"clamped fins"

[mike the zealot]

I've read that this is not a desireable trait in fish... and I'm noticing my opaline gourami has his top and bottom fins laid back all the time, is he unhappy about something? none of the other fish are doing it, and he's the dominant fish of the tank.  ???

 

[aznpanther98]

i dunno about gouramis haven't had one in a long time but i think that is normal from what i know most fishes don't spread their fins unless stressed or showing off to another fish like bettas, clamped fins look at the fins on the side and tail they should be normally spread out, if not then they're stressed, i think if they're happy they'll be swimming around activly and eating

 

[mike the zealot]

ok yeah the gourami is only clamping his dorsal and anal fins, but the redtail shark is clamping all fins  :-/

I'm wondering if maybe he's not happy about the food, or maybe the habitat.

currently the tank is:

20g High
27lbs large grain gravel
76°F

(1) 2.5" opaline gourami
(1) 2.25" moonlight gourami
(6) 1.25" red eye tetras
(1) 1.5" bristlenose pleco
(1) 1.5" red tail shark

I feed all my guys flake in the morning and frozen bloodworms at night, and I'm working to provide more cover because atm I only have 3 large plastic plants and two rocks in the tank.

 

[mike the zealot]

and my pleco is all clamped too... unless plecos normally do that  ??? ??? ???

 

[colesea]

Check all your water chemistries. Frozen bloodworm, if leftover and uneaten, can cause acute ammonia/nitrite spiking and your water quality can go downhill fast, causing the fish to clamp.

Also, watch for aggression, especially between the gouramis. My blue gourami constantly chases around my sunset thicklip, and the thicklip will sometimes clamp up in a corner to hide. Any fish that is in a corner, behind decor, clamped, is probably being picked on too much.

But since your problem seems to affect all the fish, I would suspect water chemistry/quality problems first.
~~Colesea

 

[mike the zealot]

I was having agression problems with all the gouramis when I first started. I started with (listed in dominance order)

1 opaline gourami
1 moonlight gourami
2 dwarf gouramis
5 red eye tetras

and one of the dwarves seemed to be everyones whipping boy so I took him back and traded for a golden gourami... who in turn beat the tar out of my moonlight. so I took him back again along with the other dwarf and got the RTS and eventually the pleco. I think my aggression problems are fixed atm, I never see anyone chasing anyone really, much less bullying.

the power went off for about 6 hours couple days ago and the temp dropped to around 72ish.. after which everyone was moping around and my pleco developed ich. I'm on my second day of maracide treatment and the ich is off my pleco, my RTS is perked up a  bit, and my opaline gourami is looking extremely healthy and happy (extended dorsal fin, which he hasn't done since I've had him really, and lots of color)

so I dunno if they all just had ich or whatever, but maracide is good stuff ;P We'll see how they do after I'm done with the 5 day treatment I guess. Thx for the info tho guys

 

[aznpanther98]

how long has the tank been setup? sometimes if the tank hasn't cycled long enough or lots of fish is added all at once the nitrites andor ammonia can spike
i hate ich all most of clown loaches died from ich the two that survived only lived for two weeks stopped eating and just wasted away  :'( but haven't had ich for a while now and my fish all healthy swimming and started noticing those lil snails more