The first gourami! (and more! pics!)

[cJw]

So I stopped @ the LFS omw home last night, with the intention of getting 4 otos to begin stocking, and end up leaving with an opaline gourami! He's tiny yet - about 1" - but looked healthy and @ 2.99 I just couldn't wait.



He's kind of claimed the castle as his own; he was fairly skittish last night, stayin in the plants to the right, but this morning he was out and about.



Here's a pic of his colors; it's a little blurry, but he wasn't cooperating at all. :|



Best pic I could manage of the stealthy oto cats - they're chowin on the diatoms, though! I was surprised @ how contrasted the stripe down the side of 'em was - they're a lot more interesting that I was expecting.



The cories still haven't quite accepted the rummies. . . they're watching.


With the addition of the slate, gourami, and otos, the rummies have lost a little color, but I'm sure they're color back up in no time. Also, the cories have begun to school a lot more! They look very cool swimming around together and make me want more! :p

[Billsgate]

Congrats on your new additions!!! They look very nice!
And update your signature!!

[cJw]

And update your signature!!

Thanks for the reminder!

[lmw80]

oooh congrats!! I love gouramis!

[Meredith]

Awww! They look great. Congrats!

[cJw]

I hope he's happy - ack! I just assumed it's a male! Let me look into sexing gourami. . .

Well, thanks to google, I know now how, but those pics are inconclusive. I'll know for sure once I get home. . .

And now, to decide what fems to put in w/ him. . . that reminds me - I saw a 'lavender gourami' last night : it looked like a 3 spot, and supposedly became more purplish with blue bands as it grew?

Has anyone seen these? (google has, though there aren't many pics. . .)

[RoK]

Congrats on the new fish! I've never seen a lavender gourami at any of the pet stores around here. I did see some pics of them on a website and have been wanting them ever since.
This is the site BTW: http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Gour...chogasters.htm
So did it look like a blue gourami with some gold highlights, for the most part? They are the same species as the blue, gold and opaline. I think they get them from breeding an opaline or blue with a gold.

[cJw]

They didn't look like much @ all in the tank at the LFS, but the pics I've seen online look pretty good.

Bad news from the gourami front; mr. opaline didn't last the weekend.

We left Friday night to visit the in-laws and he was acting a little strange; not moving around too much, swimming with a slight tilt to one side, staying @ the surface for too long, so I wasn't really surprised.

I know the lfs shipment day is Tues and I bought him on Weds, so perhaps he was still stressed and/or bound to pass and I was just too impatient. :sigh:

It still sucks, though; I'm shocked all of the otos outlasted the gourami!?

[RoK]

Sorry for your loss. His shape did seem a little bit strange, to me anyway. Not exactly sure what it is, probably that the head area looks kinda big and the rest of the body looks like it should be bigger. Then again it's not always easy to tell with pictures. I hope you have better luck next time.

[cJw]

I wondered the same thing about his shape - it was like his back had a straight line right behind his eyes to his dorsal. I didn't worry, as the other smaller gourami in the tank looked the same. Bad batch? :\

[RoK]

Originally Posted by cJw

Bad batch? :\

Sounds like it to me. I have actually seen it at a pet store myself. A bunch of gouramis that looked like they were being starved. Their bodies were not in proportion to the head or something like that.

[cJw]

I stopped @ an lfs I generally don't visit yesterday, and found a tank full of gourami. It was a med tank, maybe 45g or so, and there had to be 25 gourami in it. . . I spose with that many, the agression issue doesn't find a target?

Anyway, they not only had opalines (for $1.99) but they had one lavender for $2.99. All were fems, though, so I didn't get any - that and none looked particularly healthy. Maybe the stress of the conditions made them all a little ugly.