# Dwarf gourami acting weird



## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

I have a male dwarf gourami that I've had for about two weeks, and in just the last couple/few days I've noticed him acting differently - whereas he used to swim around most of the day and sometimes chill on the bottom at night, he has now taken to spending almost all his time on or near the bottom in a back corner:

He will come out occasionally, including to eat, but then just goes right back to the same spot.

I have another male dwarf gourami in the tank too (as well as guppies and the pictured loach and pleco), and everyone else is acting normally. The strange-acting gourami was unquestionably the dominant of the two, so I wonder if some sort of dramatic dominance shift happened and this could be causing his change of behavior? Otherwise I figure he must be sick. Are there any other possibilities? 

Any thoughts on what I can do for him? He doesn't seem to have trouble swimming, but it does look like his belly might be ever so slightly swollen (hard to tell for sure since I haven't had him that long). FWIW, I'm about to do a 1/3 water change, so the water's at its extremes right now, but it's GH120, KH0, pH7.0, Nitrite0, Nitrate30. Temp has been steady at 78-79.

If it's indicated, I do have some anti-bacteria medicated fish food, but it's probably a good 4 years old, and has no expiration date. Opinions on that? I also have aquarium salt, about the same age but I assume that's no big deal, but my aquarium has anacharis, crypt, and ludwigia, so I don't want to add salt if it's going to hurt those or any of my other fish (including a very young guppy fry).


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## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

Update - I don't think he's eaten at all since my previous post. Any feedback is much appreciated as I have no idea what to do for him!!


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

If you have another dwarf in the tank,chances are they are not getting along and the other has shown dominance.Therefore this one is most likely staying away from the other out of respect for his territory.

How do you figure this one was the dominant one?Fighting?color?assertiveness?

Its very likely a dominance shift happened.I would remove him to a tank of his own and see if he comes out more.If he does then there ya go!Just be sure that its not a really large tank with nothing for him to hide in.Give him a cave and some plants to make him feel more at home.


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## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

The only other option I have (besides my 3gal water change bucket) is a tank that's only 1-1.5 gallons (not sure offhand) - would that be too small? Also, I've been doing some reading and am starting to suspect he may have internal parasites, but I'm not sure how to tell other than behavior. Or what to do about it, yet. Haven't got that far, and have to go to work very soon, so no more reading for now.

Until he changed his behavior, he would frequently push the other dwarf around (like, oh, you're swimming here, go away because I want to swim here) and especially chase him and very occasionally nip fins around feeding time. Hence the dominance assessment.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Yeah its very common for them to change dominance.all one has to do is fight back and show the other who is stronger.

If you suspect internal parasites,then the whole tank would be effected,not just one fish.However you can go ahead and get some antiparasitic food,or mince some garlic to soak their normal food in,and feed that.That will clear them out.Feed it once or twice a week for about a month,should be good to go after that.

The one gallon is indeed too small.Get a plastic tote from Walmart or somewhere like that and place him in it.They are fairly cheap,though not the best to look at.It will serve well for a temporary setup however.


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## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

Now I don't know what to think. Got him in a quarantine tank; he has a sore on his side now but otherwise the same and still not eating. Dwarf gourami disease perhaps, I'm thinking? But then my pleco is having issues now too (detailed in another post), and that seems like a pretty big coincidence.

Edit - I'm holding off on posting about the pleco as I'm not actually sure there's a problem yet, maybe I'm just overanxious.


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