im ready to give up

[~Erik3.8.07~]

i dont get it. i just cant seem to keep things alive :ssad: my powder blue and red fire dwarf gouramis just died. My peremiters are all good. Is it me or are gouramis just hard to keep? i think im gonna stay away from them for a while. Thankfully my mollies and platys seem to be doing great. But now i got an open 6 gallon tank that i think i'll put some nice easy to keep tetras in. hopefully i can keep these guys alive.:ssmile:

[Rue]

It's really discouraging when the fish die for no apparent reason...and one of the main reasons people give up the hobby..

But don't be discouraged...I've never had luck with gouramis...I think they're much more sensitive to water conditions than other fish...

Be careful not to overstock your 6 gallon...and in my little tank I HAVE to do weekly water changes...and I've been doing 50%...

[bwssr]

Erik small tanks can get pretty poluted fast and you can't always see it coming. I reccomend you go to a bigger tank like a 20 or 30 gallon. Some fish are more sensitive to their enviroment than others. Small tanks go bad really really fast. Read all you can on tank setup before adding new fish. This is one of biggest problems people have setting up a new tank. Also cleaning the tank some people will completely break down a tank and clean everything destroying the good bacteria that you need.

[cocoa_pleco]

gouramis tend to die from the slightest things and for no reason. my honey and dwarf gouramis both died when they were in large tanks with prefect parameters

[SkarloeysMom]

Sorry you've lost some fish. That is a really bummer. Just a thought, if you're thinking about neon tetras I've heard the breed has been weakened by too much inbreeding. I've also read many a post that said half the tetras bought did not make the transition to the new tank. If you are already pretty bummed about losing fish perhaps tetras are not the way to go.

Perhaps you could add a few little bottom feeders like corys. They are fun to watch and more hardy than tetras.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

my 6 gallon is completely empty right now, the other fish are in a 10 gallon and if can manage to keep them alive and healthy for a while im gonna upgrade to a 20 gallon. and thanks for the heads up on the tetras SkarloeysMom. Maybe i'll get some sunburst platys instead. there cute, pretty, little fish n the one i have seems to be doin good n he would probably enjoy the company =)

[Rue]

That might be part of the problem...I think gouramis do best in very large tanks...

[~Erik3.8.07~]

rly? i was told on this forum that a couple of dwarf gouramis would be fine and happy by themselves in a 6.

second post from the bottom
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either way though i think im just gonna keep a way for a while till im more expierenced and have a bigger tank

[tropfish]

They do say that gouramis do good in small containers but they don't. Like others stated the water quality changes very fast. I have a honey gourami in a 29g that has been doing very good for over 2 years. 2 times i had a gourami in a 10 gallon and they didn't live very long.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

its a shame cause there such cool and pretty fish. Hopefully i'll be able to keep em eventually. I'm actually going to attempt building my own 50 gallon tank in a few months from now

[Nick_Pavlovski]

I had 3 Dwarf Gourami's in my 15g last year and they all died, one by one, over about 3 months.

[cocoa_pleco]

yeah, so in short, dont give up erik. i remember in my first 2 months of fishkeeping i literally killed about 10 goldfish and 20 tropical fish. i had a way way way too far overstocked 10g and the water was constantly cloudy, and i was ready to give up. i bought a 33g, and things went far better

[Lady Hobbs]

The gourami's I had a couple years ago all died as well but keep in mind, this was a newly set up tank for me and my water was not as perfect as these fish require. I would never put gourami's in a 6 gallon tank!! Tanks that size are for neons, cardinals or one betta.

[Rue]

Dwarf gouramis are quite small...and 'they' say that they'll do fine in a small tank...

...and I've never kept them myself...only the powder blues...

...but I'm pretty sure they do better in larger tanks, if for no other reason than the water parametres are likely more stable...

...but I don't know that 100%...

[Rue]

Just found another reference that suggests 10g for the first dwarf gourami and 5g per each additional gourami...sounds much better to me...

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