Skinny Sparkling Gourami?

Hellow Fellow Fishlorians!

I have had my sparkling gourami for about 2 months now, but one has been skinny ever since.

I asked the employee at the store to give me 8 of the healthiest sparkling gourami he had while I went to go look at other fish. I ended up getting this skinny guy. I assumed that he would bulk up over the weeks, but he hasn’t. He doesn’t have the iridescence or “full” fins.

What should I do?

The next smallest fish is 1/10 of an inch longer, but has full fins, a deep body, and iridescence.

 

Is the little guy eating well?

 

Is the little guy eating well?

He’s been eating well, but I’ve seen the other gourami stealing his food sometimes.

I remember once when I fed them bloodworms. He had half of the bloodworms down his mouth, and another sparkling gourami attacked the other end and just stole it from him.

 

I would try live foods. Live daphnia, grindal worms or microworms would be great. I find microworms work well because they spread throughout the aquarium so even fish in hiding can eat.

 

I’m picking up some live blackworms today at my LFS.
I’m gonna try some daphnia.

Is there any way to prevent cross contamination of my pond water and my tank water? I have a lot of daphnia in my filter pond.

 

He’s been eating well, but I’ve seen the other gourami stealing his food sometimes.

I remember once when I fed them bloodworms. He had half of the bloodworms down his mouth, and another sparkling gourami attacked the other end and just stole it from him.

Poor bb! Maybe Daphnia would help. Could you put him in a breeder net to eat maybe? I can’t get that out of my head now. Poor thing gets his worm and somebody snatches it away? That’s just so mean.

 

Poor bb! Maybe Daphnia would help. Could you put him in a breeder net to eat maybe? I can’t get that out of my head now. Poor thing gets his worm and somebody snatches it away? That’s just so mean.

My only breeder net is extremely small and I wouldn’t put him in it without feeling bad.

At the beginning, I over fed a little to try to get him to fatten up, but all that did was make a bladder snail explosion(taken care of due to a hungry clown Loach in a different tank).

 

I’m picking up some live blackworms today at my LFS.
I’m gonna try some daphnia.

Is there any way to prevent cross contamination of my pond water and my tank water? I have a lot of daphnia in my filter pond.

In my experience, it’s just not worth it. Even putting the daphnia in qt, how do you treat them without knowing what they may be carrying. We go through so much for our finbabies, right? They’re worth it.

 

I went to collect some daphnia, but I didn’t get any.



I got some scuds though! Most of them are too big to eat, but I plan on letting them make a small colony so the gourami can eat the babies when they are born.

 

Mine really love live foods, hopefully you can fatten yours up.