# Can a gourami eat itself to death?



## mileshs95 (Sep 24, 2011)

i was wondering if gourami can eat themselves to death. i heard that tropical fish are not like goldfish and know when to stop eating but my gourami seems to be eating an awful lot. i feed him flake food and it says to feed the fish 1 flake per 1" of fish and however much the fish can eat within 2-3 mins. well the 2.5in gourami eats about 5-6 flakes in about 30 seconds. will this diet kill him? thanks


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## Santaclaws (Sep 20, 2011)

mileshs95 said:


> i was wondering if gourami can eat themselves to death. i heard that tropical fish are not like goldfish and know when to stop eating but my gourami seems to be eating an awful lot. i feed him flake food and it says to feed the fish 1 flake per 1" of fish and however much the fish can eat within 2-3 mins. well the 2.5in gourami eats about 5-6 flakes in about 30 seconds. will this diet kill him? thanks


 Ive never heard of a fish eating itself to death some get piggy but I have never had one die.


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## mileshs95 (Sep 24, 2011)

Santaclaws said:


> Ive never heard of a fish eating itself to death some get piggy but I have never had one die.


Yeah goldfish eat themselves to death all the time when uninformed owners overfeed them i just don't want that to happen to my gourami, "Toby"


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

mileshs95 said:


> Yeah goldfish eat themselves to death all the time when uninformed owners overfeed them i just don't want that to happen to my gourami, "Toby"


Would keep the gourami in ten gal tank? At temp around 80 degrees F and soft to meoderately hard water.
Would offer perhaps some frozen or freezedried blood worms,shrimp, along with the flake food.
Would feed once a day or two, and no more than I actually watched the fish eat in a minute or two.
would feed tiny amount,and after fish consumed this,,I would feed tiny bit more.
Is easy to overfeed fish = bloat,constipation.
Some claim that some species,(omnivores) don't really have stomachs as you and I think of them ,but rather they have large ,long,intestinal trac that food moves rapidly along and then is excreted.
this may or may not be true with omnivore's but with other species like cichlids who do have stomachs much like ours (smaller),, too much foodoffered often result's in bloated ,sick,fish.
Best in my view to feed nearly all fishes,, sparingly . 
Nobody I know, or have heard of,, Ever lost fishes by feeding once a day.


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## Santaclaws (Sep 20, 2011)

mileshs95 said:


> Yeah goldfish eat themselves to death all the time when uninformed owners overfeed them i just don't want that to happen to my gourami, "Toby"


Oh I did not know that I guess you learn something new everyday


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