Dwarf Gourami fish - premature death?

[Mabelcat]

Hi...my colleague is very anxious to know why he keeps losing his Dwarf Gourami fish. Three have died in the past two weeks. Any idea why this could be happening?

[B00]

Snap!

I've had 3 die within the space of about 2 months too. After checking my water parameters, I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that these fish may not be particular hardy. I'm now down to one, lonely looking, male who has so far outlived his mate, too scared to buy another for him!

As long as your friends water is fine and none of the other fish seem to be ailing I wouldn't worry too much. Bit more info on those 'delicate' fish here.

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/dwrf gour.htm

[hammerman]

Firstly you may want to check that they're not being bullied.....male gouramies are notoriously nasty to other gouramies...especially females.

As Boo said, they're not particularly strong genetically due to years of selective breeding.

Or....you may just have a tank that dwarf gouramies don't like.....just one of those things.

I have 10 red honey gouramies at the moment and they delightful little fish which bother no one and seem pretty hardy. Might be worth changing species if the dwarfs keep dying.

Good luck

[graham999]

dont be to concerned about water conditions for gouramis these fish breath air from the surface. your problem could be that there is a cold draught on the surface causing lung problems when the fish come up to breath, or the fish could be breating in air fresher or sray polish in small amounts even cooking smells can cause a problem.