Nervous about new Pearl Gourami

HI y'all.

So my 20 gallon planted tank finished cycling about 3 days ago, and today I picked up a young pearl gourami for it. She seems active, healthy, etc. especially since it's only been about 4 hours since she was added to the tank, but I'm a little wary.

See, last time I had a gourami (honey, male), he refused food for a week and wasted away really quickly. I tried flake, pellet, soaking the previous in garlic juice, and even live daphnia, and he did take the daphnia for about 2 days, but eventually he refused everything. He seemed happy, with peaceful tankmates, clean water, and plenty of places to hide. My worry is that the same thing will happen with this new fish, and I'd really like to avoid it.

Is this a common issue with gouramis? Did the honey gourami have iridovirus? What can I do to ensure the new pearl takes food, other than general good husbandry (of course)? Am I being paranoid???

Everything I've read about pearls says they readily take flakes, small pellets, etc. (which would be ideal since those foods are cheap and readily available), so my guess is that the honey gourami was some fluke, illness, or undiagnosed stress issue. Either way, I would really appreciate any tips you guys have to help this girl settle in and live a happy, healthy life.

 

HI y'all.

So my 20 gallon planted tank finished cycling about 3 days ago, and today I picked up a young pearl gourami for it. She seems active, healthy, etc. especially since it's only been about 4 hours since she was added to the tank, but I'm a little wary.

See, last time I had a gourami (honey, male), he refused food for a week and wasted away really quickly. I tried flake, pellet, soaking the previous in garlic juice, and even live daphnia, and he did take the daphnia for about 2 days, but eventually he refused everything. He seemed happy, with peaceful tankmates, clean water, and plenty of places to hide. My worry is that the same thing will happen with this new fish, and I'd really like to avoid it.

Is this a common issue with gouramis? Did the honey gourami have iridovirus? What can I do to ensure the new pearl takes food, other than general good husbandry (of course)? Am I being paranoid???

Everything I've read about pearls says they readily take flakes, small pellets, etc. (which would be ideal since those foods are cheap and readily available), so my guess is that the honey gourami was some fluke, illness, or undiagnosed stress issue. Either way, I would really appreciate any tips you guys have to help this girl settle in and live a happy, healthy life.

Honey Gourami are social that could of been a factor of it not settling in, illness is a possibility, if the temperature was too low that's another but Honey's are fairly adaptable.

The Pearl should be fine just give it time. A balanced varied diet is best for fish health. Feeding the occasional live or frozen food as well as something algae based will do her good.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Since it's new this fish may hang back for a few days, but my three pearls eat whatever I drop into the tank. Quickly.

 

Honey Gourami are social that could of been a factor of it not settling in, illness is a possibility, if the temperature was too low that's another but Honey's are fairly adaptable.

The Pearl should be fine just give it time. A balanced varied diet is best for fish health. Feeding the occasional live or frozen food as well as something algae based will do her good.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, he was a singleton--maybe some day I'll try again with a group of 3 or 4 if that's large enough? The tank he was in runs a solid 75F/24C, and to my knowledge the heater has never malfunctioned or anything, so you're probably right about the lack of company.

Awesome, great to know. Do you happen know what kind of proteinlant ratio is good for pearls?

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Since it's new this fish may hang back for a few days, but my three pearls eat whatever I drop into the tank. Quickly.

Got it, thank you for the response. She'll have a solid 12 hours of lights-off de-stress time, so hopefully tomorrow morning she'll be confident and hungry.

 

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, he was a singleton--maybe some day I'll try again with a group of 3 or 4 if that's large enough? The tank he was in runs a solid 75F/24C, and to my knowledge the heater has never malfunctioned or anything, so you're probably right about the lack of company.

Awesome, great to know. Do you happen know what kind of proteinlant ratio is good for pearls?

I can't really give exact numbers as I usually just give them a pinch of everything and they eat my catfish and loach food. As long as you're not feeding too much of one or the other, though I would slightly favor protein since they'll eat bits of algae off of plants and whatnot.

Edit: I would also bump the temperature up for Pearls, keep them around 77-80f

 

I can't really give exact numbers as I usually just give them a pinch of everything and they eat my catfish and loach food. As long as you're not feeding too much of one or the other, though I would slightly favor protein since they'll eat bits of algae off of plants and whatnot.

Edit: I would also bump the temperature up for Pearls, keep them around 77-80f

Got it, I'll offer the types of food that I currently have, see what she goes for, change it up regularly, and offer live/frozen meaty foods as available.

Does this mean I need an adjustable heater? My current on is a 100W Tetra, which I believe is preset to 76f±2, I just checked and it's currently 77.1f. It's also evening, so that's probably on the cooler side if it fluctuates at all (my other tank uses the same kind of heater and doesn't change between 3am and 3pm). She's also chilling on the opposite side of the tank, so I assume she's not cold?

Of course an adjustable heater might be slightly more ideal if it needs to stay within a tiny range, but I think they're more expensive. That, plus hassle, I'd like to stick with the current filter assuming the above is warm enough for the pearl.

 

Mine seem fine at 75°.

 

Mine seem fine at 75°.

Thanks! I'm not too worried, since 77 is generally considered on the warmer side, but it's still within comfortable range for most tropical fish.

 

Got it, I'll offer the types of food that I currently have, see what she goes for, change it up regularly, and offer live/frozen meaty foods as available.

Does this mean I need an adjustable heater? My current on is a 100W Tetra, which I believe is preset to 76f±2, I just checked and it's currently 77.1f. It's also evening, so that's probably on the cooler side if it fluctuates at all (my other tank uses the same kind of heater and doesn't change between 3am and 3pm). She's also chilling on the opposite side of the tank, so I assume she's not cold?

Of course an adjustable heater might be slightly more ideal if it needs to stay within a tiny range, but I think they're more expensive. That, plus hassle, I'd like to stick with the current filter assuming the above is warm enough for the pearl.

Mine seem fine at 75°.

75f is the lower end of where you want it, considering Pearls are a warm water species of Gourami and can tolerate temperatures from 75-86f "Seriously Fish" you typically don't want to keep fish on the extremes of this temperature range, saying this my tank was running at 73f for I imagine a couple of months during the winter and they "seem fine" but I still wouldn't recommend it long term.
I would save up for an adaptable heater, I personally can't stand Tetra pre set heaters they're so unreliable, at least in my experience.

 

Got it. If I notice any fluctuation, I'll definitely invest in an adjustable heater, and I'll monitor it carefully for a couple of days to make sure she won't be stressed out by cold.

So far, both this one and the one in my betta tank have been reliable. They keep the tanks between 77 and 78, it seems, and the older one I've had for several months without issue. Your mileage may vary, though.

 

Honey Gourami are social that could of been a factor of it not settling in, illness is a possibility, if the temperature was too low that's another but Honey's are fairly adaptable.

The Pearl should be fine just give it time. A balanced varied diet is best for fish health. Feeding the occasional live or frozen food as well as something algae based will do her good.

Pearls aren't social ?

I think it is a shame any Gourami is kept as a single fish. Also a 20G is in fact to small for Pearls.

 

Pearls aren't social ?

I think it is a shame any Gourami is kept as a single fish. Also a 20 gallon is in fact to small for Pearls.

True, Pearls are social maybe less dependent than Honeys? but still social.

I think there's exceptions such as Dwarf Gourami, who I believe live for the most part solitary. Then again that picture from a post a while ago with all those Dwarf Gourami seems to suggest otherwise (Pretty sure you commented on that post).

 

True, Pearls are social maybe less dependent than Honeys? but still social.

I think there's exceptions such as Dwarf Gourami, who I believe live for the most part solitary. Then again that picture from a post a while ago with all those Dwarf Gourami seems to suggest otherwise (Pretty sure you commented on that post).

Correct and in the right conditions they'll be fine with females and in bigger tanks even with males.

The small enclosures we keep fish in are in fact the reason / cause we seem to think that we should keep fish as single ones.

 

Correct and in the right conditions they'll be fine with females and in bigger tanks even with males.

The small enclosures we keep fish in are in fact the reason / cause we seem to think that we should keep fish as single ones.

Completely agree with this, it’s part of what does my head in with Three Spot Gourami, they are social fish with attitude meaning they need space. If you can’t provide them with adequate space don’t keep them it’s as simple as that.