Dwarf Guaramis

[douahe]

Anybody else having trouble keeping Dwarf Guaramis alive? I've had several and they keep dying. I don't have a problem with my tank. I have probably 30 other fish in their and some of them are pretty touchy (including a bgk).

Any ideas let me know.

 

[Arizonagrace]

How big is the tank? I have 2 honey gourmis, and they are doing really well. I haven't had problems with them, although my livebearers haven't been so lucky.

Did you check your water parameters?

 

[douahe]

I've checked all the levels in the tank... everything is well within normal parameters... the only other fish that I've had die in the last 6 months are ones that either have been picked on too much, or have been in my tank for about a year... I do a 25-45% water change every 2-3 weeks at most, and the two filters I clean etc every 3-4 months... The pet shop in town where I get my fish has trouble keeping them alive too... those and black veil angels I've had a particularly hard time with... unless my fish get picked on, the live a year or more (my tank has only been set up for about a year and a half...)
Here's my setup
125 gallon freshwater
2 Rena XP3 filters, one set up each for biological and mechanical filtration.
2 bala sharks,
2 rainbow sharks
2 red tail sharks
1 gold veil angelfish
1 black veil angelfish
3 swordtails
13 saiamese algae eaters
1 black ghost knifefish
2 cory cats
2 platinum gauramis
2 pearl gauramis
2 clown loaches
1 red dwarf gaurami

 

[Lupin]

Douahe, your tank is inappropriately stocked. What are these "platinum gouramis"? Divide your stocklist in this manner but bear in mind you either ditch some of your fish or move to other tanks.

Option 1
2 bala sharks,
2 rainbow sharks
2 red tail sharks

Option 2
1 gold veil angelfish
1 black veil angelfish
3 swordtails
13 saiamese algae eaters
2 cory cats
2 pearl gouramis
1 red dwarf gourami-Ditch the angelfish and pearl gouramis if you want this fish.

Option 3-125g
1 black ghost knifefish
2 clown loaches-Add more clown loaches. This is strictly recommended.

Option 4-A 30g is minimum.
2 platinum gouramis

Black angelfish-It is hardly surprising that they are a trouble to keep alive. These are one of the few strains of Pterophyllum scalare that is very sensitive to water conditions.

Dwarf gouramis-I've discussed many times before that dwarf gouramis, if your source is from Asia, are fed with foods laced with hormones to change their sexes. Males are in high demand so you must expect that searching for females is very slim. Fish farms in Asia will hardly care for the quality of the fish. It's all about demand. I live in Asia myself and have received complaints from my local petstores about these dwarf gouramis. The effects of the hormones unfortunately allow the gouramis to become very vulnerable to several illnesses and shorten their lifespan. Again, this is hardly surprising yet not many people are aware of this.

Tank Maintenance comments:
I see you change your water every 2-3 weeks. It is no wonder you have a hard time keping black angelfish. Your water changes are very inadequate. If your schedule permits, do a water change by 50% twice a week. if not, weekly but the more frequent the water changes, the better.

Water parameters:
Post the exact results of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH. Comments alone do not suffice.

 

[douahe]

Lupin, can you share with me where you are getting your information for stocking my tank? The information that I found online for the fish that I have says that the fish that I have in the tank, can be compatible yet if not careful problems can occur. with the option 1 and 3 that you have, what other fish in your opinion are compatible? because having 6 or 3 fish (with the addition of more clown loaches) seems to be a small number of fish for a 125 gallon tank.

Here is one of many places where I've been getting my information
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/fwcompatibility_chart.cfm

Thanks.

 

[douahe]

Lupin,

Here are specifics for water tests...

Nitrate - 10 ppm
PH - 7.2
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Amonia - 0 ppm

 

[Lupin]

Lupin, can you share with me where you are getting your information for stocking my tank? The information that I found online for the fish that I have says that the fish that I have in the tank, can be compatible yet if not careful problems can occur. with the option 1 and 3 that you have, what other fish in your opinion are compatible? because having 6 or 3 fish (with the addition of more clown loaches) seems to be a small number of fish for a 125 gallon tank.

Here is one of many places where I've been getting my information
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/fwcompatibility_chart.cfm

Thanks.

Douahe, I relate this over my experience in the hobby for almost 10 years. I am more into angelfish, bottom dwellers, cyprinids and characins. I would never trust most websites to come up with compatibility charts. Forums are much better when you compare both because you get to relate your experiences and opinions.

I never said that is all you can add. You are free to add more fish. I simply divided your current stocklist because most are inappropriately mixed. My bad..Option 1 and 3 can be merged however I would ditch the BGK if you wish to keep the sharks. If you prefer the sharks, you might as well replace the clown loaches with tiger loaches (Syncrossus genus) which are much better to mix with these sharks as they are well even in terms of temperament. The downside is you are limited to boisterous barbs and other cyprinids who can cope with the sharks and loaches' aggression. The bright side however is most tiger loaches are smaller than clown loaches. You can also mix the Yasuhikotakia eos, Yasuhikotakia lecontei, Yasuhikotakia modesta, Yasuhikotakia morleti and Sinibotia robusta with the Syncrossus. All can get aggressive at a scale of 5/5. Nevertheless, loaches are entertaining and fun to have no matter the personality.

Your water parameters are fine however all the same, do weekly instead of a fortnight or so. Any more questions, ask away.

 

[douahe]

Lupin,

Thanks for the further information. Am I correct to gather you have tried mixing similar fish and had negative results? Thus far, except for the dwarf guaramis and the black veil angels, I've had good luck keeping these fish together... The only time I find they will be aggressive towards each other, is if I do not feed them properly (this means that I've been out of town and feeder didn't work properly etc...) Did you find that they got more aggressive as they got bigger?

Thanks.

 

[Lupin]

Lupin,

Thanks for the further information. Am I correct to gather you have tried mixing similar fish and had negative results? Thus far, except for the dwarf guaramis and the black veil angels, I've had good luck keeping these fish together... The only time I find they will be aggressive towards each other, is if I do not feed them properly (this means that I've been out of town and feeder didn't work properly etc...) Did you find that they got more aggressive as they got bigger?

Thanks.

Funnily enough, I did. It's the other strains, not the black angels that I have seen to exhibit aggressive behavior towards gouramis though I still would not recommend mixing both (but if it works for you, it's fine). Most gouramis can be obnoxious in defending their territory. The angels will actually get more aggressive as they mature especially when they beginto pair off and eventually spawn.