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Opaline Gourami

4652 Views 37 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Xmega10
So an update. I decided to get a heater after all (a Fluval m100) and so I began researching other gourami (as I said before, blue gouramis are my heart species). Thanks to lilaug for all the great advice on paradise fish but after scoping out the fish shop and looking at the stock (meagre at best) and I really really really love opaline gourami.
I know their basic requirements and I am currently cycling my tank (though I'm confused because it's only been running a week and I have nitrates but only a little bit of ammonia and I was given the impression that the ammonia should be off the charts until nitrates fix it and they both go to 0 ppm).

My biggest question is: for my tank currently, how many opalines could I get? I understand they get to be 6" but would a m/f pair work even if I don't want to breed? All the videos I have watched make it seem like they enjoy the company of others.


Thanks
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Well when I tested the first day (the tank was running for about a week before I first tested) it had 0ppm nitrates AND nitrites and 0ppm ammonia. The ammonia has stayed at 0ppm despite me adding BB. I intend on reading some more on that today because although I know I should wait longer than 2 weeks all my tests are consistently safe. I even thought maybe the new filter was removing ammonia and nitrates but my reading told me that's most likely not the case.

No, my tank is 20g but I maybe have 10g or a little more of water in there. I am willing to add more water but I want my driftwood to stick out because I'm planting a terrestrial anubias on it.

So I could add a golden, a blue and an opaline? They don't care if they're not all the same type of 3-spot? Hmm. That could be cool. It might be hard for me to get 2 females and a male because I think the stores usually have quite a male majority. I might be wrong. The shops I looked at already this week had such pitiful numbers so I didn't much to compare to. There was a super dark, think breeding colors, opaline male in one of the shops. Oh I wanted him so bad but I didn't want to kill him with my cycling tank!

*ETA* Maybe a pair would be a kinder choice. An opaline and a golden perhaps for nice contrast of color.
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OH.. So my BB might be dead because I haven't fed them ammonia? :< What a disappointment and waste of money.

Hm. So my tank is too small for even one adult 3-spot. Nothing is working out for me! What about dwarf gourami?
Thanks :)
So 2 dwarfs would not be okay in my tank? Even with all the driftwood and plants? (ps, my live plants are in shipping). I am thinking I will add more water out of it and just raise up my driftwood. I was out in my backyard yesterday and found several buckets filled with cool looking rocks (I'm thinking for a years old dead dream of landscaping by whoever lived here before us).
Hmm, thanks! I will look into them. It's still m/f/f for a trio, right? I thought honeys were a color variation of dwarf but I see that they're only similar.
They sound great. And I love the wild coloring. Going to call the big petshop today and see if they have any honeys. My tank is reading consistent 0ppm on ammonia, nitrate and nitrite so I assume it's safe. I'll keep a close eye on it if I do get fish this weekend.
It was 25ppm the other day before my water change though. And I know I shouldn't been, but I have been adding fish flakes every other day.
Oh I'll be super diligent and probably test ammonia twice a day until I feel sure it's okay. I'm just super impatient, the tank has been set up and running for 2-3 weeks with no adverse readings. I know that's not fool proof though and I'll feel awful if anything happens to any fish I add.
I want to extend a super duper thank you to you as well, lilaug. You were the only responder to my gourami posts and you helped me pick the right ones for my setup. You are a gourami hero :)
Haha oh my god. Sorry! I have always thought you were lilaugrim forever. Oops!

Im on the bus now coming back from store. She gave me a price on a little trio of honeys. I have a wild, a yellow and a red and some salvinia for the coming ammonia spike. But i got on the wrong bus and i have no idea where i am. Hoping to loop back to a familiar part of the city soon!
Yes I finally made it home. An hour or more out of the way but nonetheless. I would have found it more funny if I didn't have live fish with me! Acclimatising now.
Thanks. Unfortunately, I think little red is going to die. This morning he has what appears to be scales or fuzz sticking off him and he's basically not moving his gills or feelers. He's just there.

But the wild honey is in full breeding colors and overnight has gone and decorated everything on the surface with tonnes of bubbles! So either, he's really happy about his environment or Yellow is a lady. I'll try to get a pic of him, he's stunning in color. Also, I take my pictures with my phone and upload them to my imgur app and they come out huge. I have no idea how to make them smaller.
They have been acting as if it is a female. I am slightly embarrassed to be witnessing this! Not really. Since they are doing nothing but swimming around I took some short videos :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP5HldKNOFc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7Pjkw5wbpw



Now, I don't know what to do about little red. he's moving around a little since I turned on the light but I'm not sure if he's in beginner dropsy or what's going on. He looked fine yesterday, just had some stringy poops.
Yellow's dorsal is long but the very edge is round, so is red's. I'm going to do a water change. Red is shedding her slime coat, is not scales or fuzz. From what I'm reading, the slime coat shed is caused by stress and environment. Since she only started this last night, I'm thinking it's an adverse reaction to the meds. I'm going to remove her. Do you think I should add her back to the group for now while I figure something else out?
Aquarium salt you mean. I'll add some now the once. I just put her in a small just-tank water cup. She still has white stringy poops.


I wouldn't know the first thing about rearing tiny baby gouramis! I'm not ready for that commitment!Plus I don't have a spare everything to raise them in. Nor do I know where the heck to find infusoria and live brine.
Oh that would be fun! I did not know infusoria lived in live plants. I have the salvinia and the yellow keeps picking at the roots so maybe thats what she's eating? None of them seem to take a particular interest in the food I bought for them. I bought omega 1 micropellets and tetra flakes. Now I don't know what to buy next to try. I'll pop into the pet store next to the dr when I go later today.

Also, I'm super relieved you think it's just stress! So after a little salt bath I can add her back to the tank and she can get over her stress naturally like the male did?
I need to send you a thank you card for helping me out with these fish! First it was choosing a gourami now it's this. You're the best.

I'll see if they have frozen foods today. I know frozen brine shrimp are the bee's knees. I think the store was feeding them bloodworms because all the betta cups had excess bloodworms (I think they put a full dropper of worms in each cup!) so I imagine they screwed up the diet of all the fish by feeding frozen. Not a problem really but now they're spoiled. Maybe i'll infuse the food with garlic later.
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