# Dwarf gourami problem. ATTACKED!



## Chris. (Dec 22, 2008)

I've got a pretty big issue guys. One of my fish attacked my dwarf gourami the other night. I don't see any aggression during the day. I woke up to feed them the other morning to find he has a hold in his side to the point that you can see a bone and the same spot on the other side has been pecked at. he still breaths and swims a little. He ate some flakes. But it look slike swimming is difficult for him so he just rests on the floor in the corner. I have him isolated in a 5 gallon tank right now until he heals(fingers crossed) with 3 guppy fry. 

Who do you think the culprits are? I only ever see him chasing other guys around. never them to him except the molly who will nudge him but I never see it nipping at him. If he heals, I will probably just keep him in the 5 gallon...Any tips to speed up recovery?

5 male guppies, 2 female
1 lyretail molly
german blue rams, 1 male and 1 female(they do not have a nest anywhere)
2 small Otos
7 neon tetras
2 male pepper cory cats, 1 female

TIA!


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## 808aquatics (Sep 26, 2008)

Chris. said:


> I've got a pretty big issue guys. One of my fish attacked my dwarf gourami the other night. I don't see any aggression during the day. I woke up to feed them the other morning to find he has a hold in his side to the point that you can see a bone and the same spot on the other side has been pecked at. he still breaths and swims a little. He ate some flakes. But it look slike swimming is difficult for him so he just rests on the floor in the corner. I have him isolated in a 5 gallon tank right now until he heals(fingers crossed) with 3 guppy fry.
> 
> Who do you think the culprits are? I only ever see him chasing other guys around. never them to him except the molly who will nudge him but I never see it nipping at him. If he heals, I will probably just keep him in the 5 gallon...Any tips to speed up recovery?
> 
> ...


I bet you it's the rams. They tend to get punchy when they start breeding. My rams tallied up about 6 of my fishes in 3 days.


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## Chris. (Dec 22, 2008)

I think it might be, but they aren't showing signs of breeding and my tank isn't planted heavily enough(I don't think). This did remind me of something though. Last week I noticed one of my male leopard guppies had died for no reason and his belly was eaten out. I saw the female ram peck at it a couple times before I could get it out of there...maybe I should remove her to another tank...


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## bgzbgz (Jul 6, 2007)

Maybe it could be some kind of fish disease?


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Most fish will pick at and eat a dead body so seeing her chewing the corpse doesn't mean she killed it.

What size is your tank? When breeding, cichlids will try to defend an area with a diameter roughly 10 times their body length (this is a VERY rough rule of thumb). So you can see a 3" Ram 'wants' an area with a diameter of 30"! (Actually Rams are very peaceful and will do with much less.) A pair getting ready to breed may see a fish with a large deep body similar to theirs as a threat or competition and they may well have attacked. Only if it can't get out of the way would they normally kill it. Having a heavily planted tank would help here as cichlids are very much "out of sight, out of mind"! If they can't see each other then they don't attack them. I have three Apistogramma agassizi 'Double Red' females and a male in a heavily planted 1m long tank and the females constantly bicker and chase if they see each other. Only two females have enough space to hold a territory.


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## Chris. (Dec 22, 2008)

it's a 20 gallon. they've been in there for about 3 months or so now with no problems. Neither of them guards a particular spot in the aquarium as if there were eggs there.


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Chris. said:


> it's a 20 gallon. they've been in there for about 3 months or so now with no problems. Neither of them guards a particular spot in the aquarium as if there were eggs there.


How long is that? 2 foot? If so then 2ft will be fine for a pair but they won't like any competition in there and if they thought the gourami was competition they would have chased it away and then beat it up when it couldn't get away.

Before they actually breed they often get a bit more aggressive and this can happen well before they find a suitable spot to breed. BTW rams like a flat, open stone to spawn on so try giving them a suitable site at one end of the tank (maybe with a cave too) and they might focus on that and give the other fish more space at the other end.


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## Chris. (Dec 22, 2008)

yea, its about 2 ft long. I just did a little reserach for dwarf gourami diseases and came up with this. Scroll down to the second picture and that's what his problem is.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/dwfgdis.htm


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