# Gold Honey Gourami Rocking in Place?



## starji (Mar 26, 2017)

I bought 2 Gold Honey Gourami's yesterday and I actually did notice one rocking back and forth in one place at the store but I didn't realize the ones I got were doing it also. I brought them home and they were just rocking back and forth in place. I don't know if this is normal or if something is wrong with them? They seem fine and their coloration is fine. There's nothing wrong with their fins and they're swimming around happily in the tank, but when they pause for even a moment, they start rocking. They aren't going on their side or having trouble staying up through. I looked at so many threads but I can't find one with the same description as mine. They all seem to have some other problems included or dead due to it. Unless, it's a normal behavior and I just don't know it because I never had them before!

I checked my water earlier and the results were: 
pH: 7.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5 (In between)

I have a 20 gallon tank, temperature at 78*F, slightly planted, 5 tetras, and 1 platy


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Maybe it has the shimmies? Lookup a video of that and see if it matches what your fish is doing.


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## starji (Mar 26, 2017)

A lot of the fish shimmy videos I looked at seem like the fish are swimming up and then falls down, up and then down. Mine are more like... they're moving forward back forward back fairly quickly, like jerking movements horizontally.


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## BrynnaCC (Jan 5, 2014)

Honey gourami use their modified fins (the ones that look like antennae) to brake suddenly. Do you have any current in the tank? I could conceive of them doing that quite a bit in a little bit of flow. Mine certainly did a lot of start-stop motions when I had a powerhead going.


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## starji (Mar 26, 2017)

Well, I've been watching them for a few days now. And one of them kind of look sick? He's staying in a dark cave for hours and then pops out time to time. The other one explores around more but they're both still doing the bobbing motion.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Can you do an ammonia test? Shimmies are normally caused by excessive levels. 
But you need to be sure, a shimmy is a weird way of swimming, using the whole body rather than just the fins.

To treat for ammonia poisoning, you put them in a bucket or quarantine tank with methylene blue at about 1 level teaspoon / 10 gallon, maybe a little less at first.
Keep them like that for 3 days, they should start looking better in hours if ammonia was the cause.


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## BrynnaCC (Jan 5, 2014)

starji said:


> Well, I've been watching them for a few days now. And one of them kind of look sick? He's staying in a dark cave for hours and then pops out time to time. The other one explores around more but they're both still doing the bobbing motion.


Does he look unhealthy or is he just hiding a lot? Honey gourami need a lot of cover to feel comfortable, and they do tend to hide if there isn't enough foliage.

This isn't a perfect example of average honey gourami movement as this is a courtship video, but it does show a little bit of the natural bobbing they do. Does it look anything like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfkGs7LN4G0


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## starji (Mar 26, 2017)

Nordic said:


> Can you do an ammonia test? Shimmies are normally caused by excessive levels.
> But you need to be sure, a shimmy is a weird way of swimming, using the whole body rather than just the fins.
> 
> To treat for ammonia poisoning, you put them in a bucket or quarantine tank with methylene blue at about 1 level teaspoon / 10 gallon, maybe a little less at first.
> Keep them like that for 3 days, they should start looking better in hours if ammonia was the cause.


my ammonia and nitrite are at 0 and my nitrate is 0-5.

Bump:


BrynnaCC said:


> Does he look unhealthy or is he just hiding a lot? Honey gourami need a lot of cover to feel comfortable, and they do tend to hide if there isn't enough foliage.
> 
> This isn't a perfect example of average honey gourami movement as this is a courtship video, but it does show a little bit of the natural bobbing they do. Does it look anything like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfkGs7LN4G0


Yes! It actually does look like that but at a quicker pace and one spot for long periods of time. I think I have 2 males though and sometimes they kind of chase each other away from their area. I have mixed feelings about their health though.. sometimes they kind of look weak and then at other times they seem so active.. but it's mainly one of them, I rarely see the one that always hides and I see him bobbing by himself rapidly inside the cave.


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## starji (Mar 26, 2017)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61FSRuV2C_4

Here's a video. Near the end you can see one bobbing near the heater.


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## BrynnaCC (Jan 5, 2014)

starji said:


> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61FSRuV2C_4
> 
> Here's a video. Near the end you can see one bobbing near the heater.


Oh yeah! It's hard to tell from the video, but aside from the bubbles going at the right, what direction does the filter current go in the tank? I could be wrong but it looks like they're getting mildly pushed by a current and trying to stay in one place by braking with their fins. Obviously, something else could be going on, but it could also just be adjusting to a flow they're not used to. I have a higher current tank, and whenever I add a new fish, they always spend some time awkwardly swimming as they get used to it. If that is the case with these guys, they should do that less over the next few weeks.

They look healthy from my end, but obviously, it's hard to diagnose things from a video.


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## starji (Mar 26, 2017)

BrynnaCC said:


> Oh yeah! It's hard to tell from the video, but aside from the bubbles going at the right, what direction does the filter current go in the tank? I could be wrong but it looks like they're getting mildly pushed by a current and trying to stay in one place by braking with their fins. Obviously, something else could be going on, but it could also just be adjusting to a flow they're not used to. I have a higher current tank, and whenever I add a new fish, they always spend some time awkwardly swimming as they get used to it. If that is the case with these guys, they should do that less over the next few weeks.
> 
> They look healthy from my end, but obviously, it's hard to diagnose things from a video.


I have my filter in that middle on the left between the plants and the cave. They still do it when everything is off, because my electricity went off multiple times due to a storm and they're still shaking away. I hope you're right though and it really does go away in a couple weeks. It makes my head hurt staring at them shaking like that :laugh2:


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## Helpmewithmyfish (May 6, 2021)

i just got my gold gourami earlier today and it’s doing exactly the same thing I don’t know why


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