# Unhappy gourami due to high flow?



## Soujirou (Jun 16, 2008)

I have a planted 30 gallon tank with the following fish:

1 pearl gourami
6 harlequin rasboras
10 dwarf loaches

Filtration is provided by an Eheim 2215 canister filter. The pearl gourami (male) is my centerpiece fish. It was the last fish introduced to the tank and although pearls have a reputation of being timid, it became a very benign king of the tank capable of scaring the loaches off when they bug him and only became aggressive when fed live bloodworms.

During this time however, my rasboras typically stayed in a back corner seldom moving, and my loaches lazily lied around. My plants had begun to slow the flow coming out of my spray bar, the water did not seem very clean and algae associated with stagnant water began to creep up. So I cleaned the filter, cut back the plants in front of the spray bar, and raised the elevation of the filter to increase the flow.

Now the water seems cleaner, my rasboras are swimming around like they used too and my loaches finally decided to eat the pond snails that were getting out of hand. However the gourami spends most of its time hiding in the back corner underneath the spray bar. It also became a lot stingier at eating which I believe means it is stressed out.

So I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what I could do to make it happier. Turning down the flow is not an option and I have seen gourami at the fish store in higher flow tanks. Any help would be appreciated.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I'd guess it was the reduction of plant mass that is making the gourami more timid, not the water flow.

What about adding some floating plants? Gouramis tend to really enjoy floating plants.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

Just like bettas, they need some acclimation time to adjust to the high current. In the wild where they come from there is little to NO current, so keep that in mind before you get impatient with him. He'll come around. He has to develop some muscle tissue and literally build his strength before he can swim freely around the tank.

Oh yeah, and what Laura said too.


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## Soujirou (Jun 16, 2008)

Thanks, it is good to know it will be ok. I was just concerned about whether or not it would live out it days stressed out over the flow.

There is still plenty of plant cover. My right third has hygrophila that has reached the surface and the left third has a canopy created by rotala colorata in the rear half. I do understand that hiding places usually help fish spend more time out in the open, but previously it had no problem visiting all areas of the tank.


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## MikeP_123 (Aug 31, 2008)

another suggestions is to create dead zones or no flow zones in the tank. I do this so my fish can get a break from the current when they get tired. They seem to enjoy it. For a Gourami, Floating plants are a favorite. They absolutely love em.


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