Pearl gourami fin rot??

[Cami]

Information

Hey there! So I’ve recently added two Pearl gouramis in my 26 gallon bow front aquarium!

AND YES I know my tank is probably too small for gouramis! I have around 17 small fish under 2inches (except the tetra pristellas) in the tank and really wanted a peaceful bigger fish as a statement piece. The employee at my LFS pointed me towards Pearl gouramis as they are beautiful and considered the more peaceful of the gouramis. I took one look and fell in love, they said it was better to put two instead of one alone. I have asked all the employees at my LFS over and over if adding those 2 gouramis to my 26 gallon would be considered overstocking and they said no... if they were wrong please tell me.

I know gouramis love planted tanks so I bought 40$ worth of low light aquarium plants that have been quarantined in a bucket of water with an air stone for 4 days. I will be adding them soon! I’m saving up for the 200$ Fluval Plant 3.0 light

Parameters:
PH: 7.6-8 (It’s high)
Ammonia: I use the API and I’ve never gotten a canary yellow test, however it’s not as green as .25ppm so I’d say small traces of ammonia
Nitrite: always 0
Nitrates: 10ppm
TDS: 190

I do 40-50% water changes ever week, using Prime. I have purigen in the filter that I swap ever 6 months because I’m scared of using bleach. I rinse everything in the filter every 2 weeks and vacuum 30% of the gravel every week, rotating between sections. I don’t add anything except beneficial bacteria after my water changes just in case and fertilizer pellets for plants.

I feed everyday and skip a day to feed peas and blanched cucumbers

so now for my issue!

I’ve noticed that one of the two Pearl gouramis has ragged back fins. I’ve had fish that had fin rot before so I know what this looks like and to me, white edges,etc BUT this looks slightly different

also apparently my lfs gave me one male and one female but I genuinely cannot tell the difference. One of them (supposedly the male) sometimes pecks at the other gouramis body and sometimes chases her for a split second but other than that there is not much aggression!

thanks for help

 

[Kaity]

Information

Hey there! So I’ve recently added two Pearl gouramis in my 26 gallon bow front aquarium!

AND YES I know my tank is probably too small for gouramis! I have around 17 small fish under 2inches (except the tetra pristellas) in the tank and really wanted a peaceful bigger fish as a statement piece. The employee at my LFS pointed me towards Pearl gouramis as they are beautiful and considered the more peaceful of the gouramis. I took one look and fell in love, they said it was better to put two instead of one alone. I have asked all the employees at my LFS over and over if adding those 2 gouramis to my 26 gallon would be considered overstocking and they said no... if they were wrong please tell me.

I know gouramis love planted tanks so I bought 40$ worth of low light aquarium plants that have been quarantined in a bucket of water with an air stone for 4 days. I will be adding them soon! I’m saving up for the 200$ Fluval Plant 3.0 light

Parameters:
PH: 7.6-8 (It’s high)
Ammonia: I use the API and I’ve never gotten a canary yellow test, however it’s not as green as .25ppm so I’d say small traces of ammonia
Nitrite: always 0
Nitrates: 10ppm
TDS: 190

I do 40-50% water changes ever week, using Prime. I have purigen in the filter that I swap ever 6 months because I’m scared of using bleach. I rinse everything in the filter every 2 weeks and vacuum 30% of the gravel every week, rotating between sections. I don’t add anything except beneficial bacteria after my water changes just in case and fertilizer pellets for plants.

I feed everyday and skip a day to feed peas and blanched cucumbers

so now for my issue!

I’ve noticed that one of the two Pearl gouramis has ragged back fins. I’ve had fish that had fin rot before so I know what this looks like and to me, white edges,etc BUT this looks slightly different

also apparently my lfs gave me one male and one female but I genuinely cannot tell the difference. One of them (supposedly the male) sometimes pecks at the other gouramis body and sometimes chases her for a split second but other than that there is not much aggression!

thanks for help

Could one of your little fish be a fin nibbler. Gouramis tend to be slow to get away

 

[Cami]

Could one of your little fish be a fin nibbler. Gouramis tend to be slow to get away

i actually had to give away two tetras a few days ago since I saw them chasing some of my other fish and trying to nibble some fins (I honestly really cannot remember what kind, they had red tails but I know that doesn’t help much) Kind of surprising since they were the smallest in the tank!

It wouldn’t surprise me if they got a few pieces of gouramis fins while I was not looking, especially if they can’t reacts as fast as the small ones. At least the bullies are gone now

all my other fish are incredibly peaceful

also thank you for the fast response

 

[ProudPapa]

By "ragged back fins" you mean what looks like little spikes coming off the end of the fin, that's normal for male pearl gouramis.

Regarding the fin nipping, what other fish and how many of each do you have in your tank? It's not uncommon for shoaling fish to do that if they don't have enough of their own species to hold their attention, and make them feel safe.