So after searching for appropriate fish for planted tanks I decided to try some Dwarf Gouramis. I am seriously regretting this descision! I wish someone had warned about the fact that they like to eat and rip out plants! I hadn't seen anyone mention this. I am not sure if it is just the plants I have but they like to rip up and eat :icon_evil the Dwarf Hairgrass, Bacopa, Rotala wallichii, and Micro Sword (Lilaeopsisbrasiliensis), Hygrophila corymbosa stricta (Compacta). The only plants they seem to leavealone is a Echinodorus argentinensis (Argentine Sword) and Java Fern. I want to get rid of them but the store won't take the back and I feel bad euthanizing them. I fixed my tank yesterday and they already made a new mess for me to fix by this afternoon. This tank is new and I am never going to get anything established when it is being ripped up and chewed up every day! Not sure why the font is changing as I type sorry for this. :icon_roll:icon_excl
I HAVE THIS ISSUE KIND OF! They (my 2 gouramis) tug hard at exposed roots, and algae, sometimes uprooting my wisteria. They will nibble at floating leaves too. They mostly eat algae, unless its feeding time and their are flakes, pellets, etc. in the water to feed upon. These fish are colorful, freshwater, eating machines, and pooping machines.
Let the plants float a bit. The tank will still get cycled... and these fish don't belong ina non-cycled tank. I suggest adding more gravel/dirt, and place a lil more weight around the roots to help them from being uprooted.
BTW, my large Mystery Snail, uproots more plants, running around, than do my gouramis! My snail barrel rools over plants, looking for dead leaves, but leaving the green stuff alone. He has uprooted Java Fern many a time (but I don't mind free floating Java Fern once in a while!)
My remaining Blue Dwarf is at it again! I definiteley think Tenor hit it right on the money back in the first thread. I raised the heat a couple degrees recently trying to keep my Rams healthy and now he keeps trying to build bubble nests!
He is ripping the plants out by the roots and tearing leaves off my Hygros, Lilies and Ludwigia. It makes a mess and all gets stuck on the filter intakes. If I knew Dwarf Gouramis liked to make a mess of the tank I probably would have steered clear. I have 4 kids, one is a 7 month old so it isn't easy to find time to mess with replanting plantsevery day. They can't establish themselves if they keep getting pulled up. So I just want to share my experience so others can make informed decisions when planning on which fish to stock in their tanks.
I have seen a few planted tanks with Gouramis. I read that they are vegetarians thus I didn't get 1. Have you tried tossing some cucumber or steamed peas in the tank?
I am pretty sure the problem is the raised temp. he wasn't doing it for a long time. I have GBRs and I decided to up the temp a couple degrees shortly after a water change and accidentally had my night time air stones turned completely off. Next thing I knew he had a giant bubble nest filled with ripped up DHG, Ludwigia, Dwarf Lily leaves, etc. and keeps trying to fix it every morning after the airstones mess it up on him. I think he has given up now. I took a week.
I used to have a little sparkling gourami, and s/he never bothered the plants, but s/he might just have been too small to eat them. It was just Java fern, swordplants, and Java moss. I did see it playing in the Java moss and poking at it, but not eating it, just looking for bugs I guess.
I had a gourami that pulverized all my stems and would constantly pull up micro-sword. It would leave crypts and ferns alone. I didn't keep my water particularly warm, and I kept him well fed, including fresh cucumber etc.
I still don't know why people recommend gouramis for community tanks. They tend to be aggressive, and if you get one that is, not really anything that can be done other than separating it from other fish. Terrible community fish and potentially destructive to plants.
I still don't know why people recommend gouramis for community tanks. They tend to be aggressive, and if you get one that is, not really anything that can be done other than separating it from other fish. Terrible community fish and potentially destructive to plants.
Sorry to hear you and some others have had such bad experiences with gouramis. My experience was much different... I had seven gouramis (yellow, blue and a pearl) in a 75g planted aquarium with a school of harlequin rasboras, khuli loaches & a betta with no problems. I loved watching them slowly cruise the tank, meandering in and out of the plants. They were very relaxing to watch, would come over to see me when I fed them and didn't chase or bother the other fish.
I remember keeping the tank at 78F. Maybe that did make a difference.
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