KevinVA's 75gal Journey in Planted Tanks

[KevinVA]

@steeler1 - The gourami still has a red dot on one of his sides. Can't see it in those pics, as it's on the other side. It doesn't seem to bother him, but I've been watching it to see if any changes occur. It's just one small dot of red. I'm hoping it's not an external parasite and he just bumped against something.

@carapar56 - I don't know what sex the gourami is. I assumed it's a male, but never really paid much attention to the sexing of them - I figured the females were much smaller or less colorful, but now I see they're actually pretty similar. I'll have to check later and look at the dorsal fin. Not sure you can really tell from the pics. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. =]

[KevinVA]

So, I had a snow day and spent some time with my fishes. I observed the 75gal and everything appears to be normal. My gourami doesn't appear to be behaving any differently than usual and visually looks healthy, despite that red spot on his side/back. I tried to take pictures, but he was constantly moving. I've posted them below, so if you have any ideas about what you're looking at, please throw me a bone.

Here's a side-view of the red spot:


Here's a rear-view:


And here's another, better profile pic (he favors this side for showing off to people). I think he looks like a male, but maybe I'm wrong... You tell me.


And yeah, he's getting ready to take a poop. lol

[Carapar56]

Nope your gourami is indeed FEMALE :D Males have longer more pointed dorsal fins while females are rounder and shorter like yours and like my blue gourami. Here are some photos of male gouramis.

opline+gourami.jpg

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[KevinVA]

I just spent forever looking at male vs female gouramis last night. lol That's how I came to my conclusion. Maybe I was looking at female pictures or something. Well, I'm glad we got to the bottom of that. =] Thank you for the help Carapar.

Very similar characteristics. At least I won't be missing out on much, having a female instead of a male. Oddly, she's still quite aggressive. I'd think the females would be more docile.

[Carapar56]

Honestly I thought the same thing, Yet my blue gourami is probably the most aggressive fish I've owned. I know this isn't the right topic of yours, but how is the snail breeding going?

[KevinVA]

Thanks for asking.

Well, 4 of my Zebra Nerites made the transition into the breeding tank (of the 5 I had). I think the 5th had a rough time w/ shipping.

I've been able to grow some algae, though barely noticeable - visually, you can see some diatoms here and there. I threw a couple of pieces of random driftwood from the Potomac River in there, with some Mangrove stems and a few Java Fern plants. I dose w/ Flourish Comprehensive and Phosphorous on an almost daily basis, to ensure stable/steady algae growth.

These things have been eating like crazy and I have the poop to prove it. They poop everywhere, constantly... it's a mess. I'll clean it after a few days, then a few days more I'll have to clean it again.

Luckily they've made the transition with the different substrate ok and they no longer land on their back and flail around aimlessly. lol

That being said... no eggs yet. I'm hoping they're not all male, but there's no way to tell unless they start laying eggs. =X

As for the Rabbit snails, I've been waiting for the weather to clear up and get warmer. Now it's March and we just had a freak snow storm yesterday, but it's in the 50s again today. lol I plan on contacting the original guy that I purchased my first batch from, because he's supposed to be holding 5 in a grow-out tank for me. I'll contact him tonight and get that rolling again.

Meanwhile, my baby Rabbit snail in the 10gal Betta is doing very well.

[Carapar56]

Amazing :D glad to here, and just wait in no time you'll see nerite eggs. I was happy mine hadn't laid any then boom 2 months after arrival I'm finding eggs ALL OVER the place. I'm sure you have at least one female it'd be pretty hard to get all of one gender. And nice to here about the rabbits. I've been contemplating getting one for my 20 gallon, I really want one. Been watching my gourami more lately. Seems as if she's just barely holding on. She had a health scare a couple weeks ago and is just declining. For some reason her color still looks amazing and she eats so I'm not going to put her down just yet, I just don't want to see her suffer. Well nice to here progress on the snail tanks, maybe add some more lighting? After getting my nerites both tanks had little algae and they seemed to be starving. I upped the lighting and BOOM algae growth.

[MandyK]

That was a crazy snow storm wasn't it??? Do you still have any over there? Most of ours is gone, thank goodness. I'm getting so tired of the rain, snow, and mud. Heck, I'm a winter person!

I also wanted to say that -- even though I tend to find most of the large Gourami's to be a bit boring, yours is pretty beautiful. I've not seen any with coloring so vibrant. You're a good fish Daddy.

[KevinVA]

Haha, thanks Mandy. I do try. I think the Opaline Gouramis are probably the prettiest, besides the Pearl. It was a toss-up for me, between the two, but I really liked the blue on this one. One thing's for sure - they're very curious and smart fish, just like Bettas. I love 'em.

The snow storm was ridiculous. It hit for one entire day, like a bat out of hell, and then melted the next day. My snowman's head shrunk like he had a voodoo curse. The weather this year has been so flaky - it's been up and down constantly. I'm looking forward to Spring.

@Carapar - you've done your gourami a great service by giving her a proper and healthy home/life. 7 years isn't it? That's amazing for any fish. I hope you get some more time with her. =]

Good idea on the lighting. I still only have that CFL 40w 6500k bulb on it. I bet if I switched to a regular cfl fixture with a 10k bulb, I'd get growth in no time. That's a good call. I have a spare 10k in storage that I replaced with a 6500k, because I made the mistake once already. lol My Betta tank turned into a algae eating haven, once I added that sucker. That's why I've never had to feed my Otos. Of course, that'll all change soon.

I just upgraded from a 10gal to a 20 Long. It took me about 3hrs to move the 10gal, setup the 20gal, break down the 10gal, setup a new filter, transplant the plants and new driftwood... then the fish. I was surprised at how long my Betta fought me. He was pretty spry for a slow moving fish. lol

While moving all of my fish, I found that ALL of my Shrimp were still alive. All FIVE. I was extremely happy to see that. I'll have some pics up tomorrow of the new tank. I can't really see all of the decor, since it's still kind of cloudy in there, so it's a crapshoot. I'm hoping things look nice. lol I used Floramax (midnight color) for substrate, so it's taking a while to subside. Rinsed it out, too.

Also, you'd be surprised at how quickly Rabbit snails come out of their shell, once they're comfortable in their surroundings. Once I moved them, they popped right out in the new tank. The baby decided to pop out in my fingers, while I was about to place him/her. Love those snails. The Nerite was actually the same way.

[steeler1]

You guys are so lucky you have so many varieties availble of the Blue/opaline gourami. "Back in the day" LOL, all we had was the original form and it was called the three spot gourami. A nice looking fish till the Blue form came along a little later.