Palmer

I have just brought my toddler guppies to a local petshop and have decided to change the aquaculture of my tank. No more live bearers.

I still have two homebred female guppies, one probably the mother of the recently abandoned babies, and a golden plecostamus from the old habitat, but introduced two separate species today: 1 golden marble angelfish and 1 red male honey gourami.

The male Gourami livened right up when brine shrimp was given. He's now seems to be the top dog in the tank. The Angelfish was in a thriving habitat at the aquarium store, but is not doing well at all at the moment. He seems pretty depressed, and I'm afraid he won't make the transition.

I'm pretty familiar with guppy "body language", and one of the remaining females is pretty upset about the new fish being in her tank. She's begun the shrivelly death look (top floating, making herself look skinny).

The pleccy is still the same as always: hardy.

Any advice for a relative newby? I've always wanted to keep Angelfish, but maybe I've done something wrong.

gm333

What are the params of the tank? How did you acclimate?

Tommy Gun

I agree with where I think GM is most likely heading by asking these questions. It could be possible that your tank is unable to support more fish yet and you might be having an ammonia spike, or maybe a nitrate spike if the tank is cycled. This would account for the guppy hanging near the surface.

Otherwise, my questions would be if you have a good aggitation method for your surface water since this helps out with the principles beihnd gas exchange (CO2 out, O2 in) and your guppy could be up near the surface trying to get more oxygen.

Lastly, and IMO one very likely cause, is that your angel fish has an aggressive personality and could be bullying the guppy. The exact same thing could be said for the gourami as well since they can be nippy at times. In this type of situation, to be on the safe side, I would get a good set of water tests under your belt to see if there are chemistry problems happening in the tank. I would also look into putting an airstone in the tank if you do not already have one or trying to ensure that your filter return gets the surface water moving as much as possible, but within reason. You may also benifit from changing the decor in your tank around every so often to reduce the ability for your newer fish to establish a 'strong hold' within the tank. This may or may not help, but it couldnt hurt. You do not need to move things much, but just enough so that the tank looks different.

By the way, Welcome to the forum! You have found a great place to get your questions answered so ask away!

jd@ga

I personally wouldn`t mix angels and gourami that`s like fire and ice. I`m not saying it wouldn`t work I`m saying you`ve got everything working against you. Angels are best kept in pairs or schools .

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