# [EMERGENCY] Noob: Weak Pregnant Fish



## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

Help!!

My fish is getting pregnant but she seems weak!









Btw, can anyone determine what fish she is? Im a noob here @[email protected]

There was a male in the aquarium but I've taken him out of the aquarium because he kept on biting her tail!! But I heard that the male needs to be there for the birth of fishes, anyone can tell me what should I do?

And also, I dont know anything about params etc.. How can I check the water param? How can I check the PH? Help~~~

Thanks!!


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## Guest (Jan 30, 2007)

Firstly that is a powderblue gourami sometimes also sold as dwarf gouramis. Gouramis are very hard to breed even for the expert fish keeper. signs of breeding once the female is fat and gravid the male will attempt to build the bubblenest and entice the female to breed. Watch for the male and female to Ã¢â‚¬Å“danceÃ¢â‚¬Â together. He will cup her body and wiggle beside her in an effort to have her release her eggs to be met by his milt. Once the fertilization has taken place, the fish break apart and the male will collect the eggs to the nest. They will repeat this sequence over the next few hours. 

Are you sure its a female? male gouramis have a tendancy to fight each. You should try and sex them if your not sure this may help.
Males are usually a bit smaller than the female, and are slimmer in overall girth. Females have a rounded belly compared to the males. However, the dorsal (top) fin is the most distinctive difference that can be seen between males and females. The dorsal fin of the female is short and rounded, while the male has a longer dorsal that comes to a point. 

Your lfs or local pet store should have an aquarium test kit. 

See if you can get a test kit and post us your params and we can go from there.


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## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

Thanks for your info!! You are so expert!! How do you manage to know so much?  

By the way, here is the photo of the male (as what I always supposed)..










This is the best pic I've ever taken on him, as he is kind of active in the aquarium.. please enlighten me!!

Now that I've return him into the aquarium, so there's only two of them in the aquarium. I am worried if the male will keep on biting the female @[email protected] but the male is needed when the female breeding, right?

As for the test kit, I'll try to get it asap as its not convenient for me to go over to the shop...


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## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

Ahh by the way, if the blue one is powderblue gourami, is the orange one dwarf gourami? Will they able to be mixed and breed babies? :?


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## Guest (Jan 30, 2007)

Well im not an expert I just did a little research  I do not think they with interbreed but you never know. The one is a blue not sure about the other one. maybe someone else who has gouramis can help. I had pearl gouramis a while back but have never kept the dwarf or blue. do a google search for gourami species that may help you identify them better  I would keep an eye on them if you wish to keep them together make sure the one isnt getting bullied to badly I would hate to see you lose one as they are very beautiful.


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## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

HELP~~ The powderblue gourami seems to be dying!! Look at her~ But the moment I am posting this thread, she seems to swim by herself and hide behind some plants.. hmm.. is she having difficulties to breed or is she sick?? OMG...

I feel so helpless


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## Guest (Jan 30, 2007)

Honestly I would say she is sick. You really need to test your water. Is this the first time she has done this?


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## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

Yes this is the first time she's lying ..... she is now behind plants..

* btw, how much does a test kit cost?


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## Guest (Jan 30, 2007)

Its very hard to say whats wrong without knowing your water params. Do you have an airstone in the tank? I have read that adding more air/bubbles can help with ill fish but I am not 100% on that.


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## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

Yes, Im having air pump that pump air into the aquarium, and had switched off the water filter (scared if it will suck in the eggs/babies)


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## Guest (Jan 30, 2007)

d0rr said:


> Yes, Im having air pump that pump air into the aquarium, and had switched off the water filter (scared if it will suck in the eggs/babies)


 Dont turn the filter off how long has it been off? That maybe your problem with her being at the bottom of the tank. Never turn the filter off unless you are cleaning it or doing a water change. Do you see the bubble nest with eggs in it?


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## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

No I dont see any bubble nest, which I am desperately looking forward for it..

I suppose I should prepare a quiet and not-so-rushingly-circulated water for the gourami to breed? 

Thx!


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## Guest (Jan 30, 2007)

Okay first turn your filter back on so your fishy does not die please  If there were a bubble nest you would not be able to miss it they are large and at the top of the tank. Secondly go out and buy yourself a test kit you can get them at any pet or local fish store. 
If your gourami survives this ordeal and you are serious about breeding gouramis read this article http://az.essortment.com/breedinggourami_rdks.htm


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## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

Alrighty.

So I'll get a test kit and get the reading of ... PH? What else should I take care of?

Thanks a million for your help!!


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## Guest (Jan 30, 2007)

d0rr said:


> Alrighty.
> 
> So I'll get a test kit and get the reading of ... PH? What else should I take care of?
> 
> Thanks a million for your help!!


You need to test for Nitrite, Ammonia, Nitrate and PH levels on a regular basis.


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## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

Roger that! I will do it asap! Thanks for your precious opinions and info!

8)

* fyi, she is still alive!


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## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

she's dead ._.
i feel really bad, as i dont breed them good....... sorry...


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

You should have realize that gourami is a male.:mrgreen: Females are rather drab and silvery in color. As for those different colors, dwarf gouramis are available in a wide range of colors nowadays. They are not that hardy these days compared to the past.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

also master test kits cost around 20-30 dollars


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## herefishy (Dec 14, 2006)

I had the same problem with my honey gouramis. It seems to be a digestive disease. I wish I could be the bearer of better news, but, my female died. Unless you can entice her to eat, you can then fed her medicated food, I don't think that there is much hope. Sorry.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

I can tell you from looking at the photo that you had 2 MALE dwarf gouramis. The 2nd, healthier one is usually labeled as a "flame dwarf" or "red dwarf" gourami. They are the same species just different color morph. It looks pretty obvious from the photos that there was a lot of conflict going on between the 2 fish, and they needed to be seperated. 

Female dwarf gouramis have almost no color to them, they are very plain looking with little markings. They are usally a silvery white in color, and are not easy to find in the LFS's because there isn't as much of a market for them (people don't like them as much because they aren't as colorful)

Sorry to hear about your loss... how big of a tank is this?


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## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

Still cant draw out from the sadness of losing them one by one, and am really worried for the rest of them. I will get the aquarium cleaned and get a test kit to return them a healthy world!!

I dont know how big is my tank (my maths sucks)  But you can roughly judge it (and tell me) from the pic below. It stood beside a 29" old-type TV that you can only find in 90s'...










May them rest in peace...


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Hi Dorr.:wave:

Sorry to hear that.:blueworry: We'll try to ask you more details to help you prevent such incident in the future.

What are the dimensions of your tank? Pls post them here in terms of centimeters. What and how many fish have died so far?


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## Guest (Jan 31, 2007)

Sorry to hear of your loss d0rr, unfortunately this could have been avoided if you had tried to sex them in the beginning when I posted information on how to tell them apart. Hope the rest of your tank does well.


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## d0rr (Jan 24, 2007)

I feel so sorry about the death  still couldnt get out of it yet.....

I went down to my neighbourhood fish shops and only one of them are selling water testkits. They have dedicated testkits for each element testing (pH, ammonia etc.) and the owner told me that they'll have a new testkit (can be reused :roll: ) arriving today, which can test "everything" (which I dont know what's those "everything" =_=) the owner seems to know nothing much!!

I tried to search online and found testkits that mostly comes in papers that you can test your water and returns colors, but couldnt find anything about "reusable" ones... 

Please, can anyone enlighten me?? Which should I get?  I feel so helpless.... and for newbie like me who's not gonna breed more than gourami or ordinary fishies, what kind of test is essential??

Thanks!!!


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

An API Master Freshwater test kit should help you. Ignore the strips. They do not give accurate results.


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## joeshmoe (Aug 2, 2006)

srry for your fish  my gouramis have been acking wierd cus of breeding season.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

One of the best and still cheapest test kits is put out by Aquarium Pharmacuticals... The master kit includes everything you should need except nitrate... here are links for the master kit and the nitrate kit...

http://www.petmountain.com/product/...ls-nitrate-test-kit-fresh-and-salt-water.html

http://www.petmountain.com/product/...armaceuticals-freshwater-master-test-kit.html

Liquid kits are always the better way to go, and the only "reusable" test I can think of would be an electronic meter, which can get expensive. The tests that will be most important to you are ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH.

Hope this helps!


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