to make it more stable. Floating plants and tall rooted plants are, actualy, rather important for making them feel at home.

Once the fish has recovered and settled in, you'll probably find it's one of the hardiest you've ever owned. Three-spots are also one of (if not the) easiest gouramies to breed but, like I said, also one of the most aggressive so I wouldn't breed until after researching the subject quite thoroughly.

I don't know whether you know how to sex these fish - males have a mroe pointed and longer dorsal fin whereas the female's is rounded and eventualy turns out to be only about half the length of the male's. Also, females are seeper-bodied and appear wider when viewed from above. Males are more streamlined and slimmer but watch out for 'hollow-looking' individuals as this could be a sign of internal bacterial infection. I'm mentioning this here, in particular, because of the state you've described the fish as being in - it could well be ill as the stress from being bullied will have made it more susceptible to disease.

Good luck regardless of what you decide to do