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Not cichlids, but still cool

Becca

Members
My fish have been all over the place lately. I lost several gem barbs to a combination of velvet and fin rot in the 55 and have seen nasty red/pink fins in another tank that I recently WC'd with tap water. It has me worried a bit about what's coming out of my tap, but everyone seems to be on the mend.

In the meantime, I've had multiple spawns from both types of Dicrossus, though only a few fry have made it to an age where they no longer need protection, and probably one of the coolest spawns I've ever had (though I can't count my eggs before they hatch).

I have a tank of chocolate gouramis and they tend to freak out whenever I walk into the room. The other day, one hit the lid and coughed up a few eggs. When I went to take a closer look, he freaked out some more and spat out even more eggs. The eggs were pretty big considering the size of the fish, and white. Each had a slight grey dot in the middle, so I believe they were fertile. I figured he'd hacked them all up, so I moved the gouramis to their new tank, which is larger and not so close to the door (hopefully fewer freak-outs). This morning he looked like he had the mumps, so I guess he hung on to some of them even through being moved :D. Only time will tell if it is a successful spawn, but it is still a really cool thing to see, particularly in a touchy fish like this one.
 

Localzoo

Board of Directors
Ohhh my that's crazy.
Sounds like your house is the center of yin & yang. Got both good and bad.
Glad to hear he held on to a few and isn't swollen like he got in a fight with the lid.


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Becca

Members
Ohhh my that's crazy.
Sounds like your house is the center of yin & yang. Got both good and bad.
Glad to hear he held on to a few and isn't swollen like he got in a fight with the lid.


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Ha - no, though that'd be pretty funny, too.

Honestly, I'm starting to think I should add extra chlorine to my tap water and then dechlorinate it before I put it in tanks.
 

Localzoo

Board of Directors
No, we're not, but the two tanks I use tap water in have come down with bacterial infections this month. Weird.

Last night I realized I actually have TWO males holding eggs - crazy!

Congrats! Check the hoses if any amount if water is left behind in them... Flush them out with bleach them make sure they are empty and dry. maybe blast hot water through them first. Maybe flush the lines in the tap b4 water changes???? So many links in that chain....


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Becca

Members
Congrats! Check the hoses if any amount if water is left behind in them... Flush them out with bleach them make sure they are empty and dry. maybe blast hot water through them first. Maybe flush the lines in the tap b4 water changes???? So many links in that chain....


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I have one for draining and one for filling and both had been recently sterilized with bleach and hot water - it's just weird. They're not even on the same WC schedule, not on the same floor, etc.
 

Localzoo

Board of Directors
I have one for draining and one for filling and both had been recently sterilized with bleach and hot water - it's just weird. They're not even on the same WC schedule, not on the same floor, etc.

Hmmm u might be on to something. Can you get the water company to check the water maybe where your feed comes in. I know some places do free water testing.


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Becca

Members
Hmmm u might be on to something. Can you get the water company to check the water maybe where your feed comes in. I know some places do free water testing.


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I may look into it. There's always a chance I cross-contaminated, though it's far less likely to happen between tanks on different floors because I usually don't deal with them on the same schedule.

I'm just hoping that I've provided enough cover with floating plants so that if they spit them up while I'm at work I still have some adorable little mini-chocolate-gouramis left when I get home.
 

Localzoo

Board of Directors
I may look into it. There's always a chance I cross-contaminated, though it's far less likely to happen between tanks on different floors because I usually don't deal with them on the same schedule.

I'm just hoping that I've provided enough cover with floating plants so that if they spit them up while I'm at work I still have some adorable little mini-chocolate-gouramis left when I get home.

Fingers crossed


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neut

Members
Love chocolate gouramis, though it's been years since I had them. Congrats on the spawn!

Mine weren't especially shy or skittish, really not at all, though a quiet fish that kept to themselves. Kept mine in groups-- along with discus and various combinations of smaller acara, rams, apistos, emperor tetras and the like, and always dozens upon dozens of cardinal tetras, also lots of plants. Not trying to give advice to someone already adept at keeping them, just my experience.
 

Becca

Members
Love chocolate gouramis, though it's been years since I had them. Congrats on the spawn!

Mine weren't especially shy or skittish, really not at all, though a quiet fish that kept to themselves. Kept mine in groups-- along with discus and various combinations of smaller acara, rams, apistos, emperor tetras and the like, and always dozens upon dozens of cardinal tetras, also lots of plants. Not trying to give advice to someone already adept at keeping them, just my experience.

Yes, I have a group of 7 and they are now sharing a 20-long with 8 Parosphromenus "green sparkle". I haven't found them to be terribly skittish, just that their old location in the fish room seemed to lead to a bit of startling whenever I turned on the light and opened the door. When kept in more traveled areas, they are definitely less jumpy. I've found, over the past 10-12 years, that larger groups are usually better, but that fewer than 3 fish is certain doom. I like odd numbers for this fish, though I'm not sure why.

I've kept a few varieties of "chocolate" gouramies, with varying success. Someday, if I can get my hands on them, I'd like to work with S. vaillanti again.
 

neut

Members
Yes, I have a group of 7 and they are now sharing a 20-long with 8 Parosphromenus "green sparkle". I haven't found them to be terribly skittish, just that their old location in the fish room seemed to lead to a bit of startling whenever I turned on the light and opened the door. When kept in more traveled areas, they are definitely less jumpy. I've found, over the past 10-12 years, that larger groups are usually better, but that fewer than 3 fish is certain doom. I like odd numbers for this fish, though I'm not sure why.

I've kept a few varieties of "chocolate" gouramies, with varying success. Someday, if I can get my hands on them, I'd like to work with S. vaillanti again.
Cool fish. Hard to come by aren't they? Also, not doing well in the wild as I understand it, habitat loss, etc.
 

Becca

Members
Yes, and yes. Josh has them on lists every so often and so does Frank from FranksAquarium. I got my last Vaillant's from Frank. About 2 weeks in every thing in the tank started dying with no visible symptoms. It sucked. I suspect a protozoan of some sort, but no real proof.

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Becca

Members
One of the two males spit out his brood and I managed to pull about 10 of these guys into a breeder box yesterday! The other male should be a day or two behind him. They are so cute. They are nearly a quarter of an inch and are brown with a gold band between their dorsal fin and tail. They move exactly like the adults. I wish the forum would let me upload a photo, but for now you'll just have to take my word for it.
 

Becca

Members
From the looks of it, I have two males holding eggs AGAIN.

I have 7 fry growing out that I managed to catch shortly after they were released. I had about twice that, but my inability to set up a breeder box correctly sent some of them back into the adult tank, where they were undoubtedly eaten.

I'd like to find a way to better save fry, but it's tough because I don't want males spitting them out too early, or freaking out and swallowing them.
 
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