Trichopodus leerii food     1/9/20
Hello Crew, hope things are status quo in your neck(s) of the woods! Question—any suggestions for a (preferably low maintenance) daily food supplement to give my Trichopodus leerii in addition to flakes?
<A good quality pellet, maybe frozen/defrosted crustacean...>
My last Trichopodus loved your NLS Float suggestion but this guy spits them out, yet my cherry barbs devour them. Package says “regular size” 1-1.5mm pellets—could these be too big for him?
<Unusual... maybe>
NLS does not seem to sell a smaller, floating food, and he is too slow to grab sinking food from other inhabitants. I have Hikari micro pellets but they are smaller than flakes! Any ideas, or maybe his “begging” is an act of dramatics? Thank you! —Matt from NJ
<I'd go with what I do... the frozen/defrosted food in addition daily (better in the AM, use the dry in the PMs). I use (a lot) of San Francisco Bay Brand brine shrimp; though Hikari's line are also excellent. Bob Fenner>
Re: Trichopodus leerii food    1/10/20
Thank you for the suggestion, I’ll give it a shot.
<Glad Bob's suggestion of use. I find Gouramis tend to have "small mouths" and consume smaller foods than you think, preferring even tiny live foods like Daphnia and Artemia nauplii over chunky foods.>
Could his habit of staying up at the surface be a symptom of anything else?
<It is largely what they do; they are associated with floating vegetation in the wild, and rarely stray away from such.>
My water quality has 0 ammonia and nitrites, and my filter media is fresh. I have a steady air stone firing plenty of air through the tank and my filter is keeping the surface moving. The tank is a 15-gal column with 2 synodontis nigriventris and three cherry barbs, along with the pearl.
<S. nigriventris can be a 'fin nibbler' at times, but I think the real challenge here is the tank. 15 gallons is too small, and it's unlikely such big fish are going to feel comfortable in this tank, especially when it's a tall design. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Trichopodus leerii food   1/11/20
Thank you both. Yes, I have regretted purchasing this tank since the day I opened up the box... it’s a water quality nightmare... but I’ve managed to keep it going for almost 5 years so it’s a personal challenge at this point! I had a rock solid trichogaster trichopterus for 4 years in there and my cherries and these cats are years old (corys, as expected, grew sick of swimming to the top)... so I think I’ve done relatively ok. I’ve always shied away from the live foods out of both convenience (honestly) and fear of water quality issues. Maybe it’s time to “dive” in. You and Bob have inspired me. I will search WWM for some rookie tips on live foods.
<Understand your disappointment with the tank. Frozen foods can substitute for live foods in many cases, so well worth trying these out. Certainly Gouramis aren't too fussed about live vs. frozen foods. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Trichopodus leerii food    1/12/20
Thank you! This gourami is not going to make it...
<Oh dear.>
I’m on the third and final dose of Kanaplex after many water changes and removing the carbon from the filter—I hate medicating my tank but I thought it was necessary here—and now he’s showing fin rot, lost posture, and rocking back and forth. If I lose him, and after I let the tank sit stable for a while, do you think a smaller gourami would work in my setup, such as a T. chuna?
<In a tank this size and shape, I'd be thinking perhaps of a 'bed' of floating vegetation at the top, and then something smaller, like Sparkling Gouramis or Croaking Gouramis. Both associate with floating plants, and being farmed but not selectively bred, they're pretty robust. Sensitive to cold air, like all labyrinth fish, but the Sparkling Gouramis are tiny fish, and would be fine in a columnar tank. They have lovely colours! Floating Indian Fern would be an ideal plant to use, being adaptable and forming thick beds several inches deep, if doing well. Do see BobF's piece on this excellent species, here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PlantedTksSubWebIndex/ceratopteris.htm
Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Trichopodus leerii food    1/12/20
Great ideas all around, thanks so much!
<Most welcome. Cheers, Neale.>

Trichopodus trichopterus changed eating habits?         6/6/19
Hi crew! Question—my three spot Gourami has enjoyed several years munching on a combo of flakes and NLS Float pellets. Suddenly, she spits out the pellets but still eats the flakes. She even “tries” to grab the pellets and “misses” them. The flakes were never enough for her so the pellets were doing the trick. Is it possible that she simply can’t digest the pellets anymore? She is about 4 years old (in my tank) and 3.5 inches long, if that helps. Thanks for all you do! —Matt
<It's more likely the flakes are 'off' or she just doesn't like them. She's not old at 4 years. Flakes and pellets have a shelf life of about a month, and much beyond that there is a risk of them oxidising and becoming rancid, especially in warm or damp conditions. Even if not actually nutritionally bad, it can lose the flavours that attracts the fish to eat it. It can be worth storing large tubs of flake in a cold, dry environment, and decanting out small portions to last a month or so into a smaller, separate container. If all else fails, starve the fish for a few days, and then offer something new, even human food like chopped up white fish or shrimp. If the fish happily consume that, but still ignore the flake, then the flake is probably bad and not worth keeping. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Trichopodus trichopterus changed eating habits?     6/6/19
Thanks for your reply and for your help!
<Welcome.>
I had no idea that the dry foods have such a short shelf life... wow.
<As I say, does depend on ambient temperature and humidity. But if your fish aren't eating flake that they liked before, and you can rule out disease or water quality issues, then it's worth considering if the food is stale. Certainly if the fish are scarfing down other foods, but ignoring the flake they ate before, it might have gone off.>
So much for expiration dates. The pellets are brand new, however... is it possible that they are too big?
<Can be, or too hard. The larger pellets meant for big cichlids can be impossible for smaller fish to handle.>
The last batch were fine and I bought the same brand/type. Perhaps the Gourami is just “over them”. Any ideas for another surface floating food that could fill her up? Sinking foods are lost to my two ravenous nigriventris :)
<Trichopodus are omnivores, so will nibble on softened plant foods, such as blanched lettuce leaves, cooked peas, sushi Nori, and so forth. So feel free to offer these if your fish seem peckish and you don't want to overdo the protein input and resulting water quality issues. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Trichopodus trichopterus changed eating habits?        6/8/19
I’ll give it a shot. Many thanks!
<Most welcome. Neale.>

Young blue 3 spot Gourami     7/30/18
hello I own a 55 gallon tank with 3 zebra Danios 1 goldfish comet and one gold male Gourami adult and one blue female Gourami adult and had recently bought 3 young gouramis female about 2.5 inches big. no problems in the water ph 7.1 no ammonia problems etc. two filters one sponge and one regular. water stays around 78 degrees.
<All sounds fine.>
I added my 3 new gouramis in slowly the way your supposed to and I've had them 2 weeks and one of the baby blues started swimming funny like backing up every few seconds while it's standing still if you get what I am saying
<Do you mean he is swimming normally, but uses his fins to swim backwards?
That's normal. If you mean he's staying on one place, but rocking side to side, sometimes with his pectoral fins clamped closely onto his sides, then that isn't normal. It's sometimes called "shimmying" or "the shimmies" and is a strong sign a fish is stressed.>
and then over the next few days a bulge appeared on its right side she didn't eat for a 2 days then started eating again only a little but I'm assuming because very hungry and today the bulge popped and poop was coming out brown from the bulge on her side
<You mean the 'poop' is something coming out of a wound on the side of the fish? This is extremely serious, and honestly, the fish is unlikely to recover. If the 'poop' is simply faeces coming out of the vent, that's normal, and fish do get constipated at times.>
and I quickly QTed her I can't find the condition online I've been searching for a remedy hoping maybe I can save her or if there might be a problem now for my other fish. help. please.
<If we're dealing with constipation here, then read here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/gldfshmalnut.htm
If the burst wound was in the muscle on the side of the fish, then I'm less optimistic. Quarantining certainly; excellent water quality; and above all effective antibiotics will be needed to have any chance of a wound this deep recovering. I have seen fish recover from muscle injuries like this, but it takes a lot of careful looking after.>
thanks
<Good luck, Neale.>
Re: young blue 3 spot Gourami     7/30/18
hello.
<Hello,>
thank you for the quick reply.
<Welcome.>
and as for the swimming it's weird she stays in one spot but slightly backing up not going anywhere her fins are no clamped on the sides or pectoral strings ate not clamped but her dorsal stays down but yes the bulge is on the side in between the fin and tail area
<Understood.>
and it burst and the stuff coming out looks exactly like the color of food they eat
<This is very bad.>
a tanish red color it actually looks just like a long feces string but your right it's coming out of the muscle
<If you're lucky, it's just a pus or bacterial discharge of some sort.
As/when the wound heals, this should stop. But if the digestive tract has been punctured, and there's a steady flow of partially digested food out of the wound, this fish isn't going to heal. Not without help from a vet, anyway. If that's the case, I would honestly perform euthanasia here. Let me have you do some reading, here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/euthanasia.htm
The clove oil method is cheap, effective, and much more humane than other methods used by aquarists.>
I assume on her side and she's is only swollen on the one side the bulge actually went down some but occasionally stuff still is coming out of the hole but not as much as yesterday. she is trying too eat but only getting a small flake or 2 down and spits the rest out and today is sitting at the bottom of the qt tank but not gasping for air.
<Do not overfeed. Indeed, it might be worth not feeding for a few days to see if that stops "stuff" coming out of the wound. If it is food coming out of the wound, as I say, euthanasia is the best choice.>
I had read online something that this might be that could be dangerous for humans if infected and contagious for my other fish
<Unlikely to infect you. This sort of wound honestly sounds opportunistic.
In other words, it was caused by either the environment or physical damage, and as such, isn't contagious. But if conditions in the tank are harmful somehow, other fish could indeed get sick.>
so I did a water change last night for my main tank and added marine salt hoping to kill any bacteria if that's the case.
<Salt will not kill bacteria.>
thanks so much for you insight I ha e been collecting Gourami s and other small tropical fish for 2 years now so I'm still quite new at the illnesses with different fish
<Glad you're enjoying the hobby. Fish diseases are usually caused by some problem with the tank, so it's always a good idea to review the aquarium in terms of size, filtration, tankmates, diet, etc. Bad luck sometimes comes into play, but a wise fishkeeper looks at their tank critically. Good luck!
Neale.>

Jumpy Gourami     7/24/17
I'm back with another question. Thanks for continuing to help all of us with our aquatic challenges! I have a 3-year established, 15-gal column tank with an AquaClear 20 sponge/carbon/bio, housing one 3-spot Gourami, five cherry barbs, and one panda Cory with 3 bandit corys in a QT almost ready to be added. My ammonia and nitrites are zero. I feed flakes and float pellets most nights, a shrimp pellet at lights out every few days, and swap flakes/pellets with freeze dried bloodworm once a week.
<Ahh; do make sure sufficient high protein food is getting to your new and old Corydoras cats on the bottom>
I change the water and swap out one of the media components regularly.
For the past few weeks, my 3-spot has become very jumpy. This is new behavior since I have had her for three years. Whenever I approach the tank, she cowers in the corner and/or darts to a corner. She swims freely and openly at all strata otherwise and looks perfectly healthy. Last night, she literally jumped out of the water in a frenzy when I walked over. I do shower.
<Heee!>
Since the behavior has sustained for a few weeks, I suspect something is up. Any ideas on how I can help her? Thanks in advance! -- Matt
<Perhaps adding another Trichogaster trichopterus... there are quite a few "sports" of the 3-spot, blue, gold/en... can be the same sex... Please read here re: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/ttricself.htm
Bob Fenner>
Re: Jumpy Gourami    7/24/17
My apologies, I did not include a salutation in my last email. How rude!
Hello, crew!
<Hey Matt>
Thanks,
Matt
<Cheers, BobF>
Re: Jumpy Gourami     7/25/17
Bob,
Thanks for the fast response. (1) When you mention high protein for the corys, is the sinking shrimp pellet sufficient?
<Is a good start. I would offer other foods as well weekly>
I may increase to two once I add the others but I don't want to overfeed.
(2) I'm leery of adding another 3-spot... I've done combos in the past and one always takes over... I've had this one (female) drive two other females into the ground and then I added a larger male pearl Gourami which tried to mate with this one and then bullied her until he sustained a physical injury chasing her, and died.
<Mmm; well; how about some ditherfish then? Perhaps a small school, five individuals... of peaceful barbs (golds, checkers...), Danios or Rasboras?>
I attributed the cause of this behavior to the limited horizontal space at the top of this vertical tank. What do you think?
<Of a certainty, you are correct here>
Thank you,
Matt
<Welcome. BobF>
Re: Jumpy Gourami     7/25/17
Thanks Bob. I already have five cherry barbs in there and actually now that I think about it, two of the males (there are 3 and two females) have mysteriously "developed" nipped dorsal fins.
<Ahh; maybe from each other; perhaps the Gourami>
I would see one occasionally but never two. Wonder if this is part of the equation? Also, what kind of protein do you recommend?
<Hikari and Spectrum sinking pellets of small size are faves. B>
Re: Jumpy Gourami     7/25/17
Thanks Bob. I'll give them a shot and let you know if things progress. I very much appreciate your ideas and responses!
<Cheers Matt. B>