Dwarf gourami

[stargaze]

we bought my doughter her first aquarium for Xmas. It is a five gallon tank. it has a filter heater and a five gallon rated bubbler. We started with just a dwarf gourami and after the first week all was well so we got a small catfish. they have been fine untill now the gourami in having trouble staying upright. he is proping himself aginst things in the tank to try and stay upright. Every once and a while he spaztically swims to the surrface and darts around the tank. I hope i have givin enough info. if anyone can help i would realy appreciate it.

[Shidohari]

Gouramis are of the same family as Betta fish (cousin species actually) So they have some of the same personality quirks. They tend to be terretorial, and like space to swim. Dwarf Gourami's according to some of the wiki's i have seen can survive BY THEMSELVES in a five or six gallon desk tank, but the absolute ideal minimum tank size for them is 10-15 gallons.

Also if it was a cory cat that you got, they are schooling fish. This is something i learned here on the forums from other members. They require a school of at least six ideally, but three if you absolutely must go smaller but not recommended. The minimum size tank you can keep them in is 20 gallon according to some of the members that have kept them on the forums so that you can keep an appropriate school as most of them get two inches at maturity, and many other species of cory cats get bigger than that.

The gourami may also be trying to get oxygen. They need to be able to breathe actual air at the top of the tank, it's due to their labrynth gland.

Also did you cycle the tank before adding fish (another mistake i made when joining). When i joined i had to cycle with fish because i hadn't followed the recommended fishless tank cycle. You could be getting ammonia and Nitrite spikes. What are your water parameters, temperture, ph etc.

Anyone else have anything to add here?

[mizzoutank]

That was great shidohari!

We need to know what type of catfish
How often do you change the water? And if you do change the water,do you add something called a dechloinator? Like prime?
Cycle the tank like the above post said
Water paameter too.

[stargaze]

thank you for your imput but shortly after I made to post he died. :-( But i appreciate the help. As for the the water changing i did do a complete water change at one month and a 25% water change every two weeks. I hope that is what I should be doing. I now also have purchased an API master test kit, PH up and down and water conditioner. I did use water conditioner at my water changes as well. So thanks agian for your help.

[Greentoads41]

thank you for your imput but shortly after I made to post he died. :-(

I'm sorry. :( In curiosity, do you know what kind of catfish you got? And what were the parameters? Also, with a tank that size, I might do at least a 25% change once every week, instead of two. Keep up with the conditioner too!

[fishmommie]

thank you for your imput but shortly after I made to post he died. :-( But i appreciate the help. As for the the water changing i did do a complete water change at one month and a 25% water change every two weeks. I hope that is what I should be doing. I now also have purchased an API master test kit, PH up and down and water conditioner. I did use water conditioner at my water changes as well. So thanks agian for your help.

If you still have fish in your tank, you need to keep checking the ammonia and nitrites and nitrates daily for a while. any time the ammonia and or nitrites approach .50 you need to do a 50% water change. This may be daily or every other day while the tank is cycling. Eventually you will also have nitrates. these must stay under or around 20ppm. Once you reach 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite readings your tank will be cycled and you can cut back to 30 to 50% water changes weekly.
Good luck

[Shidohari]

I'm sorry about your loss, but do as fishmommie recommends. Also get the API freshwater master kit if you don't already have one. Sure it takes longer to do the tests, but it's a godsend.

Good luck with your tank. I hope things get better.