Altari

The four danios are eating so quickly the two shy little gouramis can't get a bite to eat. The two gouramis are usually in hiding and take a minute or two to realize there's food to be had. I've tried waiting to feed until both the gouramis come out, but the danios muscle them out of the way.

Are these guys bad tank mates and how can I make sure the gouramis get fed as well?

iloveengl

Hello Altari. Welcome to FishLore.

What kind of gouramis are they? The honey and sparkling gouramis are very timid and prefer peaceful, low-key tank mates, dwarf and larger gouramis shouldn't be bothered by danios.

Honey and sparkling gouramis really do better with other low-key, timid tank mates for just that reason - they're usually too timid to go for food and the stress can lead to starvation.

BUT, it's not impossible. Dense, tall plants, along with floating plants (fake or real) will make your gouramis feel SO much more at ease; you could either plant the whole back side, one side, or one large corner, just so long as there is room for them to hide when they need to. Then you can feed them in their plants while you feed the more aggressive eaters on the other end of the tank. Spot feeding my honey gouramis and bribing them with blood worms and tubifex worms helped make sure they're always eating. Mine also like to peck at fresh zucchini slices. They only grudgingly accept flakes/crisps.

There may be additional factors involved. What size tank is it? What are the other tank mates? What are the water prams.? (If you could finish filling out the rest of your aquarium info., it would really help.)

Keep asking any questions or mentioning any concerns you have; we're here to help. Do you have any pics of your fishies? We love those.

Lucy

Hi Altari Welcome to FishLore
If you could fill in your aquarium info (found under My Settings at the top left)
it would help the members better help you question without having to ask a bunch of questions.

Thanks and enjoy the forum

peacemaker92

Welcome to Fishlore!

Great info and advice above. Hope to see some photos of your tank too. Keep us posted.

aquarist48

Hello Altari and Welcome to Fish Lore. I hope you enjoy the site.
Ken

Betafish305ca

welcome, welcome..... another way maybe be the turkey baster method, its what people use to help feed african dwarf frogs... basically (if i understand it right) you put some food flakes into the water, use the turkey baster to suck some up, and then direct the end towards where your other fish are, and then squirt it out infront of them, this might help, or release it inside their homes/ hiding spots... if you can reach..... hope this all helps

Altari

Thanks for the turkey baster tip. I'll give that a shot next time I feed.

I went back and filled in all the details. We ended up with this tank as a fluke. Initially we were giving aquaponic gardening a shot with a bunch of goldfish and the pleco. Then, all the goldfish started dying and I felt very bad for them, so we got the tank. Since I didn't do any research on the fish (just the gardening) we didn't know the goldfish were so dirty. Needless to say, they all died.

So...we had a tank with just the pleco. After long hours of consultation with the internet and a few fish friends, we added some more. And now we're here.

Lucy

Thanks for filling in your info. It's help a lot.
Keep a real close on your DG's and betta. They really aren't compatable and maybe another reason why your DG's are being shy about coming out and eating.
They're normally very social fish.

Jackie Frost

I used to have a similiar problem with my Black Moor Goldfish and a common feeder goldfish. Molly was a slow swimmer and couldn't see well on top of that. Meanwhile the smaller goldfish would zip around and eat 75% of the food. Molly slowly began to figure out what was going on and she would begin to chase Goldie around the tank mercilessly during meal times though they were friends every time else. It was kind of funny and sad at the same time.

iloveengl

I agree with Lucy and want to add that not only is one betta and a dwarf gouramis in a 10g tank a recipe for disaster, but you have two dwarf gouramis together, which is just as problematic. I recommend moving the betta to its own tank (they really really shouldn't be with other fish) and splitting up the gouramis.

Those types of fish should normally be very outgoing, but become extremely aggressive around each other to the point that one or more fish may suffer injuries and death soon if those three aren't separated. Sorry, not the best thing to hear, but at least it is a good excuse for MTS.

Altari

My husband is mad enough about one tank. I have noticed that the betta seems to "hunt" the gouramis if they ever come out of hiding. We really don't want to see any of them hurt, but it's a "what's done is done" problem right now. No space for a second tank and can't just get rid of the fish that are in there.

iloveengl

You could try listing them on Craigslist or just giving them back to the fish store.

It's really an incompatibility issue with these fish, especially in a small tank. Two DG in a 55g can eventually kill each other (let alone jstu a 10g) and one betta can suddenly flip out and kill the danios; betta and gouramis can all suddenly flip out and end up with injuries or fatalities. Providing lots of plant cover, including floating plants will help, but imo it would just be a matter of time.

Altari

I'll see what I can do with the store to return the gouramis. Would the betta really kill all the danios? I was reading that they're such good tank mates.

Aside from hunting the gouramis, the only other fish the betta (now named Benny by my 7 year old) has gone after is the pleco. He nipped at the pleco once, which wasn't well received, and the problem was over quickly.

iloveengl

I had a male betta in a 12g with 6 danios a long while back. One morning I woke up to four disemboweled danios; the betta was still hunting the other two. Happened out of nowhere. Unfortunately, that's a pretty common anecdote when it comes to bettas and tank mates. I had them together because I had read the same thing, that bettas and danios can work out. Awful.

Altari

Well, that's disappointing. Maybe I'll ask them if they'll take the betta off my hands, even though I didn't get him from them, and look into a few live bearers in a few weeks. We have a half-gallon bowl that I was keeping in case any of them needed to be separated, but I don't want to keep him in that for the long haul.

Do I need to worry about the gouramis attacking the danios, or will they just fight with each other? I'm going to assume the pleco is fairly safe from all of this drama.

Altari

Oh, also, I was mistaken about something. I have "sparkling gouramis", which were called "pygmy gouramis" at the store...probably where I mixed up the dwarf...Sorry.

iloveengl

If you're not certain, post a pic and we can certainly tell you which ones they are .

If they are sparkling gouramis, then scroll back up to post #2. Sparkling gouramis, unlike dwarf, are great in pairs, so don't worry about separating them for now. You may have issues down the road if they turn out to be male and female, but no worries for now.

IMO that betta still needs to be re-homed asap because he is definitely adding to the stress of the little sparkling gouramis.

Altari

I looked the two up. The descriptions that were being posted didn't match what I was told about them, so I wanted to see if I'd been hoodwinked. This is the guy!
http://www.fishlore.com/aquariummaga...ng-gourami.htm

They've been coming out a little more today than they were yesterday. The only thing that got them out yesterday was the pleco going into the log to clean up. Every so often the danios swim through the log and try to get the gouramis to join the school. The gouramis have gotten wise to this and are now swimming out to join the school during meal times.

I'm a dog person, so these little things have been endlessly amusing me for the past few days. From the dog point of view, it's so strange to have to worry about inter-breed warfare. Of course I can keep a German Shepherd with a Pomeranian...

So, any suggestions on what I can substitute (pretty-wise) for the betta once he's out? As I wrote this, Benny attacked one of the gouramis (he escaped unharmed). Time to fill up the half-gallon bowl, I guess.