Please help with my gouramis

[Stubudd]

Hi
I'm very new to aquariums, this is my first one, which my mom helped set up

for me. I started with 2 tiger something or others, and 4 blue and red neons.

The
tiger guys are fine, but the neons died off 1 by 1 after about 2 months. So I

bought 2 jumbo neons, and 2 orangish gouramis. The 2 neons are fine, but the

gouramis just sit at the bottom of the tank or hide somewhere, barely moving. Initially I bought the 2 jumbo neons and 1 gourami, but he never

really wanted to move and I figured he might need a friend so I went back

and got another one the next day. Right when I put him in they both ran

around all over
for about 10 mins, then they both settled down and never really move now

for 4 days. Any help much appreciated, as I have no idea what to do.

[Tanks Master]

hello, and welcome to AB, your tigers are probably tiger barbs, a very active fish, they should be in a school of 5 min to avoid any aggression problems, they are a bad choice to be in with gourami, they nip fins and the two long fins that the gourami have are very very very tempting for them. I assume you've set up the tank recently, Neon tetra are not the sturdiest fish to cycle with some may survive the extreme flux of tank condition changes most however dont. your gourami are getting settled to the tank, they've been through alot with changing tanks in the past few days (before the store then to the store then to your tank) give them time and they'll start moving about. unless there's obvious signs if illness, IE white spots or clamped (closed) fins. then that could indicate more serious problems. Can you tell us how big this tank is? how long it's been set up and what the water parameters are?

[OrionGirl]

Agree...lots of water changes will help. The tiger barbs probably are harrassing the gouramies, resulting in them hiding out to avoid the abuse.

More information would help us help you.

[Stubudd]

Thanks very much for the advice guys.

The tank is right next to the computer where I spend a lot of time, so I've

watched them quite a bit. The gouramis are not harrassed, all of these fish

seem to get along fine. The jumbo neons and the barbs sit right in the middle

most of the time, but the gouramis either sit on the bottom in the corner

next to the heater or hide in a ship structure I have on the right side. I hope

they are just getting used to it, because it's been about 5 days and they've

yet to eat anything. I've never seen the barbs even go near the gouramis.

thanks again and if someone could detail the best way to change water that

would be great. the tank is 20 gallons i would guess- about a foot and half

wide, foot deep, and a foot tall.

[OrionGirl]

Changing water: remove a portion, using a siphon vacuum is best so you can clean the substrate. Replace the water with dechlorinated water. 50% or so is fine. No need to remove the fish or decorations.

You will want to get a test kit so you can monitor ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

Gouramies tend to be fairly shy fish anyway, so keep that in mind. My dwarf gourami hides if I'm anywhere near the tank, but is very active as long as I'm across the room.

However--you need to determine what kind of gouramies you have. Some get 6 inches, and that's much too large for your tank.

[Trixie]

Originally Posted by OrionGirl

Gouramies tend to be fairly shy fish anyway, so keep that in mind. My dwarf gourami hides if I'm anywhere near the tank, but is very active as long as I'm across the room.

I am so glad that it is not just my gouramies that do that. I didn't think I was THAT scary...

[joephys]

Hi, welcome to AB. Always nice to see a new fish keeper come around. My biggest suggestion is to scroll to the top of the page and click on the button that says article corner. There are a lot of great articles. This one is a must Cycling a tank (FW) - AquariumBoard Forums