My first ever tank!

[ambrosia0448 28]

Dead fish below VVV

Well Bel died
It's my first unknown reason death...
The only abnormal thing was the vertical line, but she ate on friday and was swimming and foraging, I left on saturday (they fast that day either way) and when I came back today, she was at the bottom of the tank completely white and eaten up...
I checked ammonia and nitrite and both are 0 and my other 3 gouramis ate the food normally...

I'm sooo sad, I only had her for a month and she was the only wild caught honey I had...
My parents told me I'm dumb for crying over a fish but I loved her a lot too, she was one of MY fish

I'd really want to know why she died to see if it was contagious or a parasyte or something but she's in no state for a necropsy (and I don't think any vet here do fish necropsies) so I've burried her

 

[gwand50 166]

Sorry for your loss. I wonder if wild caught fish are more susceptible to diseases from fish farmed fish? And vice versa. I try not to mix my wild caught fish with fish farmed fish, just in case.

 

[Naughts50 122]

Sorry for your loss.
Your parents are wrong on this one. Crying over a fish shows you are a caring, responsible and dedicated person so keep up the good work.
Fish loss is sad but unfortunately part of the hobby. It’s a shame that we often don’t know the reason. You did your best and no one can do any more than that.

 

[ambrosia0448 28]

Sorry for your loss. I wonder if wild caught fish are more susceptible to diseases from fish farmed fish? And vice versa. I try not to mix my wild caught fish with fish farmed fish, just in case.

I thought about that too in my search for the cause... I've seen fish are normally quarentined for 1 month and she died 1 month and 2 days after getting with me so maybe she had an internal disease, or a lesion I could not see...
The vertical line was an interesting thing that showed up, can fish bleed internally too? maybe it was something akin to a bruise? she wasn't really bullied, she was a strong girl

 

[ambrosia0448 28]

Sorry for your loss.
Your parents are wrong on this one. Crying over a fish shows you are a caring, responsible and dedicated person so keep up the good work.
Fish loss is sad but unfortunately part of the hobby. It’s a shame that we often don’t know the reason. You did your best and no one can do any more than that.

Thanks a lot for your words, they mean a lot to me
I have a dedicated page and google doc to keep memory of my fallen babies, this was the first recognizable fish per say, as the rasboras and shrimp aren't really distinguishable like my gouramis
I hope the other 3 last at least 6 years here! I may have to get a new female though, as I'm not happy with a 2M1F ratio... But no more wild ones ;-; finding a female honey gourami is so difficult...

 

[MuddyWaters]

In my experience, fish just die. There definitely have been times when something I did killed them, but in many cases, I would argue most cases (in more recent years anyway ), it's been something out of my control. My opinion is that there is so much going on with fishes and their environment that we don't know about, that it's difficult to know in most cases what happened. I can just do what I know is proven to be good for them and try not to make the mistakes I've made over again and move on.

You'll lose less because you're careful and you care about them, but it'll happen and it ain't your fault.

 

[JCinPA]

What MuddyWaters just said. I've killed a few while I was learning, but now I'm keeping perfect water, taking good care of them, and I, too, got a quarantine tank. Had a Cobra Guppy I brought home from PetSmart and he looked fine for a few days, was eating. Then one morning he's on the bottom PetSmart replaced him and the new guy seems fine. but for whatever reasons, probably some stressor out of our control, some of them just up and die on us.

God willing it's just that particular fish, though. Not something spreading in your tank.

 

[ambrosia0448 28]

What MuddyWaters just said. I've killed a few while I was learning, but now I'm keeping perfect water, taking good care of them, and I, too, got a quarantine tank. Had a Cobra Guppy I brought home from PetSmart and he looked fine for a few days, was eating. Then one morning he's on the bottom PetSmart replaced him and the new guy seems fine. but for whatever reasons, probably some stressor out of our control, some of them just up and die on us.

God willing it's just that particular fish, though. Not something spreading in your tank.

My other female seems a bit paler than usual but she is swimming eating and foraging correctly and the water params are ok so I don't know, I even removed the air stone because it was too much surface movement for my honeys

 

[ambrosia0448 28]

Mango, my dominant male has been more "aggresive" than usual after Bel's death. He chases Kira more and is even chasing my female Sol, which he had not done before!
They do like 1-2 laps and then start eating from the roots of frogbit or the moss together or one goes into hiding in the plants and it looks like Mango tries to bite the tail. I've been checking Sol's and Kira's tails and bodies for injuries like 5 times a day but they seem healthy.
I've thought about putting mango in a small container like 5L with a cloth over it for like 10 minutes to try to reset his aggresion (Im not even sure if its territorial aggresion) but I'm afraid of hurting him more than doing good!

 

[gwand50 166]

Mango, my dominant male has been more "aggresive" than usual after Bel's death. He chases Kira more and is even chasing my female Sol, which he had not done before!
They do like 1-2 laps and then start eating from the roots of frogbit or the moss together or one goes into hiding in the plants and it looks like Mango tries to bite the tail. I've been checking Sol's and Kira's tails and bodies for injuries like 5 times a day but they seem healthy.
I've thought about putting mango in a small container like 5L with a cloth over it for like 10 minutes to try to reset his aggresion (Im not even sure if its territorial aggresion) but I'm afraid of hurting him more than doing good!

I am no fish behaviorist, but my gut tells me that your proposed intervention will not work.

 

[ambrosia0448 28]

My female Sol and Kira are acting strange, idk if it's flirting or fighting? (Second 48ish)
Mango is chasing (no more than 1 lap but still chasing) both Sol and Kira
Kira likes being on the bottom right of the tank, Sol loves being under the moss on the middle and Mango hangs out on the back right.
Whenever the males get near the middle part sometimes Sol will chase them.
I'm checking daily for injuries, fin ripping or anything wrong but they seem good
No bubble nests made (they did one but it got undone pretty quick)

some people are telling me Sol (below) is a male and the video is fighting but I thought the orange tips on the fins where a female indicator?

 

[ambrosia0448 28]

Also, does she look fat, bloated or eggbound? at the end it can be seen better, I'm going to fast them this weekend 2 days instead of 1

 

[ambrosia0448 28]

Does she? Look like a trichogaster lalius or a honey gourami? She's pretty big too, around 8cm I think? Or more idk I'll measure her better tomorrow

 

[MattW50 166]

I don't know much about Gouramis, but that one in the video had a much rounder head shape than the honeys I've seen in shops and kept before.

 

[ambrosia0448 28]

I don't know much about Gouramis, but that one in the video had a much rounder head shape than the honeys I've seen in shops and kept before.

right? It said colisa chuna on the tag (even if they are now trichogaster) and she was the biggest! People on reddit have said she's a honey. All the dwarfs I've seen have a kind of "dip" on their skull?
Like this ->

But she is pretty rotound LOL
She's still hiding so I'll update in a few weeks to see how she is doing!
Also my confirmed honey female is pretty fat/eggbound/bloated? I think it's just fat so I'll do a friday and saturday fast instead of just saturday and give the brine shrimp on thursday instead of friday!