# Gourami problems



## beeky (19 Feb 2009)

Hi all,

A fishy question for a planted forum coming up, but I trust you all!

For my sons tank he wanted dwarf gouramies and liked the blue form ones he saw. My wife went with him and bought a pair, although they were a pair of males. I'd heard dwarf gouramies weren't very robust these days and within a couple of months they were dead. To be honest, I wasn't overly surprised. After a week or so they squabbled and I separated them, putting one of them in my tank. They both died showing the same ulcer type wound within two weeks of each other.

We went out a few weeks later and bought a pair (again, two males) of red honey gouramis. I think some shops call them "red robins". They seemed to get on fine, but last week one died and now the other's died yesterday. They lasted about 2 months as well.

Now, as I said I'd heard dwarf gouramis weren't very healthy because of the inbreeding, but I haven't heard anything similar about the honeys. I supposed to get the colour forms they have to be inbred, but then so are loads of other fish.

In the tank there are also 4 neons and 5 pentazona barbs. They've been living happily since the tank was set up in October (filter seeded from mine), although two neons died a couple of days after being introduced. Barbs have been fine.

Any thoughts?


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## Luketendo (19 Feb 2009)

Any Gourami I've ever had was the same. - I'm talking about Dwarves and Honies here.

Except my Pearl Gourami who I've had for absolutely ages. She's lovely and extremely hardy (survived the food overload incident).


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## altaaffe (19 Feb 2009)

It's been a regular subject in PFK magazine over the last couple of years.  They just seem to be riddled with defects and parasites (think it's Iridovirus that's the one).

Althought they do look great, I'll never buy another dwarf gourami of any variety again. I had the same luck, with the longest lasting a year.  As a comparison I still have 2 Opaline gouramis approaching 4 years old that were bought before the dwarves.


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## Ed Seeley (19 Feb 2009)

Just a note the Red Robin Gouramis I've seen were line-bred forms of the Dwarf Gourami, not the Honey Gourami.

It seems there's some systemic bacterial, viral or parasitic problem in lots of these fish coming from the fish farms and they rarely survive.  I wonder if anyone's breeding them over here with fish that are clear of the issue?


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## LondonDragon (19 Feb 2009)

I have tried these fish twice and both times didn't last very long either, I have the same problem with Rams.
Two types of fish that I will not purchased again.


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## hellohefalump (20 Feb 2009)

I wonder if putting them in a quarentine tank and treating them with an anti internal bacteria medicine for a week would help?  I mean when they're first purchased, not when they start showing signs.

The three spot gourami and different colour strains of it (pearl, opoline, golden etc) are hardy and easy to keep, but in my experience they have been quite agressive, and grow bigger.


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## beeky (20 Feb 2009)

I had a pair of moonlight gouramies for something like 6 years a while ago, but these small ones just aren't any good. I personally prefer the subtler wild forms, but it's my son's tank and red is his favourite colour, so what can you do?!

I'll try and get a picture up I took of the dwarf the day before it died. It was lively and feeding, but had a big ulcer on it's side. The honey gouramies looked OK but the colours faded before they died.


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## AndyOx (24 Feb 2009)

Hi Beeky, 
              You might want to look up whether or not the symptoms tally with _Mycobacteria as they are said to be quite prone to this. I've noticed symptoms depend on which species causes infection, some are more virulent than others. Usually ulcers are the final stage of the disease and to be honest there is no treatment once they reach this point as the fish will have granulomas in many of it's vital organs   . Even if caught very early this type of bacteria are nigh on impossible to treat as they are resistant to most aquarium treatments and many antibiotics also. If you feel that it might be Mycobacteriayou should also bear in mind that human infection is posssible (tho unlikely) and make certain any abrasions are dressed and hands washed thoroughly after working on the tank. Not trying to scare you, just make you aware!   

Cheers

Andy_


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## mcmath-2000 (27 Feb 2009)

ive kept a pair of dwarf gourami for about 2 years i think ive been lucky they didnt breed but i should have tried. i have heard that if you get the red colour morph they are a little hardier than the blue but if you can cross the 2 like a friend of mine you get an intresting colour a little brown but very healthy then cross them back i might even try that myself lol


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## beanie (1 Mar 2009)

In the last year we have bough 6 blue dwarf gourami's from a couple of different stores, and the longest any of them have lasted is around 8 months.
With the exception of one fish there was no indication of illness prior to the deaths. The one who showed he was ill was swimming "wrong", turning in circles and ultimately banging into stuff because he couldnt control his swimming.

My husband is now refusing to buy any more, despite the fact that he thinks they look stunning.


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## Goodygumdrops (2 Mar 2009)

I've had 6 Honey Dwarf Gouramis since Nov and they are doing great,no deaths,in fact I have BABIES today!!
Bear in mind that there are two different honey dwarfs,one is the true one,it has the same shape as the bue dwarfs and looks very dull in the shops but apparently colours up a treat when settled,the other (the ones I have),are smaller and daintier shaped,very peacful,bright orange basically when settled,males with a black throat when mature.
I have seen both types readily available in the shops,and while the true types are supposed to be 'the' ones to get,I've yet to see one that LOOKED healthy.


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