GeeTee Posted July 28, 2005 Report Share Posted July 28, 2005 When looking into buying these a few weeks ago there was a forum here, had in it a Dwarf would suck in its food then spit it out again,and not eat it. Well on the weekend I bought 2.A flame and a coral blue. The flame is mature and well coloured,the blue was smaller and dull,I thought it was young,so bought it thinking I could watch it develop. This blue is doing the same as the one in a previous forum and I can't find that forum to see what was said,so am hopful someone can help me out with an answer. The flame also spits food back out but he eats it every time. The blue gets bullied a little but nothing to be concerned about I wouldn't think,as it wasn't eating from day one. Doesn't seem to be to thin but does appear to sulk and hide but only when being chased a bit. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeTee Posted July 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2005 just thought I would try a picture of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FindingNemo Posted July 28, 2005 Report Share Posted July 28, 2005 I find a lot of my fish do the spit and re-eat thing, i figure its there way of breaking it into bite sized pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeTee Posted July 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2005 Yes both my fish spit it out but the blue one doesn't go on with the job and eat it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted July 28, 2005 Report Share Posted July 28, 2005 Have you tried live food? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeTee Posted July 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2005 Not live, but did try frozen blood worm. Same thing,spat it. I'll just keep an eye on him. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeTee Posted August 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 Two weeks on and the blue has died today.He lost his colour over the last week,got really thin and shy and was getting bullied a little.Was eating bloodworm thuogh and keeping it down. So apart from being thin and colourless there were no other real symtoms. Also my son lost a comet today,same thing it looked like.Thin and lost a few scales.(different tanks) Any ideas for future reference would be appreciated. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FindingNemo Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 Ive started pre soaking all the food to soften it. There now seems to be less spitting and more eating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 Sorry GeeTee...tried to do a search on here to see if I could find that for you...but no luck. Sorry for your, and your son's, loss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vapo Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 Hi GeeTee. Sorry about your loss. I think your pic shows a Neon Dwarf not an A-Flame. Dwarfs are quite sensitive fish. They don't like even slightly-poor water quality. Also they don't like being bullied and will often go off their food if they aren't happy. We found this out when we first got them. The best solution for us was to get some females and put all the dwarfs in their own tank. It's recommended that there be twice as many females as males so the boys don't bully the girls to death. They are also very susceptible to fungal infections. They seem to like to be the biggest fish in their aquarium and they like a lot of floating plants. As soon as we put some riccia flutians in their tank, our powder blue built a bubble-nest and bred with a couple of females. What is your ammonia like? Do you have tests for it? Do you have many floating plants? Hiding places? Ours love bloodworms and algae. Good Luck with your remaining dwarfs. I'd recommend getting at least 4 females (they're quite browny/goldish and dull looking). And have some dither fish (small fish that school and take emphasis off from the dwarfs) in there, as long as they're not too fast and eat all the food first, as they seem to be slowish eaters. Cheers, Vapo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeTee Posted August 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 Can't find females in the area,Not pretty enough for the shops.(apparently) All tests are good,pH is 7.8 can't get it down even with rain water.Been doing changes for 3 weeks with rain water,the gravel has some shell in it keeping it up there. The other fish in the tank are 3 mollies,3 swords,3 sucker cats,2 kribs and 3 silver sharks. the biggest fish is the male krib,probably 9 cm Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faran Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 hiya, the shell will definitely bump up your pH. Now as far as rainwater water changes.... unless something is seriously wrong with NSW rain, the pH should be neutral (7.0) so water changes will only drop it a bit. Try adding some peat to your gravel or some peat fibre into your filter to fight that pH rebound from those shells. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserole Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 Hi GeeTee, I don't think you have a problem with your ph, sure it's not nutaral but so what, it is not to high for the fish you keep. As long as it is stable and not all over the place don't worry about it,any way your mollys will love. it. They like it alkaline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vapo Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 Our pH is 7.2-7.3. The recommended max pH on all of the sites I've read is about 7.5. Also, I read your post wrong - thought you had 2 flames and a blue and recommended 4 girls, when you probablyy only need 2-3. And I see that the neon is also called a flame, another correction. :oops: Mind you, they had "the flame or neon dwarf..." written under a pic of a blood-red, so who knows?? Just keep an eye on him, if he seems ok, don't change anything. But watch for lightish patches on him as these are usually the first signs of fungus. We had this happen to 4 of ours and just treated them with salt. Cleared them up straight away! Just be careful with your catfish, they may not appreciate the salt. IMO, 2 dwarfs is asking for trouble. They need to be able to share any bullying around. 1 could be fine as long as nobody else bullies him. Hope yours is! Keep us posted! Cheers, Vapo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserole Posted August 17, 2005 Report Share Posted August 17, 2005 recommened is just that. recommended I doesn't mean they wont be quit happy at that ph if it is the norm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vapo Posted August 17, 2005 Report Share Posted August 17, 2005 Yeah, that's right. If they're cool at that pH, I wouldn't change anything. It was probably the bullying/stress that got ther little guy. Also they just are not a very hardy fish due to inbreeding etc. Cheers, Vapo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserole Posted August 17, 2005 Report Share Posted August 17, 2005 it's a shame really the origanal dwarf gourami's are such lovely fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeTee Posted August 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2005 All the fish seem happy enough,except the silver shark I lost today,but it too looked thin and I have only had them in the tank 4 days. I think the dwarf and that shark may have come in with something or just stressed or something along those lines because the other fish came in from the same shop on the same day and they are fine.(dwarfs first then sharks 2 weeks later). The lfs today said my tank was to clean was my problem,doing a small water change 10-15 % weekly,they reccomended 30% monthly??? Can't find peat,without fertilizer, in my area,tried ebay no good either,not in the lfs. May just leave the pH as is.Don't really want to do chemicals, but the shops use them as the water supply is the same at my house as the shops. Can't do to much damage if I decide to go that way can it? Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 hey, umm just to let you no if you are breeding gourami's for the first time buy a complete new tank! set water at 26 degress have light and reids! black pebbles and a small piece of drift wood. have one male and a very attractive female and in a couple of days you should see bubbles appearing around your tank! they will form togeather into a nest that is when you no for certain that they will breed! i brought 2 gourami's on sunday and put them in tank monday night bubble nest appeared! hop this helped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 My daughter bought me some beautiful dwarf gouramis....and I have to say I really like my gouramis.....but these ones have never lost their shyness. One of them has looked particularly ill for a week or more now...just sulking and looking a little thin on it. They do seem to be quite timid fish. I lost both my beautiful honey gouramis.....and was very sad about it, they had been very happy fish and were probably my most favourite of all my gouramis....and one day I came out and found one dead....the other one died about a week later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.