sad Honey Gouramis, part 2

[elliebob]

Back on Jan. 11, I posted that I had moved my 2 honey gouramis to a 10 gal tank. Here it is almost a month later and they still don't seem to have adjusted to the move. They are both still just hanging out in a corner of the tank.

Should I add a couple of additional honeys in with them? Will that make them feel more secure? I had 4 zebra danios in the 10 gal with them but moved them out last week. The danios were way to frantic for the gouramis.

Thanks, Ellen

[Good Wolf]

I have given up on 10g tanks. They are too hard to maintain and I don't feel right putting any fish in them. 'They' say you can put one in a 5g so two in a 10g should be the limit.

The first thing I would check is your water parameters using a test kit, not a strip. I would then check your oxygen/circulation levels, and then get a 20g, lol.

Do you have any decor or plants in the tank? If not they might just be stressed out and need a place to hide. A tank without plants is like having a house without furniture.

Frankly I've never had much luck with Gouramis but I tried keeping them when I first got into the hobby so I'm sure there was a pretty large degree of error on my part.

Here is a link to a site that I've been using for years to get a quick look at any fish I'm thinking about buying.

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile2.html

[elliebob]

Yes, I hate this 10 gal tank. It's my goal to shut it down eventually. I have a 30 gal I want to set up but need a hood and stand. Unfortunately, unemployment reared it's ugly head.

I've only been checking the water with strips but any time I take a sample to my LFS they tell me it's perfect. In fact, one of them told me "people would pay to have water this good." How would I go about checking the oxygen and circulations levels? Is there a test kit for it?

I've got live and plastic plants in the tank. The live plants seem to be thriving. Plus, I've got a cave for them to hide in too.

I'll check out this link.

Thx.

[jabbott]

You might also look at where you're keeping the 10 gallon. I had one with a group of otos and cherry shrimp on a short stand in a walkway - the otos always hid in the plants. I moved it to a counter top that didn't have people walking so close to it all the time. The otos were then hanging out on all sides of the tank and looked more at ease.

[cichlidkeeper]

yeah, if there's a lot of foot traffic around the tank they will be pretty skittish

[ayla]

I love 10 gallon tanks :)

don't get me wrong, I like big tanks too, but 10s are great.

With small gouramis, they really don't like much water flow at all. I would slow the water, dim the lights, add some floating plants, and see if they don't perk up a little bit.

[elliebob]

I don't think foot traffic is a problem. The tank is located in a small bar area where there is virtually no traffic - except when I feed them.

I think I'm going to move them back to my 30 gal. They seemed perfectly happy there with all my other fishes. (I moved them because I thought my red-tailed shark was pestering them - maybe they liked the activity...?)

Oh well, live and learn.

[alta678]

Elliebob, if you would like some floating plants, I have some water lettuce and some frogbit...........and TONS of duckweed!

[elliebob]

Sue, thanks but I think I'm good with my plan to move them back to my big tank.

BTW, I love your quote. I've left a few enemies in my path and I'm happy with that....