I Seem To Have A Mental Pearl Gourami

[BFG]

Hi all,

I've got a 40 (UK) gallon dual filtered planted community. Tank stocking is in my sig. All the fish are doing great, tank has been established for 6 months post fishless cycling. Levels are fine - NH3 0, NO2 0, NO3 30 to 40. Lights are on 8 hrs a day.

For a while now, my male gourami has been a bit odd. Sometimes, if he sees any movement outside the tank, he'll completely flip out, panicking and hiding behind plants/bogwood, sometimes swimming into the gravel. As I say, generally going nuts. Other times, he'll sit there with me right next to the tank, perfectly happy. He didn't do this when we first got him, so I'm not quite sure what's up. And as far as I'm aware we haven't changed any routines, we don't have any other pets that would scare him, and I really do try to do everything I can to keep the little guys happy.

The other problem is - he freaks out, which then panics my female pearl, and she hides too. Things have been better since getting some platys as I think them swimming around reassures him - but it's still pretty bad.

Any ideas on how to sort this / what caused it? I do have an approx 10 gal tank I could put him in if it helps, but I'll have to get it cycled first.

Thanks,

Andy.

 

[sylvia]

What else is in your tank? The first thing I'd do is check the filter current isn't very strong and then buy lots of floating and tall-growing plants to add to the tank. If you don't have any already, get yourself some small schooling fish - harlequin rasboras are ideal - and get rid of anything overly-active, nippy or out-right aggressive. I'd then consider buying a couple more female pearls of about the same size as your two current gouramies. Pearl gouramies are quite social and do better in groups than as pairs or alone and they are more active and outgoing this way. They are one of the few gouramies that will, in effect, 'school' in an aquarium setting. You'll probably also find your male willr eact very positively to the addition of new females - likely coloring up ebautifuly and building a bubblenest if he's old enough to spawn.

 

[BFG]

Thanks for your reply Sylvia.

What else is in your tank? The first thing I'd do is check the filter current isn't very strong and then buy lots of floating and tall-growing plants to add to the tank. If you don't have any already, get yourself some small schooling fish - harlequin rasboras are ideal - and get rid of anything overly-active, nippy or out-right aggressive.

I've got a load of Vallis (straight which is really tall and some twisted) that all the fish swim in and out of occasionally, some Java fern and a fake cabomba ( I can never get the real stuff to survive) that is almost up to the surface. Surface agitation isn't that strong, although due to the hot weather it's been increased for the last month or so. I did have some hornwort floating around at one point, but I had to get rid as it was making a right mess of that tank, and wasnt staying in one area of the tank.

I've got 4 platies that tend to hang around together, and 11 neons that school. I haven't seen any nipping going on - my bristlenose is a little beggar occasionally, but she only chases my cories.

I'd then consider buying a couple more female pearls of about the same size as your two current gouramies. Pearl gouramies are quite social and do better in groups than as pairs or alone and they are more active and outgoing this way. They are one of the few gouramies that will, in effect, 'school' in an aquarium setting. You'll probably also find your male willr eact very positively to the addition of new females - likely coloring up ebautifuly and building a bubblenest if he's old enough to spawn.

I did have 2 females, but one died within a few weeks of purchase (I posted on tff to get some help at the time) and although I medicated the tank, it looks as though she died of a bacterial infection.

The shop I bought my gouramis from were selling young adults, so my male and female are probably close to full size. My male is a gorgeous red colour - even when he's hiding!!

Although I've got the internal Juwel filter and an Eheim classic 2217, could my tank take another 2 gouramis (in terms of both space they'd have for territory and loading on the filter)? I was a bit paranoid about going to my current level and asked around on TFF, but if it's what I need to do, then that's what I need to do! I guess I'd have to find 2 that were a similar size to the ones I've got to prevent bullying?

 

[sylvia]

Adding another couple of females should be fine. But, yes, you'll need to find two that are also fully grown.

BTW, an increase in temperature could also be responsible for aggitated behaviour so lowering it slightly (but not much and only gradualy) could help.

I also still think you should add some floating plants though ti sounds like the tank ahs plenty of tall plants.

 

[BFG]

Adding another couple of females should be fine. But, yes, you'll need to find two that are also fully grown.

BTW, an increase in temperature could also be responsible for aggitated behaviour so lowering it slightly (but not much and only gradualy) could help.

I also still think you should add some floating plants though ti sounds like the tank ahs plenty of tall plants.

ok. I'll start hunting around. Based on the fact I last one of the 3 I bought last time to disease, I'll set up a quarantine tank this time around I reckon.

Didn't think of the temp issue. Unfortunately I couldn't lower it due to the hot weather, but it's back down to 25ish degrees now. It was at 24 so hopefully as the weather has cooled off it'll naturally get back to that temp eventually.

Any suggestions for decent floating plants? In desperation I've even tried pondweed but my filter did its job and got rid of all of it!!

Thanks for all your help

 

[sylvia]

Your filter managing to get rid of the pondweed might mean your filter's current is a little too strong.

Anyway - personaly, I'm hopeless with plants and use duckweed in many of my temporary (eg: growout) gourami tanks. Unfortunately, this is messy so not the best for a display tank - but the fish adore it.

In my main tanks I have found that I can easily grow Hygrophila polysperma and H. corymbosa of various varieties (there are several). All grow extremely quickly and soon reach and pass the water's surface. With some of the more broad-leaved varieties (eg: H. corymbosa "stricta" or H. corymbosa "siamensis") this means I get a layer of leaves covering the surface that act pretty much like floating plants in that they provide shade. Simialrly, the narrow leaved varieties grow to the surface and then float as they don't have stems strong enough to support their wait above water. They don't need any extra lighting and I don't bother with fertilisers, CO2, special substrates or anything like that. They can be trimmed and the cutting planted and they'll overtake your tank if you let them and they grow red/brown/pink leaves as they approach the source of light which makes them very pretty. Thankfuly, with all the varieties, even I can manage planted tanks - with color and texture to boot.

Another beautiful plant I've read about and seen in tanks but have never managed to get hold of is 'stargrass' - Heteranthera zosterifolia. It needs quite a bit of light and does better in softer water but apparently is otherwise quite adaptable and grows rapidly to form floating clumps near the surface. It also produces beautiful flowers when the light levels are high enough and is a beautiful shade of green. I probably wouldn't be able to grow it - looking at my past record - but most other people probably could

A rather pretty but light-loving floating species I keep coming across is Eared watermoss (Salvinia auriculata). I've never kept any because I suspect I wouldn't have the lighting for it but it looks very attractive and would be perfect for gouramies.

Realy, the species doesn't matter (provided it'll grow in your tank though obviously ) as long as it's one that'll grow right to (or over) the surface and provided it is relatively thick/clumping. Vallisneria is nice but it doesn't provide the sort of security fish get from things like polysperma or stargrass because it's quite sparse and then java fern, unfortunately, doesn't realy provide much shelter to top-dwelling fish.

Again, I'll recommend the Hygrophila species (and though I've only tried corymbosa and polysperma, I suspect the majority of species in this genus have simialr requirements - or lack there of ).

 

[BFG]

Sylvia,

Thanks for your comprehensive reply! I've redirected the filter outlets into the glass so there's a lot less current (but still some surface agitation)

I've ordered several of the plants you suggested so I'll see how it goes with that - some of them look great, so I can see some of the Vallis coming out! If I feel I need to do more, I'll go down the additional females route.

Thanks again,

Andy

 

[BFG]

Sylvia,

Thanks for your advice on the plants. I've got quite a few of the ones suggested and things seem much better. Really chuffed with the hygrophilia and watermoss, so thanks! I'd never heard of them before...

Ta,

Andy