Ideas for coverage
 

I'm going to be getting dwarf gourami's for my 29g setup and know that they need overhead coverage, what should I use? I saw at a local pet store fake plants for lizards the I could float on top, any ideas?

Hi. True gouramis enjoy a few floating plants but seemingly more importamt is the need for talllplants that break the waters surface which enables the g's to take air without seeing the other g's hence providing a clearly defined territory for each gourami and results in little to no fighting between the g's. I found the honeys and powder blues to be the more docile of all the dg's the dwarf, flame and neons tend to scrap alot and overpower the honeys and powder blues. Good luck.

I believe they take in air when oxygen levels in the water get too low...I don't think you should never see them do this. Maybe someone could second this.

I have used the reptile plants. A lot of them have suction cups , so they will stay where you want them.
My gouramis spent a lot of time under the floating plants, it gives them some shade from the lighting.

What is g's?

Just a shortened version, to avoid spelling out the word gourami.

I've bought the extra tall 3 foot plants at places like Petsmart. They provide a nice overhead coverage. Here's a pic of one in my 55 gallon.

The anabantoids need to breathe air regardless of the water quality. They posess an organ called the labyrinth, named bcause it is a maze of passages, in which the blood vessels extract oxygen from the air the fish takes in regularly at the surface. This is why it is critical to keep the aquarium well covered so the air above the water surface is always as warm as the water, and moist.

While it is believed that this organ was a natural development to allow the fish to live in very low-oxygen waters (they are all native to swamps and very slow flowing streams thick with vegetation) it is known that the fish cannot live without breathing air. This is comparable to the adaptation in certain catfish families in South America, the Corydoras being well-known examples, where the fish must regularly breach the surface and swallow a gulp of air; blood vessels in the hind gut extract oxygen and when depleted, the fsh goes back to the surface for another gulp of air. If this is somehow prevented, the fish would literally drown, since it is an integral part of their biological makeup.

With corydoras, it is believed that more frequent trips to the surface indicate deteriorating water conditions. But regardles of the condition of the water, neither the corydoras (and similar fish lke Aspidoras, Brochis, Ottocinclus, Parottocinclus...) nor the anabantoids (bettas, gouramis, paradise fish...) will abandon the practice because it is integral to their need for oxygen.

Floating plants should be in any tank containing gouramis. These fish occur in habitats of slow-moving or still water (swamps, small streams) that are thick with plants; the dwarf gourami is fond in small streams, creeks and lakes in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. And they are bubblenest builders and this requires floating plants in the aquarium. So they will always feel more "at home" with floating plants, as well as the plants from below coming to the surface as someone mentioned.

Floating plants are the easiest plants to maintain in an aquarium. Being right under the lights, they will received adequate light, and liquid fertilizer can easily be added once a week following the partial water change. A good plant is Ceratopteris, commonly known as floating fern or water sprite. It does not do particularly well in harder water--but then neither do the gouramis. The root system of the Ceratopteris is a favourite natural haunt for food by gouramis as well as building their bubblenest. Another option would be stem plants that are allowed to float; or planted in the substrate and allowed to grow along the water surface when they reach it.

Byron.

Is that a real or fake plant? Does it matter if you use fake ones?