Patrick_G Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 (edited) I haven’t seen my Sparkling gourami for over three weeks. He used to be up front at every feeding but just disappeared one day after I feed him live black worms. I sort of assumed he ate a bad worm and died. I finally decided to take down his tank. It’s my little three gallon unfiltered cube. I took out all the scape and started draining the water (with a cup cause that’s how you drain a three gallon 🙂) and and sure enough there he is! For various reason my other tanks aren’t suitable for one tiny gourami so I had to do a quick reset on his current tank. It received a through glass cleaning and some new sand to cap the existing substrate. I raided my scrap tank for tank for some Anubias, Java Fern, Bacopa and PSO, added some Aquascaping stone and reused a piece of wood from the old scape. Since it’s now a totally unseasoned tank I added a cycled sponge from my guppy tank. It looks decent for an emergency refresh. I’m sure the poor fish is traumatized but this is my best attempt in a short period of time. I hope he pulls through! The last pic is the tank before he disappeared. Unfortunately after I decided he had died I stopped maintaining the tank and it was pretty bad by the time I decided to take it down. Edited February 13, 2022 by Patrick_G 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flumpweesel Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 (edited) Glad you found him, I've only got a vague notion on how many fish are in my community tank. He was probably loving the natures chaos scape that had evolved but lovely new set up that you can both enjoy now Edited February 14, 2022 by Flumpweesel Tense change 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted February 14, 2022 Author Share Posted February 14, 2022 On 2/13/2022 at 4:05 PM, Flumpweesel said: Glad you found him, I've only got a vague notion on how many fish are in my community tank. He was probably loving the natures chaos scape that had evolved but lovely new set up that you can both enjoy now I’m 100% sure he liked the old “dirty” scape better. I bet it was filled with micro fauna that made perfect hunting for a tiny predator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flumpweesel Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 Perhaps that's the next phase from walstad method we will have the dirty scapers. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinky Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 I love dirty jungle scapes, i find the fish are always happier than they would be in a sterile "perfect" scape, but at the end of the day we are keeping boxes of water in our homes so i think as long as the fish are happy and healthy, whatewver anyone wants to do is fine. As for missing fish, I once had a 10g community where the last fish finally died, so I was going to take it down and redo the whole thing. in the process I found a pair of otos I thought had died months prior ( i hadnt even been feeding them, so i have no idea how they survived) so I had to get a small tank set up for them and my remainiong betta from another small tank. They lived for another year or two if i remeber right. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaW Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 3 weeks! That's a long time to hide and how do you hide in a 3 gallon! Wish he would tell us his secrets. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 ORD. The new scape looks great, so much nicer to human eyes but I can picture your little guy grumbling like Oscar the grouch about losing all his perfectly good ‘trash’. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted February 14, 2022 Author Share Posted February 14, 2022 On 2/13/2022 at 8:33 PM, PineSong said: ORD. The new scape looks great, so much nicer to human eyes but I can picture your little guy grumbling like Oscar the grouch about losing all his perfectly good ‘trash’. I know! I’m also a bit worried about getting food to him. Even though I wasn’t feeding the old scape for the last few weeks he was clearly finding micro food. He’ll eat frozen food but will only take it if it’s suspended in the water, and not if it hits the bottom. Now I first have to lure him out and then get food in the water column where he can see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 Oh, what an adventure! I am glad he is well, and am sure he will eventually forgive you for upsetting his home. 🙃 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted February 14, 2022 Author Share Posted February 14, 2022 On 2/13/2022 at 8:52 PM, eatyourpeas said: Oh, what an adventure! I am glad he is well, and am sure he will eventually forgive you for upsetting his home. 🙃 He’s been hiding again. I need to hatch some bbs to lure him out. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 Missing fish and shrimp, ugh what a pain. I can't tell you how many of these events have happened to me. Anyway glad it is over for you and gave you some aquascaping reps! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted February 16, 2022 Author Share Posted February 16, 2022 The little Gourami died yesterday. I feel terrible, I should have probably left the tank alone. ☹️ 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 On 2/16/2022 at 6:56 PM, Patrick_G said: The little Gourami died yesterday. I feel terrible, I should have probably left the tank alone. ☹️ It's possible he was hiding because he was sick not necessarily anything you have done 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted February 16, 2022 Author Share Posted February 16, 2022 On 2/16/2022 at 11:02 AM, Colu said: It's possible he was hiding because he was sick not necessarily anything you have done I think so. He started hiding right after I first fed live black worms. I can’t be sure the worms were the cause but there is a definite correlation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 On 2/16/2022 at 12:56 PM, Patrick_G said: The little Gourami died yesterday. I feel terrible, I should have probably left the tank alone. ☹️ Agree with @Colu, likely hiding because he was sick. Blackworms may not have been it. Correlation is not causation, but it’s often impossible to tell what goes wrong with our tiny fish friends. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 On 2/16/2022 at 11:56 AM, Patrick_G said: The little Gourami died yesterday. I feel terrible, I should have probably left the tank alone. ☹️ On 2/16/2022 at 12:08 PM, Patrick_G said: I think so. He started hiding right after I first fed live black worms. I can’t be sure the worms were the cause but there is a definite correlation. I have never heard of a fish dying from eating blackworms. I have watched a baby endler grab a blackworm I was positive was too big around to fit in the mouth. I could see the blackworm was more than 10x the length as the baby endler swam as fast as possible all over a FOUR FOOT TANK so nobody could steal his worm.😳 I think it is far more likely that he chose to find a place to hide because he was feeling vulnerable (due to age, or possibly illness or a self-inflicted injury). I also believe that you were the pet parent he needed, and you took excellent care of him. Would he have had as high a quality of life if you left him at the fish store and brought home a different fish? I don't think so. I'm sorry you lost your fin friend this way, I hope you are able to step back and see what a wonderful job you actually did. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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