Angel fish problem

Snarls · May 16th, 2007

New to this in last few weeks, but have a 55 gal tank with 2 gouramis and 2 angels. The angels have been acting strange and sitting at bottom of tank not seeming to eat. Show no visible signs of being sick except that. 1 angel died 2 days ago, no the 1 remaining is still doing that - just sitting at bottom of tank.Before this the 2 of them were swimming around alot. I'm not sure but this dont seem normal behavior. Has anyone had this problem before and can I do to stop the other angel from dieing on me?

Tom · May 16th, 2007

Did you cycle your tank before adding the fish? What are your tank readings?
Tom

COBettaCouple · May 16th, 2007

have you seen any aggression from the gouramis or any tears, etc in the angels fins?

Butterfly · May 16th, 2007

All good questions, when we have the answers we can try to help figure out whats going on.
Carol

Snarls · May 16th, 2007

I cycled my tank for about 3 weeks, and I took samples of the water to pet store to be tested and they told me they were perfect. The orange gourami seems to be agresive towards the blue gourami, just that it is now chasing it around. It dose not bite it, and no there is no marks or anything on any of the fish. Not sure if this is any help at all, but tnx

Tom · May 16th, 2007

But what are the readings now? The pet store could have added just enough of the chemicals to make it seem like verything was alright and ready to go.
Tom

COBettaCouple · May 16th, 2007

what type of gourami is the orange one? the blue gourami can be sexed by their dorsal fin. http://www.fishlore.com/profile-bluegourami.htm

Honestly, i wouldn't trust most LFS/LPSs to test my tank water. You've got a personal interest in your tank conditions and will be more thorough and precise than a good many of the punch-in/punch-out employees that do the water tests. Some know their stuff and do a good job testing, but it seems to be the exception.

Tom · May 16th, 2007

Ya, I agree with FLBettaCouple, I used to take my water to get tested at a pet store that I have spent hndreds of dollars at and before, they had two really inteeligent employees that I trusted with my water and they even showed you the steps to take and the process to get there, but when they left to go to a better paying job, I had to buy my own kits and test them myself since the other people didn't know what they were talking about. But sadly, they have the best quality of fish and the only place in the city that I can find that has a saltwater collection, the sad part is, they are about 1/2 hour away if the traffic is good. Just buy some test kits, you will actually save money not going to the pet store every so often to test your water, and let us know your results. please.
Tom

COBettaCouple · May 16th, 2007

true.. with gas heading in the direction of costing more than an testing kit in 1 trip.

Tom · May 16th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLBettaCouple

true.. with gas heading in the direction of costing more than an testing kit in 1 trip.

It is almost summer and that is when the price is really high.
Tom

Snarls · May 16th, 2007

1st of all I'm really new at this..not sure which fish is which..one of the gourami's is called odaline gourami, the other is called pearl gourami. They are blueish with camoflauge and other is orangish camoflauge looking. Very pretty looking. My other angel fish dyed. No marks or rot or bites or nothing. The person at the pet store that was testing my water I did trust. But I will invest in my own kit. Not really sure if I should get the kit that test everything, the biggest kit or not tho?As I said I'm very new to this. This was a easter presant for my kids, that I seemed to like.lol. Tnx for the help any ways..maybe someone has a sugestion as to what fish I could put in with the gouramis that would make good mates for them, or maybe because they might be agressive I cant put anything else in the tank?

Tom · May 16th, 2007

The type of testing stuff you should get should contain
NO2(nitrite)
NO3(nitrate)
NH3/4(ammonia)
pH
and maybe if possible
GH
KH
Tom

COBettaCouple · May 16th, 2007

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113074 - we use this testing kit.

If these are your gourami, you can check the links for information about them and how to tell male from female. Peaceful fish would be good companions for them, like platys, corys or otos.
Opaline Gourami
Pearl Gourami

Snarls · May 17th, 2007

Thank you all for your help,yes thoose are the 2 gouramis that I have.I will get a kit to test water myself, trail and error I guess.Still unsure as to what happened to the angels, really hoped they would have lived,but I'll do better with the others now.

Butterfly · May 17th, 2007

If you go to the petsmart website there is a coupon for the aquarium pharmaceuticals water test kit. If ou print it off you can take it to Petsmart and they will honor the coupon making the test kit I think about $15.
It usually takes a tank about 6-8 weeks to cycle before its ready for fish. Angels are particularly sensitive to water quality.
Gouramis and angels don't usually work well together. If the Gouramis hit the angels in the side they could have injured their swim bladder and they would die (just guessing by symptoms)
Here is info on the Opaline Gourami http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile84.html
Heres info on the pearl gourami http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile30.html
Varol

capekate · May 17th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butterfly

If you go to the petsmart website there is a coupon for the aquarium pharmaceuticals water test kit. If ou print it off you can take it to Petsmart and they will honor the coupon making the test kit I think about $15.
It usually takes a tank about 6-8 weeks to cycle before its ready for fish. Angels are particularly sensitive to water quality.
Gouramis and angels don't usually work well together. If the Gouramis hit the angels in the side they could have injured their swim bladder and they would die (just guessing by symptoms)
Here is info on the Opaline Gourami http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile84.html
Heres info on the pearl gourami http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile30.html
Varol

I also printed out the coupon from the online petsmart and brought it to the store and they honored the price. They also honor anyone elses prices for any other items as well. That includes the 29g tank they replaced for me that was cracked and bought from another totally different store! Amazing! Of course, that same day I ended up spendidng as much as the 29g & set up would have cost, but they have a loyal customer in me now.

The gouramis can be little devils.. the dwarf that I had killed off my platy. And I witnessed it butt one of the platy in the side and down the poor thing went. I wouldnt want to put the gouarmi in with Angels either and moved my gourami to another tank when I introduced the Angels. While the Angels were still in the bag in the water, the gourami was showing aggresion, that was enough for me and I moved him out. I will not get another dwarf gourami again..tho they are beautiful arnt they?..

COBettaCouple · May 17th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snarls

Thank you all for your help,yes thoose are the 2 gouramis that I have.I will get a kit to test water myself, trail and error I guess.Still unsure as to what happened to the angels, really hoped they would have lived,but I'll do better with the others now.

did those links help you tell if they're male or female?

Snarls · May 18th, 2007

We don't have a petsmart around here..Eastern canada, I ususally shop at pets unlimited. I was told that Angels and Gouramis could live together..but I see I was missinformed. Wont make that mistake again. From reading and seeing the pics , nearest I can figure is the blue gourami is a female and the other is a male. may not have been the smartest move I made getting these fish as a beginer, but didn.t want goldfish because I was told that they are dirty fish and it is harder to convert from gold fish to tropical because gold fish are to dirty. I think I am going to take your advice and get a couple of those non aggressive fish you mentioned, just so the tank don't look so empty with just the 2 gouramis.Plus the tank was easter gift for my kids and they love to watch the fish. Please tell me if I'm wrong, but when I clean the tank, isn't it best to do 50% water tank changes? Not change all the water at once because if that was the case what was the point in cycling it in the 1st place right? I now am feeling a lil stupid about all this but willing to take advice tnx.

capekate · May 18th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snarls

We don't have a petsmart around here..Eastern canada, I ususally shop at pets unlimited. I was told that Angels and Gouramis could live together..but I see I was missinformed. Wont make that mistake again. From reading and seeing the pics , nearest I can figure is the blue gourami is a female and the other is a male. may not have been the smartest move I made getting these fish as a beginer, but didn.t want goldfish because I was told that they are dirty fish and it is harder to convert from gold fish to tropical because gold fish are to dirty. I think I am going to take your advice and get a couple of those non aggressive fish you mentioned, just so the tank don't look so empty with just the 2 gouramis.Plus the tank was easter gift for my kids and they love to watch the fish. Please tell me if I'm wrong, but when I clean the tank, isn't it best to do 50% water tank changes? Not change all the water at once because if that was the case what was the point in cycling it in the 1st place right? I now am feeling a lil stupid about all this but willing to take advice tnx.

Mistakes are made all the time.. even with the experts. Its a way of life... We live.. we learn! I am new here as well, and I have learned so much, reading and thru experiance. Since you have two gouramis already, they are a beautiful fish regardless of their personalities why not just get a few more of the same species? Then you wouldnt have to worry about what can be mixed with them? A 50% water change would be determined by a water test. Do you have the API kit on hand? I have had my tank up and running since march 25th and I still do a daily water change of about 20%. That can help keep the levels low til your tank cycles.

COBettaCouple · May 18th, 2007

we do about a 1/4th to 1/3rd water change each week, unless water conditions warrant more. The tanks get cleaned well each week also.

don't worry about a mistake made by listening to the pet store.. when we got started, we made tons of mistakes taking their advice. then we found fishlore.

Butterfly · May 18th, 2007

Yep we all make mistakes- we just have to learn from them. My first mistake was a paradise fish. http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_macropodus.php I didn't realize how aggressive they could be and he killed everything in the tank. when I put him in a tank alone he was great. I had not done any research at all like I should have

Would like to have another one of these days.
Carol

COBettaCouple · May 18th, 2007

I can see why - a beautiful fish!

Snarls · May 18th, 2007

Thank you all for the great advice...i will be getting a good water test kit this weekend, now that I know I should be testing on my own weekly by looks of it. So very glad I found fishlore.

Carrie

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