gourami that won't eat

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brotherd

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Dec 21, 2002
Messages
122
Location
alberta,canada
I have a new moonlight gourami thatwon't eat anything.As far as I can tell it hasn't eaten anything in 4 days.I have all my other tropicals on nutrafin max and frozen brine shrimp.All he does is surface for air once in a while and then retreats behind some rocks.What gives?
 
Sometimes new fish can take a while to get settled in and feel comfortable enough to eat. What kind of other fish are in the tank? Are any of the other fish picking on him? Especially at feeding time? Or does he just not appear interested at all? Try some live food to stimulate him. I've never seen a gourami turm away from blackworms. If he stays hidden during feedings, you can try to use a turkey baster or eyedropper to get the food directly in front of him and away from the other fish.
 
gouramis

Ok,only4other gouramis in the same 33 gal tank.No territorial probs.Just no interest.The food just floats past his face (literraly)Observed other fish when eating,all ok.i am thinking of what you said about other foods.I will contact my LFS to find out what they were feeding him.BlackWorms?New to me.FYI the other Gouramis came from my community tank with the exception of the male pearl who was introduced at the same time as the moonlight.Tried sinking tabs tonight to no avail.Should I take him back?
 
Don't take it back, I guarantee you - it will eat. When I first bought fish, I had one gold and one pearl gourami in the bundle. The pearl didn't touch anything for about two weeks, then out of the blue, just started eating. It's just a settling down period for the fish, you'll be fine.

You might want to try some Tubifex Dried Worms. They come in a small packet with about 50 cubes of dried worms and you just drop it in the tank. Will give your moonlight a chance when the others back off of it.
 
i'm headed to my lfs today so I will get some tubifex while I am there.On a sad note the pearl that wa s put in with the moonlight died right out of the blue,yet seemed fine the day before.No visible problems with him at all.He wa seven eating and swimming normally as the other fish.I tested the water and ammonia and nitrite were both zero.The moonlight is still ok but he is still reclusive.He must be eating though because he is still alive,even though I personally have not seen him eat.Thanks for the reply.Do you have any pics of your tank?
 
brotherd said:
Thanks for the reply.Do you have any pics of your tank?

My tank / s ? If so, There are some pictures of the first tank I started out with ( which is now my breeder tank ) in the photo gallery. I have a 45 gallon now, which has been running for about a month. Got a new digital camera for xmas, so there's no excuse not to have any pics ! As soon as I figure it, I'll get some up, right away. :)
 
Well,I came back from the lfs,fed fish blood worms.The moonlight couldn't be botherd.Got up this morning and he was dead.The original 4 fish in this tank are still fine.I think I will recheck my water tests and do a 25% water change just to be carefull.I guess thats the end of this thread.
 
Damn, sorry to hear that. :x

Don't worry though, it clearly wasn't your fault and the Gourami may have just been a bad apple.

G
 
have the fish been flashing at all . My firemouth just died and it was kinda the same way . I seen the fish flashing one day turned out to be a parasite . everythings good now and sorry to hear about your loss.
 
Nope .No weird behavior at all.I'm wondering if it was a territorial problem.Maybe they chased each other to death when I was not looking.To update ,I have now added 3 clown loaches,a pleco,and a small fuelleborni to the tank.The water tests excellent and everybody is happy.I will post some pics when I get them developed(don't own a digital cam yet)
 
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