Whats wrong with my fish? Please help!

Hey guys, I have been having a few issues. This weekend one of my bolivian rams died. I think it was being bullied, as it was never with the other rams and was very stressed. This morning however, I found a honey gourami laying on its side. I went to get it with a net, and it started swimming away, but it was sideways/upside down. A few weeks ago, a different gourami had bloat. What is the issue?? Is the bolivian ram its own issue, and the gouramis have bad genes??? My ammonia is 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5, PH 7.4, GH 3, KH 3. I have had no major disease outbreaks in this tank, and the fish are all eating well and acting normal.

 

Gouramis have been tough to keep in the last few years. I had the same issues as you and stopped trying to keep them. I think if i was going to keep gouramis again I would do pearls or blue. I would not try any of the dwarfs.

Has anyone ever advised you they are not temperature compatible. Rams prefer that 82-84 degrees, and gouramis prefer 75-78 degrees.

 

Ohhh. I thought BRs could live in 75 degree water???? Ok thanks. That makes sense.

 

I have my 75 gallon tank and a 10 gallon tank. Both of which will not work for Bolivian rams. I am building a rack though that will fit 2x 20 gallons, a 40 gallon, and my 10. I wanted to do a blackwater biotope for one of the 20s, so the rams could go in there. The problem is, I won't be setting up that tank until this fall at the earliest. Probably next summer. What should I do???

 

Ohhh. I thought BRs could live in 75 degree water???? Ok thanks. That makes sense.

You could be right. I am not a ram expert. tried keeping them no success. Was told by LFS, I wasn't keeping them at right temp and they do best around 82 as opposed to 76-78 the rest of my fish needed. Could very well vary species of ram. Most of the guys here are doing german blues.

 

Ohhh. I thought BRs could live in 75 degree water???? Ok thanks. That makes sense.

77-82. Germans need 82+

 

German blues need 80+ degree water. I think BRs can have as low as 75.

 

I have khuli loaches and cherry barbs in the tank too, so 78 degrees should work.

 

Your water seems good so it probably is bad genes going on.

 

Ok, here is the plan. I don't really like having the rams in my asia community tank, so once I get either a 40 or 20 blackwater biotope set up, they will move to there. I will keep the gouramis and hope for the best. If they die of bad genes, so be it. I will not be getting T. chuna or other dwarf gouramis any more.