My new dwarf gourami! (*pics*)

[7Enigma]

Hello everyone,

The 2 week quarantine of my new dwarf gourami is complete, he's been treated for parasites, and last night at 10:15pm I expertly came into the room in the dark with a flashlight and netted him out. Took about 15 minutes, but I got him on the first try (very slowly moving towards him). I don't even think he knew he was captured until he was out of the water. He traveled the 2 feet from the QT tank to the main tank in about 5 seconds and into the main tank (also in darkness). I checked on him with the flashlight about 5minutes after and he was relaxing near the top.

Today I came home and to my COMPLETE surprise, he has become the alpha male of the TANK! This tank has 5 tiger barbs (one of which is a terror), and so I was worried he might become nipped. Turns out my choice at the LFS was very good (I picked this one specifically since he appeared to be the alpha of the 20 or so in the 10 gallon tank).

He's now keeping those tigers in line!

Here's a couple shots I just took. Gourami's are incredible fish that have an amazing ability to "stutter swim". By that I mean he can start and stop on a dime (and then stay stationary in a current), and it makes it easy to grab pics since he will stay still for a couple seconds and then flit to another area of the tank. I've never seen anything like this.

So here's my latest addition to the tank (no flash for proper color so a little blurriness in some):

Thanks for everyone's help a while ago with the choice!

 

[neilanh]

Very nice pickup!

 

[theotheragentm]

Picture 4 is my favorite. The fish is mooning you.

 

[gu2high]

My dwarf gourami will shoot water in the air, about half inch high. It is a nice elegant fish.

 

[Zagz]

Congrats he is gorgeous. Glad to hear he made the perfect addition to the tank.

 

[lmw80]

Gorgeous and great quarantine job!

 

[squawkbert]

Mine is the "benevolent dictator" of my tank. He's a little pushy at feeding time, but hasnt' hurt anyone.

They have pretty large pectoral fins for their body size, so they can slam on the brakes in a hurry & accelerate pretty well too.

 

[Corey]

I always thought it was neat how certain fish can simply stop and be stationary in the water in an instant - my knight gobies are amazingly good at it.
Congrats on the new fish.

 

[RoK]

I know that bettas can do that "stutter swim" as well. I agree that it is pretty cool.

 

[7Enigma]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I don't know what's going on with the auto-email. I have been getting some that new posts were made, but threads like this one and another one in the planted section I didn't get notified of?

Anyways, the tank is VERY dynamic now. Throughout the day now the fish are in different configurations in the tank. I think wherever the gourami goes it causes the others to adjust their normal behavior. It used to be I could ALWAYS find my gold barb in one corner, my cory cat in another, my 2 other barbs in the corners, and my tigers huddled together under my anubias. Now the tank is constantly changing and I'm much happier with the setup. I have not noticed any badly nipped fins so it seems as if the new addition has not caused any major problems.

Yesterday one of the gourami's feelers looked a bit shorter than the other (possible nip), but it must have been an ambush attack because he still is the "ruler of his domain". His coloration has also gotten much brighter (especially the blue dorsal fin), and he is more comfortable with me near the tank. I'll try to grab a good shot in the next couple of days with the tripod that will actually be in focus!

EDIT:

So I got bored with the horribly barren foreground after putting the new piece of driftwood in. I decided in the meantime before I get a good ground cover plant that I'll make do. This should give some extra protection for the less aggressive species. And since moneywort grows so fast, I can just throw it out whenever I have too much of it (sorry folks its just too cold for the barter/trade forum right now). Come spring I'll ship out anything I can for free in simple envelopes (I promise!).

I also threw in 2 small pieces of the plant GlitcH gave me. This is one of the most beautiful plants I've seen but, alas, my fish like to eat it!

So here's a new pic (notice all the foreground plants that should begin to grow in, and the blur which is the gourami in the bottom right corner):

 

[GouramiFanatic]

Very nice set up and a very nice looking Gourami! I just love Gouramis!!

 

[7Enigma]

I was just looking at my tank shot I posted and its interesting how dark it can look when the stargrass gets a little overgrown. The HOB filter (back left corner) pushes the bunch in the center from the background into the middle of the tank. This blocks a good portion of the light in the tank and gives it that mysterious look. I need to find a way to rig the stargrass so it can't move much. Maybe a piece of string or something to pin it against the back wall?