Gourami getting fat

Me and my boyfriend bought a fish tank from a friend of his family, two of the guramis are now getting a bit chubby. We got the water checked at our local pets at home and everything's normal. We also have other guramis which are not, we also thing the ones that are not fat are males. How do we know if the two fat females are going to lay eggs. Want to be ready just in case, any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Unfortunately, this may be the early stages of dropsy. Pet store Gouramis tend to be very vulnerable to the disease. They start getting "fatter" or looking like they have a bubble slowly inflating inside of them. Eventually it gets bad enough to cause "pineconing" where the scales can no longer lay flat around the rounded area. Then, death. It's somewhere between very difficult and impossible to treat. The only Gourami I ever kept died of dropsy after 6 months or so, despite the best water conditions I could give him.

I could be wrong, and I'm not an expert on Gouramis. But you may want to find an article on Dropsy in Gouramis and see if your fish is showing these symptoms.

 

If you have a male and a female of the same kind then it is possible for them to spawn. What kind of gourami do you have and how many. The males will make a bubble nest in some floating plants and after fertilizing will put the eggs in the nest, chase away the female and take care of the eggs. Welcome to the forum and glad you joined us. Alison

 

I have had my gourami for a few months and it just gets fat sometimes cause I feed them too much one day. Maybe you want to show some pictures?

 

What are your exact parameters? "Normal" doesn't help much..
You should invest in a liquid test kit such as API Liquid Master Test Kit. Its very important in fishkeeping.
Also, what size tank and are there any other fish in the tank?

 

Bhuij - we don't know where they came from they were already in the tank when we bought it and have had it for about 2 months prior to this the previous owner has had them for about two years

Aliray- six gourami's in total three blue and three tiger skins. We do have plants at the top but no sign of a bubble best yet what would we loon for? Totally new at this we got them as a first pet thing.

 

I'm hopeful for you that it's a simple case of bloating from overfeeding, or even fish getting ready to spawn. I just think it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the symptoms of dropsy and keep a close eye out for them, as this species of fish is particularly notorious for being susceptible to dropsy, even with a history of being kept in good conditions and staying healthy, etc. My gourami lived for months before showing any symptoms. Granted, that's not two years, but it's long enough to show that a long history of good health doesn't rule out dropsy.

 

Bambam - I'll ask my fella to send some over but he is a rubbish photographer

Peace fantasy- Not sure we get them tested monthly at pets at home and they tell us if anything is irregular .. Will definitely look at getting one of those tests for ourself a if they are more accurate

Bhuij - yeah I hope that's all it is will definitely look into it though especially if it could effect the others thanks

 

The API master test kit is cheaper on Amazon .com than the pet store. Alison

 

2233coffey the thing about stores testing your water is often they don't know what "regular" is, you see? So its really handy to have one on hand so you can test anytime and know what to look for.

If you haven't read the Nitrogen Cycle yet, you should definitely do that ASAP.
Quick tips- do not replace your filter cartridges. If you feel the need to rinse them, do it in old tank water or dechlorinated water. Grab some Seachem Prime. Its amazing!
Youll want to do 50% water changes once a week at least.

How many gallons is the tank?

 

Aliray - thank you will get one purchased today

Peacefantasy- yeah will definitely get one, no we have read all that we have a smaller tank which we had set up first so we read through it before we got that one. We have an external filtration system that came with the tank. He does 50% water change every two weeks, I'll advise we do it weekly. It's 165 ltr not sure in gallons.

 

Pictures of the Gurami and the male has died and no nest was made ... We got one of the water testing kits the ammonia and nitrate are at 0 and the ph is 6.8 the nitrite is also at 0 so nothing is high in the tank any advise on the fish would be a great help

 

Readings of 0, 0, 0 indicate that your tank isn't cycled

 

So what does that mean for the tank we though that it would have already cycled with it being five years old... The kit was also an old one but had never been used, should we buy a new one?

 

So what does that mean for the tank we though that it would have already cycled with it being five years old... The kit was also an old one but had never been used, should we buy a new one?

What is the expiration date on it?
Beneficial bacteria can be killed.. how often do you do water changes, change filters and what water conditioner do you use?

 

If your nitrates are 0, it means your tank isn't cycled.

 

Peacefantasy - Not sure ... 50% every other week ... It's an external filtration system we clean the sponges when we do a water change and put new ones in when we first got the tank and we don't use any water conditioner

Daniel - we will re-test with a new kit

 

You should read the Nitrogen Cycle..
In order to have a healthy tank, you need to build your beneficial bacteria colony.
And right now, not having a cycled tank, you may want to do a large water change asap. With a conditioner like Seachem Prime
As routine maintenance, 50% every other week is not enough