Need Guidance

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enchanted

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I lost my Gourami today. He was actually my favorite fish overall in the tank.

Before anyone goes asking questions I will answer probably all of them:
No external signs or symptoms.
No actions of stress yesterday
Water parameters are checked daily and average amm 0 nitri 0 nitrate 5 to 8 PH 7.4 KH 120 GH 120

This is in my 125 Gallon Community tank.

He has been in the tank almost two weeks and just suddenly died.

So, here are my questions. First was it just bad luck or could something else in my tank have caused this?

10xGuppys
7xCorys
2xKuhlis
2x Black Phantom Tetras
4xOtos

Misc Guppy and Cory Fry

Also, do Dwarf Gouramis need to be in Groups?

I was hoping to breed these gouramis as a learning experience, plus a few extra dollars at my LFS (wouldn't be much because they aren't an expensive fish).

None of the other fish in the tank are having problems. In fact the Black Phantom Tetra that freaked me out has recovered nicely, other than I have named her funky because she does loopedy loops in the tank occasionaly. :)

Any advice/info please.
 
From what I've read on this forum (and seen at LFSs) dwarf gouramis aren't very healthy fish in general, and often die of many reasons :dunno:
 
Then the question would be what type of fish should I replace them with?
 
The fish could of been ill at the lfs, also what was the ph of the lfs to your tank.
 
Just get some honey gouramies (not dwarfs) if you want something similarly-sized. However they look substantialy smaller for some reason. You can keep several males and females plus females are just as easy to get hold of. Alternatively, get a pair of pearls - or several females and a male or two. If you want to breed, the easiest (and hardiest) is the three-spot (blue/opaline/golden) gourami. However, you should only get one male and at least 2 females as they can be very aggressive. They aren't too bad with other fish but you may need to exchange fish until you find compatible ones. Another option, though larger, are the moonlight gouramies. They are almost as peaceful as pearls and about the same difficulty to breed.
 
The LFS was 7.6. He is about 6 blocks from me and has the same tap water I do.

The only reason mine is now down to 7.4 is because I installed a new CO2 Reactor.

This is something that has been bothering me though because I have read it on multiple sites:
"Most Gouramis live best in a group with at least 3 males, and about twice as many females. So you might decide to order 3 males and 5 females. One male and one female, or two males, is not a good combination."
 
That's from aquariumfish.net isn't it? :p I just saw it yesterday.

It's also not entirely true. Most gouramies do fine on their own. It's true that they enjoy company but keeping them in pairs is usualy fine - provided they aren't of a particularly aggressive species. Keeping two males together depends. Sometimes they will fight, sometimes they'll get along. Dwarfs, pearls and moonlight males generaly get along in an adequately sized tank. They just need to establish territories. Honeys aren't particularly aggressive but females should out-number males to keep the males from chasing one all the time and two males doesn't work too well cause the dominant one will pester the subordinate fish constantly. Three-spots are usualy difficult to keep in pairs and 2 males usualy results in dead fish. It's also possible to keep mixed gouramies - such as dwarfs with pearls but it all depends on the species and the individual fish.
 
You could order one online. Are you going to get a dwarf after all then?
 
If I stay with Gouramis and do not go with another type of fish it needs to be dwarf to fit in with the stocking I am doing.

I don't want any larger fish in the tank.
 
Did you see my post above? I reccomended honeys... colisa chunae/sota.
 
Oh, and if you can find them, thick-lipped gouramies - colisa labiosa- are only fractionaly larger and just as, if not more, peaceful.
 

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