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Hi,

My daughter has a small 20 Litre tank, that has been running quite happily for several months now with a pair of dwarf blue gourami and a few guppies.

Last weekend we introduced an "orange algae eater" to help keep the tank clean. I've spotted him chasing the other fish once or twice, but don't know if he is responsible for the damage to the gourami, or has introduced some sort of disease.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb320/m9w_photos/fish.jpg

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Yup thats a munch wound from a chinese algae eater, probably one of the the most aggressive algae eaters you can keep, they arent suitable for general community, being only appropriately housed with large fish with a decent level of self defense and a big tank. Thats a 5 gallon tank, its not up to the job of being a community tank for the fish you have. The CAE will grow far to large, if the guppies breed overstock will be reached very quickly, and thats not enough territorial room if both gouramis are male. 5 gallon tanks are really only big enough for single bettas, maybe a couple of shrimp, and not much else.

I would acquire some melafix and pimafix to protect the gourami from secondary bacterial and fungal infections and use it immediately. Take the the CAE back to the shop, its behaviour will only get worse as it grows. Only algae shrimp would be a good option for algae control in that tank, species like amanos and ghost shrimp.

You might have a few overstocking issues, so its worth posting the complete list of fish in that tank, and we can help you sort through it.

I fuly agree what Longhairedgit had told you I also dont think much of the LFS if they said the algae eater would be ok for your tank.

Post a lot more info about the tank water peramiters and every thing that is in the tank. The reason for that is to establish that if you have algae why it is there.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos


Keith

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Hi,
Thanks to both of you for the quick response.

I will take the CAE back, as I explained what I had to the fish shop, and they recommended it.

As for the fish stock, that is all I have in there at present, as I read is was best to introduce fish very slowly so as not to upset things.

The algae is only very slight, and I just thought that an algae eater would make a useful addition, keeping things a bit cleaner.

I'll get some melafix and pimafix today.

All the fish in there have been at the recommendation of the LFS, so think I will find another one to go to in future.

I'll get the water tested.

How can I tell if I have 2 male Gourami?

Because the male gouramis look like the one you have,females are much smaller and mostly silver, and the stripes nothing like as distinct.Males and females in dwarf gouramis can be told apart from about 15 feet away. A lot of shops just sell the males, because the females arent so popular, so if you cant tell them apart,they must be the same sex.