philipraposo198
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2014
- Messages
- 1,064
I have 4 pearl gouramis, 1 male and 3 female. Females are active and eat great. Colour on all females is the same and is to what I would expect from a healthy fish. All other fish in the tank appear to be perfectly normal as well.
-Temp is around 81
-nitrates 10ppm
-heavily planted 75g
-feed daily with skipping a day or 2 a week
-I feed NLS pellet and flakes, frozen foods like bloodworms and brine shrimp, fresh veggies like spinach and zucchini
-tank is 11 months old
-no fish aggression as I have all docile community fish.
So my male is the largest of the pearls. He was always good and had good colour and ate well. The last month or so something has been off. He doesn't eat as much and his activity level is a little less than normal. Just doesn't seem super happy. Maybe a bit under the weather but I can't see anything visible. He still has most of his colour but the orange throat is faded and his body is maybe a tad duller than before (not sure about this but I think so).
I just have been focusing on keeping water parameters in check with 5-10nitrates and adding more plants on the surface. I am noticing a slow improvement but it’s slow. Any thoughts on what’s up? What are some things I can do to make him super happy?
Also I would like to make the tank calmer, basically taking off the spray bar or redirect it in a way to not disturb too much. Problem is I feel like the tank will become dirty with waste and such because the flow / circulation will be compromised. So how do you folks keep your gourami’s tank still / calm yet still have clean tanks where debris won't build on substrate.
Because my tank is heavily planted I can't vacuum the tank. So how can I keep the tank clean but kill a lot of the water movement to make my fish happier? I doubt the flow is what’s causing my male to act up as it’s been this way since day 1 in the tank. If it was a big problem they would have been showing signs of stress from the beginning.
Please help.
-Temp is around 81
-nitrates 10ppm
-heavily planted 75g
-feed daily with skipping a day or 2 a week
-I feed NLS pellet and flakes, frozen foods like bloodworms and brine shrimp, fresh veggies like spinach and zucchini
-tank is 11 months old
-no fish aggression as I have all docile community fish.
So my male is the largest of the pearls. He was always good and had good colour and ate well. The last month or so something has been off. He doesn't eat as much and his activity level is a little less than normal. Just doesn't seem super happy. Maybe a bit under the weather but I can't see anything visible. He still has most of his colour but the orange throat is faded and his body is maybe a tad duller than before (not sure about this but I think so).
I just have been focusing on keeping water parameters in check with 5-10nitrates and adding more plants on the surface. I am noticing a slow improvement but it’s slow. Any thoughts on what’s up? What are some things I can do to make him super happy?
Also I would like to make the tank calmer, basically taking off the spray bar or redirect it in a way to not disturb too much. Problem is I feel like the tank will become dirty with waste and such because the flow / circulation will be compromised. So how do you folks keep your gourami’s tank still / calm yet still have clean tanks where debris won't build on substrate.
Because my tank is heavily planted I can't vacuum the tank. So how can I keep the tank clean but kill a lot of the water movement to make my fish happier? I doubt the flow is what’s causing my male to act up as it’s been this way since day 1 in the tank. If it was a big problem they would have been showing signs of stress from the beginning.
Please help.
