Both my dwarf Gourami's died!

[James77]

Brought them home from the store Thursday and Tuesday they both died. One in the morning the other at night. I checked my water and everything is great No ammonia, No nitrite, and only 10 nitrate. What's the deal?

[rich311k]

Sounds to me like they were bad fish or they were acclimated badly.

[James77]

I took 4 hour's to acclimste them. Looking back the one's in the tank where I got them weren't moving around very much. I think I got some bad one's. The LFS gave me a credit for them.

[VoidParadigm]

Any discoloration in the skin? Bloating?

[annageckos]

Most likey a bad batch, or the batch was new and the stress of moving agian was too much. If you get any more stick with one. They are not always good in pairs or groups. They can be very territorial with thier own kind.

[ExtraHannah]

Dwarf gourami seem to be inherently unthrifty. From what I've read, it's most likely due to poor breeding and raising practices outside the US. Apparently the natural color variety is the hardiest, though even they have problems.

I ran a poll elsewhere on how long people's dwarf gourami survived after purchase.

I had 38 responses:

1 died the first week.

12 died the first month

9 died within the first 6 months

1 died within the first year

and only 15 of 38 made it past one year

So it seems like if you make it 6 months you are good to go. Otherwise, the odds aren't all that great...

[VoidParadigm]

And as a pseudo-addition to Hannah's post...

Due to a lot of that bad breeding (and some of it is in the US, btw) a lot of Dwarf Gouramis especially contract a common Gourami infection called Iridovirus.

There have been multiple mass-outbreaks in the past 15 years at the fish farms. Still no cure, still not much attention to it. Yet people's Gouramis do die of it frequently, especially Dwarfs who are probably susceptible to it due to all the likely inbreeding to get better color in the males.

[ciclvrWES]

:fish: :fish: :fish: Sorry to hear about your fish..I dont own any dwarf but I have Gourami and I would be disappointed to have to part with them!!!

[crazychris]

Dwarf gourami just aren't hardy. I've never kept one very long so have given up on them. Opaline, gold and moonlight are far more hardier but best to keep just one as they tend to not like the company of other gouramis.

[Northernguy]

Have the store test their tank water in front of you before buying the fish.
It may have been the acclimation .Have you tried drip acclimation?

I tried having two gouramis in one tank.One male and one female.If I had left them together they would killed each other.
Were yours fighting at all.
Any marks on them at all.Discoloring?