Strange Behavior

[nickchatt]

Hi,

I notices recently that two of my 3 Gouramis are behaving strangley is started of with my learge dark grey Gouramis darting from one end of the tank to the other hitting itself against the side and knocking itself out. Then my large orange Gouramis started having swimming problems it no longer swims normally it swimg upright and if its at the top of the tank it corkscrews down.

What the hell is going on

thank you,
nick

 

[sylvia]

Welcome to the forum

First things first - what size tank? What's in it? How many of each? How long has it been set up and how long have you had these gouramies? What have you been feeding them? What are you ammonia, ntirite and nitrate readings?

It sounds like they have swim bladder issues (at least the one that swims upright and 'spirals down' does). This can be brought on by infections or the wrong type of feeding.

Regardless, what species of gouramies do you have? They sound like they are both three-spots (Trichogaster trichopterus). These can become nervous due to aggression from each other as they can be extremely territorial. They aer also not suitable for small tanks.

 

[nickchatt]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply the tank if quite big i used to have 32 fish all different types shapes and sized they then all died within a week because one fish was producing large ammounts off amonia one of the fish survived a gourami and 2 years later it is still going strong and touch wood it continues to.

I have recently added 4 Mollys to the tank so i have now a total of 7 fish in a tank that could fit a hell of alot more in. I was thinking swimblader about the orange one aswell is the fatal? it seems to have come on very sudden. and i think your right about them being terratorial the large almost black one with 3 spots was throwing fits around the tank then it would literally knock itself out cold it would take me removing it from the tank and giving it a prod to revive it haha!

I dont know wheather this would be effecting the gouramis or not but oneday about a year and a half ago i looked in to the tank and there were these tiny whiteish coloured bugs with legs and little feelers there very tiny i cleaned out the tank many times but they kept coming back so is this effecting the gouramis and do you know what the hell they are.

Thank you,
Nick

 

[sylvia]

I don't know what the 'bugs' were but they probably have nothing to do with this.

Your gouramies are indeed three-spots (Trichogaster trichopterus). Look them up in the fish index section of the forum. They are quite territorial.

Now here's an important point - how many fish you think will fit in your tank is not a good indicator of how many fish you should put in it!

Measure your tank's dimensions in centimeters and I'll calculate the gallons for you.

Also, don't buy any more fish until you know about them and are sure they are compatible with your existing fish. You need to research each species beforehand. The only reason I assume you didn't do this is because you don't actually know what species of gourami you have.

Had you asked, I, at least, would have not suggested mollies for a tank containing gouramies (though this isn't a major error). What is, at least potentialy, serious is the ratio of male to female gouramies you currently own. Male three-spots are perfectly capeable of fighting to the death. Especialy in a small tank. You can distinguish the sexes because males have a longer and more pointed dorsal fin (the one at the top) while the females have a rounded one. Females are also plumper.

Swim bladder, once it has progressed to this sort of point, cannot be reversed. However, you can prevent it from progressing if you keep water quality good (what are your ammonia, ntirite and ntirate readings please?). You should be doing a 25% water change on a weekly basis - ALWAYS using a de-chlorinator/water conditioner to remove chlorine from the replacement tap water BEFORE pouring it into the tank.

Again, I have to ask - what have you been feeding your fish? This can contribute to the risk of developing swim bladder problems.

BTW, it's not territoriality leading directly to the 'knock-out' behaviour P) you are witnessing with one of your gouramies. What I meant with my mension of this before is that territoriality can lead to nervous behaviour because they become stressed. HOWEVER, I'm guessing your tank is not particularly heavily planted and perhaps you have no floating plants? If this is the case, change it Get yourself some floating plants in particular and reduce the filter current a tad.

What is the temperature your tank's water is at?