Briarmoor
Fish Crazy
I added a baby gourami to my 55g last night. She was fine when I got her out of the bag after acclimation. She ate and got used to the black phantom tetras and pleco. I have no idea how old she is, but she has a rounded babyish face and is not quite an inch long.
This a.m. my husband saw her get stuck on the intake of the filter. He turned it down and she wiggled off and seemed okay. He called me at work later saying she'd gotten stuck again, even with the filter turned down and he didn't know how long she'd been there. Her body was bent and after he turned the filter almost off she sank to the bottom doing some gulping. He helped her up with the net and she started getting normal. He kept the filter almost off until I got off work.
I tried to find a fry net for the tank at Walmart with no luck (it was Sunday and everything else was closed). So I set up the baby gourami in a clean fish bucket with a filter and temp like the big tank. Stress coat to help heal any scrapes and make the water safe. She appears okay and eating. She is not getting sucked into the little filter because it is not as powerful.
Questions:
Wondering if she lost scales? Damaged fins? Internal organ damage?
How long until she is big enough to put back into the big tank safely?
Should I treat her for secondary bacterial from all the getting banged up or wait and see if she gets ill?
How long should I leave her in the bucket to make sure she isn't ill? I can do partial water changes each day to keep ammonia down since the bucket isn't cycled. I could move her to the 20g, but don't know if the adult gourami would pick on her. I don't know how strong the intake is on the 20g filter, but not like the 55g.
She is such a cute fish and I hate I didn't know she wasn't big enough yet to swim strongly to avoid a powerful filter. Poor baby.
Is there anything else I should be aware of with a very young fish? I am surprised Petco would sell one too young to cope with an average community tank.
P.
This a.m. my husband saw her get stuck on the intake of the filter. He turned it down and she wiggled off and seemed okay. He called me at work later saying she'd gotten stuck again, even with the filter turned down and he didn't know how long she'd been there. Her body was bent and after he turned the filter almost off she sank to the bottom doing some gulping. He helped her up with the net and she started getting normal. He kept the filter almost off until I got off work.
I tried to find a fry net for the tank at Walmart with no luck (it was Sunday and everything else was closed). So I set up the baby gourami in a clean fish bucket with a filter and temp like the big tank. Stress coat to help heal any scrapes and make the water safe. She appears okay and eating. She is not getting sucked into the little filter because it is not as powerful.
Questions:
Wondering if she lost scales? Damaged fins? Internal organ damage?
How long until she is big enough to put back into the big tank safely?
Should I treat her for secondary bacterial from all the getting banged up or wait and see if she gets ill?
How long should I leave her in the bucket to make sure she isn't ill? I can do partial water changes each day to keep ammonia down since the bucket isn't cycled. I could move her to the 20g, but don't know if the adult gourami would pick on her. I don't know how strong the intake is on the 20g filter, but not like the 55g.
She is such a cute fish and I hate I didn't know she wasn't big enough yet to swim strongly to avoid a powerful filter. Poor baby.
Is there anything else I should be aware of with a very young fish? I am surprised Petco would sell one too young to cope with an average community tank.
P.
But the above will stop it ever happening again. 
little fishy
