laritheloud

I'm so sorry, @Hobbit! We are very lucky that we have two avian and exotic vets within an hour's drive from here. If it's not too far for you, @Hobbit, check out Avian and Exotic Animal Hospital in Aston, PA with Dr. Goodman. I only took my reptile to her so far but she's great and says she treats chickens. It's a little further north than Boothwyn, but it might still be doable for you. I'm planning on taking in fecal samples for parasite testing in October along with another sample from my gecko. We want to add to the flock in the spring, too, and discussed expanding coop space for the occasion. I have my eye on D'uccles, Cochins, and Salmon Faverolles.... We'll see what we end up doing. 😀 The wait for eggs is totally the longest wait. Betsy looked "ready" for over a month before she actually laid an egg, and she'd been squatting heavily for at least two weeks. We got lots of pets in because of that squatting, that's for sure.

24 weeks and 1 day and we finally, finally got our first little pullet egg! We're overjoyed! I'm pretty sure it came from Betsy our sweet Black Australorp. This was the longest wait, that's for sure.

You're doing everything you can @PineSong ! You're going about this really smartly. I still heavily suspect that this is just a problem with the strain, but for the sake of your customers, it's great and highly ethical that you're covering all your bases. If Flubendazole (or any other combination you try) doesn't work, I think you might have to consider the strain culls. Regarding the Endlers, I started with a 10 gallon tank of 14 endlers and I'm down to about 10 at about a year and a half later. I don't know how old they were when I got them. I've noticed that as Endlers age they will waste OR bloat with no discernible cause. I figure they are just old and more vulnerable to anything non-sterile in their environment. I never noticed contagion passing through the tank and I have treated for parasites. Wasting or illness seems to occur at random. I don't know if that information helps you but there's a chance the two are unrelated. Good luck, I hope you are able to root out what's happening to your guppies!

I haven't purchased or used flubendazole, but I'm really sorry you're struggling with a wasting disease. Which fish are struggling? Is it confined to one tank, or has it crossed tanks/species? There's always the possibility that it's not a parasite or a contagion at all and it's just in their bloodlines, depending on the sources of your fish and how much you've mixed your stock.

This is a really great thread, and thank you @KentFishFanUK for the tag. I don't have much going on in my fishy life right now, though, as I've been focusing on maintenance and working on other things! Most recently I obtained an L519 bristlenose pleco that's super neat, along with a pair of nanochromis splendens that I'm not really counting on breeding successfully but it'd be great if they did. Both are about wrapped with quarantining together and thriving. The pleco will stay in my 20 long until he grows out enough to make a smooth transition to my 55 gallon. My thicklips are doing great but Lady Marmalade was getting bullied, so I separated her to a different tank and she's doing a bit better. Hoping the lower-stress environment will do her good. For anyone who remembers my shifting municipal water parameters, after a year of KH 10 GH 0 water, we have switched back to the hard water wells this year. I now know that water parameters are likely to change in the fall, around August-September. I've stopped adding wondershells to my tanks and let them stabilize at the tap levels of GH 8 and KH 10. I have a newfound love of cichlids and really want to move in to trying more of them out long-term. After my thicklips live out their happy lives I plan to replace them in my 55 gallon with other species of cichlid to complement my Anomalachromis Thomasi and Electric Blue Acara; I'm not anticipating that this should happen too soon. I still have dreams of getting a very large tank for my living room (either for goldfish or cichlids, depending on my mood at the time), but won't be able to until the kids no longer use their toy collection. On a more personal level, another reason that I'm pulling back on expanding my fishkeeping adventures at the moment is because I'm starting intensive eating disorder recovery. I've beaten up my body; I'm bulimic with an exercise compulsion and I'm always tired and aching, and I can no longer sleep uninterrupted for more than two hours at a time. I am feeling hopeful that I can repair my habits now that I've been matched to the right help, but I'm nervous and stressed, especially with the school year starting back up again and two kids to shuttle to activities. ❤️ Fingers crossed all goes well, and I can find some energy again... I'm not sure who else needs to be tagged! @Colu? Someone else? I feel quite out of it. Thanks for reading, this is an amazing community to be a part of.

If you want more cichlids, I'd consider moving your dwarf gourami to another tank. That little guy should do fine in a 10 gallon or larger, preferably at least 15 or 20 gallons to give him more space. You'd have more flexibility with cichlid stocking if you move him. As @CJs Aquatics mentioned I would try something like blood parrots or severum (grown out, if you choose to try to introduce only one), which are pretty chill fish. Maybe festivums. Always have a backup plan in place and introduce at least 2 additional cichlids into the tank at the same time to head off the blue acaras from bullying the newcomer.

I am not getting more honey gouramis. I'm letting my sweet male live out his life in peace in my tank, and then I'll decide what else I'd like to try in my 29 gallon. I'm considering apistos or bolivian rams.

I'm so sorry, @Karen B.. I know you loved your honey gourami so much. I want you to know that I lost all but my lone male honey gourami in the past few months to unknown causes and the same symptoms. One declined very suddenly without any apparent forewarning, and just ended up corkscrewing to the bottom of the tank, unable to swim anymore. Two years is a good lifespan for them these days, I think, and overall they seem less hardy than they ought to be according to the literature. I highly doubt you did anything wrong or that anyone made a misstep anywhere along the way. He lived a good life in your tank. ❤️

It's not really the supplier necessarily. I got my pseudomugils from my LFS and I've had great fish from them 9 out of 10 times. I think breeding programs for the most popular pseudomugils might be churning out some weak stock recently. I heard of a few others on youtube having issues finding healthy stock recently, too. It's a shame because they are beautiful fish.

I'd be prepared for losses because it might be weak stock. My weak pseudomugil signifers recovered for awhile -- I put them through a few meds (prazipro, levamisole, antibiotics in food all done spaced apart) and still lost them steadily over time. It doesn't hurt to try and save them, but without knowing exactly what it is it's mostly shots in the dark. Try the double shot of paracleanse (or prazipro) plus antibiotics, increase aeration and see how they do after that. Hopefully they'll recover and strengthen for you!

These are pseudomugils, right? How long have they been in the tank? They need a LOT of oxygen and a lot of plants and I actually found pseudomugils to be extremely sensitive fish. Mine never thrived and only lived a maximum of 7 months in my tank, they were full-grown when I bought them. If some have already died they might be suffering from shock. Did you just add them to the tank? How did you acclimate? These fish absolutely demand a slow and steady acclimation. I saw issues with my fish if I plopped them in the tank too soon.

Hmmmmm. It's hard to say because gouramis do that with their lips as a matter of course, but if it's different than how he used to act, that's a red flag. If he's not eating I'd see if you can quarantine. If the flow is high gouramis tend to like still water. Watch him swim and see if he gets blown around by the filter. If he does, turn it down and/or baffle the outflow. If he doesn't seem to have an issue then it's probably fine. I'm reluctant to give you any med recommendations right now but you can try aquarium salt as your first line of defense. If you notice redness beneath the gill plates/inflammation or any flashing (scratching his scales on the decorations and substrate in your tank) I'd start out with prazipro or general cure. Without more symptoms, though, it's difficult to recommend meds because so much could cause what you're seeing!

Hi there @DaPrawf! This is actually a sunset thicklip gourami and not a honey gourami. He looks a little clamped but I'm not totally sure if he actually has an issue or not, he could just be a little stressed. Keep an eye on the white scales. It doesn't look like columnaris yet and I'm not sure we should leap to that conclusion without more evidence. How's the flow in the tank? Is he still eating? Does he look like he's gasping?

Fairly uncommon fish, but I have a pair of Nanochromis Splendens that are exceptional fry hunters. They are smaller fish, though, and you could definitely get something bigger like EBAs or Angelfish for a 55 gallon.

With rescue bettas I have heard folks have the best luck with constant vigilance. That means daily partial water changes and multiple small feedings a day. Add a baseline amount of aquarium salt and only replace what you remove from water changes. (If you add 2 tablespoons salt total and remove 25% of the water for a change, I'd add back about 1.5 teaspoons max). I would start here and see how they behave day to day. Have meds ready but don't use them unless you don't see improvement with this regimen.

I would NOT add a betta in with honey gouramis. Honeys are very mild and shy and won't do well with a much more assertive betta, even if it's female. Just as a note @Cinnebuns I am a woman, though I'm flattered that I come off as male! 😃

My baby. Just a little over 5 grams and asleep lol.

Your lily is beautiful! If you you like the red dwarf lily try a tiger lotus next. Absolutely love tiger lotuses, and they're just as fast-growing.

I haven't seen this and it's amazing! My dream is to have a minimally/unplanted tank with large interactive fish (like goldfish, large cichlids, or african cichlids. In an ideal world I'd do one of each! But likely what will happen instead is I'll do one at a time). Good luck on your journey ❤️

I'm in love with him. I want a huge tank with goldfish in my living room. Someday, when the kids are old enough to not need their tower of toys anymore...

Mine have actually NEVER spawned, even with low flow and plenty of floating plants. I have seen dancing and courting but I've never had a successful gourami spawn. Pair that with it being difficult to actually raise gourami babies to adulthood in a community tank and you probably won't have much of an issue beyond an occasional bubble nest. It's "easy" to spawn them, sure, but you won't be overrun with babies because gourami fry hatch sooooo small and the mortality rate is high. I don't mind because I love them for what they are, my interactive little water pups that gently feeler and nip my finger. With water flow, they don't particularly love it. If you have a stiller area of the tank they will hang out there more than directly in the flow. On my 55 gallon I have an HOB and a fluval canister plus an airstone, the left side of the tank is pretty low-flow and I direct the spray bar toward the back wall. I once put a powerhead in that tank (I've since moved it to the 20 gallon long) and they were okay, but preferred less flow. You can always baffle your HOB -- they'll let you know how they're handling the flow. These are sunset thick lipped gourami. There is a wild color morph that I have never actually seen in the US, though I've looked around. It's beautiful but the colors are very late to develop. They have blue and orange bands like a dwarf gourami or a banded gourami. You'll probably only see the sunset thick lipped available. For sex ratio, aim for one male to the group. If you end up with more than one male by mistake, it probably won't actually be a big deal; gouramis prefer to live in a group and don't really school, so group size is more important than sex ratio, in the end. I've seen folks be successful with 6 thicklips in a 20 long, but I'd probably start with 4 in a 29 and see how it goes!

I have a baby Gargoyle Gecko (5g right now, 3 months old) and there is virtually zero smell, zero noise, and very simple husbandry. The taming process is slow and requires a lot of patience and gentling, but I know we'll get there -- I just got this little one a month ago and they've only just started settling here in their new home. Love my little geck! I keep dreaming of other wonderful creatures I could adopt but also trying to pump the brakes a little bit on raising more animals. I like what I have going now.

Echoing most of the folks above -- for schoolers it's better to put them in as large a school as you're comfortable getting for your tank size. I have 9 black ruby barbs but if I could get more of a similar size, I'd add more in a heartbeat. I started with 6 diamond tetras and luckily they bred themselves up to 12, and they got increasingly more peaceful the more they grew their school. My personal minimum is 8 to 10 schoolers.

A few videos of my sleepy evening gouramis. They are diurnal and most active in the morning and throughout the day. In the morning they are up front and center begging for food. I mention this in the videos but there are some minor fin nips on my gouramis. This isn't anything to be alarmed about. Sometimes the males nip the females/subdominant males; they are typically NOT stressed by this and keep behaving/eating perfectly fine. As long as the feelers are not nipped and they don't start losing scales along their sides the fin tears are completely superficial, and 90% of the time they will hang out like buddies together. At night they all drift with their feelers out in the upper left side of the tank to sleep. It's totally adorable.

I aimed for 1 male 4 females and ended up with 3 males 2 females. No problems at all, they're still super peaceful, so if you end up with 2 males 2 females you should still be okay. One male will emerge as dominant and darken in color over the others. Sometimes when thicklip gouramis are very young their sexes are tougher to distinguish. In general, for a male, you'll have a more pointed dorsal fin and darker color. Females will have a 'gentler' face with slightly smaller lips, a more marmalade-y lighter color, and a rounded dorsal fin. Very round dorsal fins, smaller lips, and lighter coloration usually turn out females; they'll also have a somewhat rounder and fuller belly area. Males will look more angular and square and dark, but they will absolutely darken more when they're settled in the tank. Males will also grow slightly bigger than females, but they top out at around 3 inches. edit: the most fun part about these fish IMO is that if you tap the glass in front of their faces they will try to feeler your fingers. They will nibble your fingers at the surface looking for food. They don't swim off when you're cleaning and they're just super sweet and interactive. I really don't think you'll be disappointed in their personalities.