lost my gourami :(

[murdock6701]

pH is a little high, but other than that they appear to be stable numbers - what had me concerned was earlier your nitates were at 0 - flag went up! keep an eye open for ich, fairly common for this to occur in newly introduced neons - hope you took the time to acclimate them properly, floating the bag and adding tank water and then not dumping the water they came in, into the tank - sorry if that sounds questioning, but in one of your earlier posts, you asked on how to do it - hope all goes well for you - would wait a few days before adding any more fish and keep an eye on bothe the neons and your water parameters

[murdock6701]

might add to that a medium sized piece of driftwood will bring your pH down a bit but not too much if your planining on putting labs in the tank - the driftwood will also help hold the plants down - just be sure to let it soak 3-5 days and keep rinsing it before putting it in the tank - I usually boil mine first and then soak it - when the water loses it's tea color, it should be fine

[corycatwoman]

ya im not worried bout the ph. and i did dump the water they came in into the tank didnt know i wasnt sposed to do that. from now on ill net them ouut after the acclimation. i acclimated them using the bag they came in and a half cup every 15 minutes for about 1 and half hours. then poured the bag and the fishies into the tank. my bad i didnt know i wasnt sposed to use the water they came in. it makes sense tho. thanks.

[murdock6701]

I was wondering about that - the thing is, you worked so hard to get your tank stabilized and introducing new fish is tricky in itself - dumping water from another source, especially a retail fish store can undo everything you worked for in a heartbeat - lesson learned, am hoping it's not the hard way - I love neons for their color and flash, but of all the fish I have kept for over 30 years, I've had more trouble w/ them than any other single fish w/ the exception of a bad batch of German Blue Rams I got.....good luck and keep us posted -

[bikeguy33]

hope everything works out well this time around...

[Suzie Q (Lori)]

Sorry about your gourmi...it sucks to loose a fish like that.
Don't know anything about cichlids so I can't help there.

[Carl]

Sorry to read about your Gourami

Gold Gourmis tend to do best in water conditions favored by Bettas, that is pH in the 6.5 to 7.8 range with moderate KH (under 150).
GH is another matter as often most GH test kits do not always give a clear picture of available minerals such as CaCO3+ and may read high based on CaCO3 that has spent its available positive ions.

I would consider using partial RO water, and/or drift wood, and/or products such as Bio Lif to counter high pH in tap water.

If you plan on going with Yellow Lab Cichlids this is a mute point, however with the fish you currently have or if you would like more gouramis or South American fish, I would consider what I mentioned.

Personally I would stick with the simple fish for now such as the Yellow Labs or Gouramis (one or the other though as I have not found them to mix very well, but others may have had different experiences).

Carl

[corycatwoman]

thanks carl im done with the gourami atleast in my big tank i really liked the look of them but i didnt care for there long dangly ventral fins mainly cuz im almost positive it got sucked into the filter and half of one of them tore off. so i might consider a opaline or blue gourami in one of my other tanks.

[jonv]

You know, that's the thing I really like about Carl. I totally forgot about the aspect that you could alter your water towards a more softer or South American setting as well, good point Carl.

I have not had issues with my Gourami, for the most part, keeping them in African conditions, but there have been some losses from time to time. Generally, housing Mbuna with Gourami wouldn't be an issue because they won't be in the same area the majority of the time, so it really comes down to the adaptiblity of the Gourami to African conditions is all. This is a case, in a smaller tank, I would avoid the use of Haps or Peacocks however, because they would be higher up in the tank where Gourami would dwell. ANY use of a Hap or Peacock would need to be a rather mild one, and absent of females.

I would still try to avoid multiple males in a tank with these dimensions for Mbuna. Even a heavy rock pile, with some wood and even plants, is going to yield the males taking on each other at some point. While a Ps. Acei is likely to act like a Hap early on, and maybe venture up higher in the tank, it's still a Mbuna. The yellow highlights in the fins they get when adult, could very well trigger aggression in the Yellow Lab males.

My suggestion would be this. If at all possible, and you feel you are going to stock these two species, then get male Acei's and female Labs. The advantage you have in this case, the male and female labs, have little to no difference at all in overall body coloring, some minor factors in the fins and just overall size differences is all. You have to look fairly close or vent them to know males from females. This is a species, while listed as dimorphic on some sites, is very close to being a monomorphic species. So by selecting female labs, you are not sacrificing much on color.

[corycatwoman]

good idea i have read that the females are all around about the same as males sept a little bit smaller by little bit over half inch when full grown. and the males have a darker anal fin but im not too worried i just want the bright colors they give cuz my tank is black and red and i have a dark blue gray background they would definately stand out well. ill look into figuring out how to vent or seeing if my local store can order them female only for just one week.