I've thought about setting up a hospital tank but never really was "sold" on the idea, I knew if I set up an empty tank I'd just fall in love with a fish and wind up putting it in there 
But anyway.....I have these 2 dwarf blue gouramis,male/female pair,they've been with us for 5-6 months. They started off as the 1st fish in my 42 when I set it up.I then accumulated a few cichlids in the 42 but they got along with the gouramis so I left well enough alone. After I set up my male bettas 10 and moved him from the 29, I took the gouramis out of the 42 and put them in the 29. Had a wee bit of a nitrite problem suddenly in that tank and blamed it on overstocking (turns out it was just terrible tap water and not the tank at all) so I moved the gouramis back to the 42 after about a month or 2 of being in the 29. Point being,they were oddballs in each tank but good sports about being moved, just happy to be together
I have this 3 inch baby front in the 42 who's become the boss of the other smaller...he didn't mind the gouramis coming back at all but every now and then he'd swim up close to the male and the gourami would just lean on it's side and wave his feelers as if he was going to do "kung foo" on the front or something , he would NOT back down,always standing his ground and the front would nudge him above his eye until the gourami would eventually swim out from underneath the front, but only about an inch away and that would be the end, never acted scared or anything, no brutal attack....just a nudge
I then noticed the gourami had a scale or two sticking up in that area above his eye,the front and he still did the same ritual for about a week longer before I'd had enough, I tried to no avail to catch him,but the female was easy to catch so I moved her back to the 29 and attempted to gently non-threateningly catch him over the next couple of days, by this time it had turned into a sore on his face. I finally caught him a few days ago and moved him to the 29.
The moment I put him in the 29.....the female began pecking his sore. She pecked it so bad,so quickly that it was a hole in his head
, when he would take a gulp of air the bubbles would come out the side of his head above his eye,poor little guy, but I had no where to put him in an emergency 
I ran out yesterday morning and bought a 2.5, did some re-arranging and he's now in a 2 gallon hex recovering...I hope. I gave him some colloidal silver and the flesh has already grown back over enough to stop his air from escaping his little body through the hole. No signs of infection, just a nasty boo boo
Keep your fingers crossed for him , I think he'll make it. I feel so guilty for putting him in there with the fronts but....I thought he'd be ok. I still can't decide if he's just incredibly brave or incredibly ignorant for standing up to the front like that 
So everybody...learn from my mistake and always have an extra tank handy!!!
But anyway.....I have these 2 dwarf blue gouramis,male/female pair,they've been with us for 5-6 months. They started off as the 1st fish in my 42 when I set it up.I then accumulated a few cichlids in the 42 but they got along with the gouramis so I left well enough alone. After I set up my male bettas 10 and moved him from the 29, I took the gouramis out of the 42 and put them in the 29. Had a wee bit of a nitrite problem suddenly in that tank and blamed it on overstocking (turns out it was just terrible tap water and not the tank at all) so I moved the gouramis back to the 42 after about a month or 2 of being in the 29. Point being,they were oddballs in each tank but good sports about being moved, just happy to be together
I have this 3 inch baby front in the 42 who's become the boss of the other smaller...he didn't mind the gouramis coming back at all but every now and then he'd swim up close to the male and the gourami would just lean on it's side and wave his feelers as if he was going to do "kung foo" on the front or something
, he would NOT back down,always standing his ground and the front would nudge him above his eye until the gourami would eventually swim out from underneath the front, but only about an inch away and that would be the end, never acted scared or anything, no brutal attack....just a nudgeI then noticed the gourami had a scale or two sticking up in that area above his eye,the front and he still did the same ritual for about a week longer before I'd had enough, I tried to no avail to catch him,but the female was easy to catch so I moved her back to the 29 and attempted to gently non-threateningly catch him over the next couple of days, by this time it had turned into a sore on his face. I finally caught him a few days ago and moved him to the 29.
The moment I put him in the 29.....the female began pecking his sore. She pecked it so bad,so quickly that it was a hole in his head
, when he would take a gulp of air the bubbles would come out the side of his head above his eye,poor little guy, but I had no where to put him in an emergency I ran out yesterday morning and bought a 2.5, did some re-arranging and he's now in a 2 gallon hex recovering...I hope. I gave him some colloidal silver and the flesh has already grown back over enough to stop his air from escaping his little body through the hole. No signs of infection, just a nasty boo boo
Keep your fingers crossed for him
, I think he'll make it. I feel so guilty for putting him in there with the fronts but....I thought he'd be ok. I still can't decide if he's just incredibly brave or incredibly ignorant for standing up to the front like that So everybody...learn from my mistake and always have an extra tank handy!!!
