Newbie With A Problem

[Becky2217]

Hi, I'm relatively new to fish keeping. We have a 40l tank, we've been keeping fish about 6 months. We first got 5 neon tetras, two of them have died now. Then we got 2 angel fish and a bristlenose catfish. They all seem fine and happy, the angel fish were sold as two males but have laid eggs a few times (they eat them up within a day or two though) so I've made a good guess that one must be a lady .

We wanted to get a couple more fish to complete the tank, so this weekend we popped into the fish shop and bought a pair of dwarf gouramis. The guy who owns the shop said they would be fine with the fish we've already got. All seemed fine, the angel fish had a little chase of the gouramis the first day but stopped on day 2. This morning I've gone to have a look at them and the female is lying on the bottom looking pretty dead. The male is still looking fairly happy. We've had them 3 days.

Firstly do you think there was a problem with our female or was it something we might have done?

And secondly we were sold the gouramis as a pair, should we go back and see if we can get another lady friend for our male, or will he be okay on his own? I'm guessing they're sold in pairs for a reason...

Thank you so much for reading, I really hope someone can help.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hi there becky, unfortunately angels and gourami's are not a great mix, they are both fairly agressive/territorial.

the 40l tank is really nowhere near big enough for angels, you should never have been sold them for this tank i can back up the fact that the advice given you was poor because they also claimed to be able to sex the angels when they sold them too you, well angels are not sexable unless you have witnessed breeding behaviour. This will almost never happen in a shops tank so they chances of them being able to sex them is slim to none.

angels need a tank around 120litres at least 18" tall, it's no surprse that they kill other fish put into their territory when the territory that they have is much smaller than it should be.

the dwarf gourami however is a good choice for yuor size of tank and can live happily by himself so I would suggest you return the angels to the store and then restock around the gourami, BN and neons. another tip is to bump up the size of the shoal of neons as they do need to be in a group of at leats 6.

 

[waterdrop]

( I should abort since MW's typing!)

 

[backtotropical]

( I should abort since MW's typing!)

You're learning, WD.

I'd also like to add that the gouramis can also be aggressive amongst themselves, especially in a small tank. I have a feeling that if the angels stopped chasing the gouramis on day 2, then the male gourami would be my best guess on who is responsible for the death.

If the angels were going to bully the gourami to death, I suggest that it probably would have started when the gourami was introduced, and been ongoing until the death.

On that basis, I'd advise against getting another gourami. Follow Miss Wiggle's advice about the angels too. The tank is far too small for them.

Good luck

BTT

 

[rdd1952]

I agree with MW about sexing the angels. Until you see one laying eggs and the other fertilizing them, there is no way to discern sex. Also, if the angels are spawning, they would also get very aggressive to anything that came near the eggs.