jennwhitcher

Question: I just bought a blue dwarf gourami and I noticed him eat his own feces. What does this mean and/or is this normal?

Alessa

Ok... that is weird!

there is this horrible virus going on with the gouramis... but this is definately not a sign (that I know of)

is your tank cycled? what are your parameters?
Ok, my fish have never done this. I am going to wait for the fishlore masters to answer this one.

and Welcome To fishlore!

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!! and NO I agree with alessa thats not normal...how much are u feeding him? not that they eat their poop even if starved but was just curious

not sure why hes doing that but I do hope he stops...LOL

also, as alessa said about the cycle, heres a link you should read so nothing happens to that lil guy... http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm goodluck!

Alessa

Maybe... Maybe you could distract him with some extra bits of food?? feed him 3 times a day in little servings? maybe this is the job of a fish psychologist!

jennwhitcher

I just wondered if it was ok? He only did it one time that I know of. And it was right after he ate. Maybe he got confused? I haven't seen him do it again. At the pet store that I bought him at,the man said to only feed hin once a day. But I am reading on here 3 times a day. And also on the food container it says 3 times a day. I wonder why he would say that? Thank you all for your advice!!

maisy

Marian does that too...she's not a dwarf blue, just a normal blue. I feed her twice a day now, she doesn't eat anymore than that though. I did this mainly because I thought Robin was scaring her off so she's eating poo, but I've tried three times, all the other fish ate except her.

She also LOVES eating algae wafers with the danios and the occasional cory lol.

Alessa

but again.. is your tank cycled? do you have a test kit? we need to know this because it is very important...

Franky_Bones

I got a Blue Gourami and have not seen him eat his own feces. But I have seen the Silver Dollars get confused during feeding time and try to eat my Blue Gourami's poo. Although they spit it out as soon as they realize what they just did.

sirdarksol

It's not fully normal, but it also isn't completely abnormal. I agree with Alessa, I want to know if the tank is cycled.
Have you watched long enough to verify that your fish hasn't spit it out. Tasting is a fish's way of identifying something as food/not-food. (Shark attacks on humans are actually them tasting us) When I had a gourami, it would pick the gravel from the bottom of the tank, testing each piece for food (and likely sucking the algae off of it).

jennwhitcher

I watched him again and he did spit out and he hasn't done it again. He is doing very well!! Our tank was cycled before we added him to it. We have had him for two weeks now and just added 7 fish today. I was worried that he would be aggressive and he did so well!! We added 2 sunset platys,1 peacock eel,3 glass fish,1 kissing gourami. They all seem very happy!! I have a question:The two sunsets,I am having a very hard time telling their sexes. They are supposed to be a male and a female,but it is really hard to tell. Could anyone tell me a better way of knowing?

Barbrella

If you just got the Kissing Gourami, I really suggest you take it back.

DId you know they grow up to one foot long?

jennwhitcher

THE PEOPLE AT THE PET STORE NEVER TOLD US ANYTHING LIKE THAT. tHAT IS TOO BIG!! MY TANK IS ONLY 26 GALLON. I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY WOULDN'T TELL ME THAT. THANKS FOR THE INFO!!