Hi All

I have 4 Metalic Blue Gourami's and have a issue with one indervidual who is turning out to be a bit of a bully, he keeps eating my Cory's sinking pellets.

Tried putting the pellet in last night after lights out, Cory's didn't find it but the Gourami did this morning

Any other helpful hints for feeding the Cory's? I am worried they won't be getting enough food from the Tank alone.

I feed the Gourami's a Spirilina granule and my 10 black Neon's get flake food.

I also saw one of the Cory's nip to the top and seem to take a gulp of air this morning is this normal? Tank is airated with bubbles and we have 10 smallish plants and a big Sword plant in there too. Algee looks to be starting to crow on the tanks walls.

Sorry for lots of questions this is all new to me and I am just a little bit parnoid about my "boys".

cheers Petra

Hi Petra, welcome to the forums :bounce:

I'm not sure what to do about your greedy Gourami, maybe try to keep the Gouramis occupied with the flake at one end of the tank and try to sneak some sinking pellets in the other end.

Cories do come to the surface for a gulp of air, this is normal.

The algae can be caused by too much light and nutrients or a combination of both. You could try reducing the hours the light is on for and regular water changes will remove excess nutrients. Of course a little algae is normal and you could get an algae eating fish to control it. A Bristlenose is an excellent algae eater. So is the Siamese Algae Eater but they can get aggressive toward their tankmates when they're older.

Don't be sorry for asking questions, it's what the forum is all about

Thanks Mark, I might try that tonight, although I have dropped the pellets right next to Cory's before and they have gone straight past them. :roll:

The light is on different times of the day depending on when my partner gets up (he works from home lucky bugger), always off by 9 though, so sometimes it's on for 12 hours is this to much? Thinking we might have to put on a timer.

We are getting a couple of Pleco's soon just waiting for a friend of the families ones to get big enough, although I know our tank won't hold 2 full grown Pleco's how quickly do they grow? or is it different for each type? Just seeding the way for upgrading our tank in a few years time

Also any other recommendations for tank mates? I think I need another middle tank swimmer but not sure what would go well with what we have

12 hours of light should be OK.

I can't comment on the growth rate of Plecs but I'm sure someone can answer that. If you don't get a reply on this thread you could start another in the 'Catfish' forum.

As for tankmates, maybe a pair of Dwarf Cichlids? Research Apistogramma, I have Cacatuoides which are beautiful.