I thought Gourami's were pigs

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After coming home from work to find half a tail missing... I'm wondering if I should keep them both. I originally just wanted some colorful shrimp and tilapia! My 3 yr old son wanted the pink fish blowing kisses so I brought it home. I like them, but don't want them eating each others tails. Doesn't seem right. Guess I am paranoid... I am still up in the air as far as different fish I am going to have... I want to breed them and sell them eventually. I have a lot up in the air! I am so close to just digging a big hole and putting in a huge pond!
 
I'm not sure it so much friendly as it is fixated on food, and tolerates me b/c it associates my hand with feeding time
 
Lol... I guess I never thought of some of those fish as being that brave. I'm a horse person that is getting a fish tank. I have always liked fish, but I also like personalities in my animal friends. Hopefully these two gouramis get along better in the 50 gallon or I am going to have to take one back! Hate to do that.
 
I'm new to fish tanks as well and I've had to take some fish back due to some back researching.. it'll happen until you know what you're doing!

(And I also am a horse person... the best animals God gave are the fishes and horses. :p)
 
I am wondering how well they are going to tolerate that divider in their tank. I was hoping to get their tank through its cycle so I could fishless cycle the fifty gallon. I ordered an active filter today. How long does it take to cycle a tank with an active filter? Maybe I can get my fifty gallon set up before the active filter gets here and just cycle it with that filter.
 
image-740670163.jpg

Hopefully the pic of my API test this morning successfully inserted into this post. I did a 50% pwc last night because my ammo and nitrates were high. I have not seen nitrites yet. Looks like my ph is pretty high too
 
Ghostriderphoto said:
I am a beginner that was told bad info when I purchased my ten gallon as a first tank.
Click to expand...

I am in the same boat. Fish store people are not always the best when it comes to giving advice. THANK GOD they told me a Gourami and maybe a bottom feeder would be all I could put in my 5 gallon tank or I would have totally overstocked it. I am going to be getting an API master kit today so I will be able to keep a better idea on how my tank is cycling and do water changes as needed. I'm not sure if he is still stressed but my gourami swims around and then lays on the bottom or rests on the Rotala Indica I planted. I just changed my substrate to sand and pebbles and he really likes the sand. He rubs his sides on it and uses his fins to make it move around. He also spits water on it and makes it move. It looks like he is playing. I'll try and get a picture of him doing it. I hope that your tank cycles soon. The new filter you mentioned should help it greatly!

Years ago I had a 10 gallon tank, way too overstocked I'm sure. I had two dwarf gouramis (male) and they did just fine together. I also had a red tail shark, some tiger barbs and something else... Can't remember but there were 10 fish. Way too many. Thanks pet store people... Ugh.

Best of luck to you and your gouramis. They are so neat! Can you post a picture of them?
 
I have attached some pics... You can probably see the damage done to the ones tail an how I had to put in the divider... Workin on setting up my fifty gallon today.
 

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I think it is terrible that pet shops don't bother to educate their new customers on proper aquarium set up. After learning all of this I went back in to two places and explained my disappointment to the owners. I then demonstrated the proper sales technique in one shop with one of their customers who was a beginner purchasing their first tank. That actually worked out pretty good for the shop and I was offered a job on the spot and their manager even called me at home asking me if I wanted part time work! Their customer was looking for a ten gallon max tank for their 13 year old son. They left with a twenty gallon, stand, prime, API master test kit, a dead fish from one of the tanks, some gravel and filter media to help cycle their tank, air pump and a nice filter ideally suited for their tank. They were also told the basics on keeping the ammonia levels right, explained the cycling theory, gave them forum support information and told them basic stocking/compatibility info. The jerk salesman was offended, but the manager loved it! The sales ticket doubled their average ticket on a starter set. I was mad and intent on proving a point. I work in retail and understand the techniques used.
 
Ghostriderphoto said:
I think it is terrible that pet shops don't bother to educate their new customers on proper aquarium set up. After learning all of this I went back in to two places and explained my disappointment to the owners. I then demonstrated the proper sales technique in one shop with one of their customers who was a beginner purchasing their first tank. That actually worked out pretty good for the shop and I was offered a job on the spot and their manager even called me at home asking me if I wanted part time work! Their customer was looking for a ten gallon max tank for their 13 year old son. They left with a twenty gallon, stand, prime, API master test kit, a dead fish from one of the tanks, some gravel and filter media to help cycle their tank, air pump and a nice filter ideally suited for their tank. They were also told the basics on keeping the ammonia levels right, explained the cycling theory, gave them forum support information and told them basic stocking/compatibility info. The jerk salesman was offended, but the manager loved it! The sales ticket doubled their average ticket on a starter set. I was mad and intent on proving a point. I work in retail and understand the techniques used.
Click to expand...

That's awesome that you were able to do that for that customer! And I'm glad you were able to prove a point to the manager as well!
 
Looks like from your test strip that you still have some nitrates, but you got rid of the ammonia with the water change so that's good.
 
The ammo and nitrates went too high while I was at work yesterday. I had to get them down. Ammo was almost 1ppm not quite. Thankfully I had purchased a larger bottle for transporting water from sink to tank! I am hoping that by lowering the ammo level... Maybe it will help the cycle?

I have known the manager in that store for a few years. They shop where I work and like my style. They knew they could trust me with one of their customers and I asked if they would mind if I "took" that customer to prove a point to their salesman. Any other shop probably would have thrown me out!

I love the coloring on your fish by the way... Very pretty!
 
You need ammonia for the tank to cycle, for example I've read that if you chemically remove the ammonia your tank will not cycle and possibly crash down the road, with the cycling thing with fish in the tank you have to walk the line on enough ammonia to grow some beneficial bacteria to keep the ammo stable in the long run between not poisoning your fish with too high of ammo levels.
 
Point definitely taken on the ammo... I took the gouramis into the lfs a little bit ago. He gave me a small bag of gravel and a good home for them. From here on it is a fishless cycle and it will give me time to properly set up my fifty gallon.
 
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