crazy neon blue dwarf gourami

[Robo]

Hi all,

I have a neon blue dwarf gourami in a 6 gal with a few tetras and 2 corys. For the last 24 hours he has been swimming in a vertical circle around a bushy foreground plant (see profile).
Has anybody else seen this behavior?

BTW, this site is fantastic.

 

[ferret]

Gourami's aren't entirely sane, IMO Nice looking little tank

Seeing them swim around things, yes. For 24 hours? No. Just keep an eye on him and check your parameters (Just in case)

 

[madasafish]

Yes yes yes. He is in far too small a tank. This kind of behavior is why they set tank limits for slightly larger fish. I.e. a neon blue dwarf gourami should be in a 30+ gallon aquarium (www.liveaquaria.com).

I kept my (deceased by heater burn despite a heater guard) NBDG in a 10 gallon as temporary housing for about a week. He went insane, circling up and down against the glass on the left side of my aquarium. He was very unhappy to be there...

1) Is this your fault? I'm not the type to point fingers at the consumer. So I'd say *no.* I'm guessing the various advertisements around your LFS had you believing that a medium-sized aquarium fish would be fine in a small aquarium. Unfortunately, with NBDGs (as with most fish) this is really not the case. I'm sure other site members have them in 10 gallons, but most ppl move them because they become either insane or territorial. They're emotionally sensitive fish.

2) How to remedy this? The behavior will continue as you've seen it, because the gourami feels claustrophobic (if you will). Tough choice: either resign yourself to getting a larger tank (see my signature line--this isn't a bad thing) or return him to the store. I have a feeling you will see aggressive behavior from him also, though DGs are generally aggressive to members of their own species the most.

Perhaps not the answer you wanted, but I've certainly seen this behavior before, and it's not healthy...

HTH

 

[tkos]

Pretty much the only gourami that does well in a small tank is the chocolate gourami. But it does best in small groups of three or so. The 10 gallon tank is sort of an odd size because you can't put many small fish or any large fish in there. It is a hard tank size to stock.

 

[madasafish]

Yeah, the site gets questions about 10 gallon-s every couple of weeks, and the answer is always "Hmmm... well... you *could* do this, but..."

It's a really tough stocking question to answer, as the size is not ideal for the standard concept of a community tank (multiple 6+-member schools and perhaps a couple of loners and a bottom feeder or 3). As a result, most successfully-kept 10 Gallons are species-only or species-only and an algae eater.

 

[Robo]

Thanks all for the replies. The little guy has stopped his incessant circling and seems to be chillin'. I will definitely look for further signs of claustraphobia. He may have to go back to the LFS unless I go for that 46 gal bowfront I've been thinking about.

 

[madasafish]

Those 46 Bows certainly are popular nowadays!