Giving up on gourami's

[MidSSouth]

Well, I'm 0 for 3 on dwarf gourami's. On my first tank I bought one and it died within about 2 days. I figured it was just a bad fish and exchanged it for another one that was a little more alive. That one lasted about 2 weeks before I found him napping on the tank floor (my dead fish never float). Neither one had any outward sign of distress or illness and one person I showed a picture of the dead one said he looked happy and colorful except for being dead. I pretty much decided that I just wasn't meant to have gouramis and gave up on it.

With my new big tank I decided to try again and bought one from a LFS instead of the Petco like the previous two. This one seemed full of life, would swim around the tank, hide in the plants when I approached, eat etc...

Yesterday morning I found him sitting on the sand. I tapped on the glass and he started to tip over. When I got home from work he was lieing on his side on the sand and gasping. I snatched him up in a net and he kept trying to swim out of it but didn't appear to have the strength and would sink down as soon as he stopped swimming. I prepared the blender (quick and painless death) amd looked him over. There was a red puffy spot, possibly an open wound on his side. Could it have been an internal parasite that was breaking out? What sort of disease makes an open puffy red wound? It wasn't very big, maybe 2mm in diameter including the puffy area.

I don't have any ammonia, nitrites, and ultra low (less than 10) nitrates. I don't think he was picked on by any other fish. I even bought a copper test kit to see if there was metal in the water and it didn't register anything either.

Maybe I'm just not meant to have gouramis.

 

[sweetvegan74]

yikes

A blender?

 

[Colisa lalia]

Hmmm...that sounds like really bad luck. I would give up on dwarfs for sure right now, but I would not discourage you from trying a blue gourami, which are generally much hardier than their cousins. However you will have to remember that blues get much bigger and are a little more aggressive, but I have found them to be more personable than dwarfs anyway.

 

[svetlana]

I gave up after i lost 4 gouramis - 3 turquious and 1 flame. All of them were fine for first week or so and after that they usually started to die. And i would not object them doing it quickly, unfortunately, it was taking them like forever (2-3 weeks) to die properly, after i spent fortunes on their medication and care.
All fish that were in with them (8 months ago) are still healthy and happy. Nobody remembers those loosers. Moreover, thay can be quite aggressive and kill other fish before their own demise.

 

[echoofformless]

Gouramis are great. Fish just die. They do that all the time.

Between my girlfriend and I, we have gone through a total of five cherry barbs and we currently have two. (Mine has been alive for more than two years in my tank, but his buddy that I bought the same day was dead within a week.)

I can't speak for dwarf gouramis, but my three spot gourami is doing well after more than a year in my ten gallon. He's just a tad bit aggressive; not enough to hurt the other fish. He just chases them here and there.

I wouldn't give up on gouramis. Just understand that this is not a hobby where everything works out all the time. Try a different type of gourami and see what happens. Every fish is an individual and you shouldn't assume that certain traits are always going to exist. I mean, I once heard of two male bettas living happily together in the same small tank. Yikes.


I've had experience off and on in this hobby since I was born. Often there is just no rhyme or reason to what happens. We used to have a black tetra when I was a little kid who lived six years. Every subsequent black tetra that I have had only lived a few months at best.

My girlfriend bought two albino corys a month or so ago, both were perfectly healthy, and then one suddenly got sick and died last week. The other one is still swimming around happily.

So I guess what I'm saying is that there are certain trends in certain types of fish, certain behaviors, traits, etc. But that doesn't mean that this will always be the case.

I think people forget that other living things, like humans, have their own individual health and personality to be considered. Just keep that in mind before you discount gouramis as a whole. After all, the fact that people are able to breed them in captivity so succesfully should indicate that they are not an impossible fish to have as a pet.

 

[svetlana]

Yeah, i totally agree. It's why i decided that they will be happier and longer lived in somebody's tank and not mine. And i'm happier because i'm spared from watching them die! And i can spend my money to make other living creatures that are totally happy in my tanks instead of pouring them into terminal cases.

 

[MidSSouth]

I'm sure they are possible to raise but I just wonder what about my conditions kills them off. Maybe I've just been unlucky. I'm with svetlana, I'm happy they go to live with someone else instead of die with me.

 

[matt201985]

Had gouramis in a 10gal and lived forever, gave em away cuz they got to big for my tank, they were 5 yrs old

 

[sweetvegan74]

Can be a little bothersome, but if your tank is not so large, maybe they would live longer with spring water, I don't trust tap even with the treatments.

 

[supergirltnt]

I have had good and bad luck with gouramis. I have three gold gouramis but had to separate them because one was too aggressive. I have had a total of 8 gouramis since February and currently only have 4. They seem to be prone to those horrific long deaths. Don't give up on them completely, they are too beautiful! Good luck.

 

[dana307]

Don't like gouramis either ... tend to be aggressive and short lived. Sorry to hear about your negative experience.

 

[FishWhisperer]

Thanks to MidsSouth for the question and to all who have responded. I bought a neon blue dwarf gourami last Friday. He is in a 20 gal tank with a paradise blue gourami, one red tail shark, and two corys. He is still very much alive, chases both the red tail shark and paradise blue in their place. According to the LFS, he is 80% full grown. I think he is the "king" fish in the tank. I am sorry to hear about your experience with gouramis. Take care.

 

[jeremy]

In my experience at work, I have noticed that most if not all of the dwarfs that I brought in died quickly after recieving, except of the honeys. I dont know what it is, but the powder blues and the neon dwarfs always died. Sorry for your loss, but if you want dwarfs, go with the honeys. They get very pretty after they get accostomed to the tank. And the three I have are all very much alive.