Enrichment for aquarium fish

[StGermain]

I know, they say a goldfish has s 3 second memory. But I have a small (5 gal) desktop aquarium. It has a dwarf blue gourami and a few guppies. I’ve trained the gourami to target and spit at my finger (2 inches out of the water), and to jump up and touch my finger. Then he gets a bloodworm. He does this very reliably.

However, I can’t spend my whole workday playing with my fish. He has a plant and a decoration to swim through and around, and the other fish to bully when he feels like, but is there anything I can put in his tank to give him something to do? He often hangs out at the front of the tank watching me and hoping for more bloodworms. I don’t want to feed him more, but I want him to have something to do.

StG

[chestnutmarebeware]

Actually, I read about a study about a year ago (maybe in Smithsonian?) Scientists proved that goldfish could remember things reliably for at least 5 months! :winkgrin:

But I digress… my only enrichment idea is based on the entertainment my platies and guppies seem to enjoy most. I bought an internal filter that uses a spray wand to send the filtered water back into the tank. Put the filter so that the spray was directed straight down one of the tank walls. My fish will “ride” the flow/bubbles from the water surface to the gravel, circle around, and do it again. And again. And again. I love watching them.

Platies: they’re not here for a long time, they’re here for a good time!

[StGermain]

Actually, I recently changed tanks. The old tank had an air bubbler and he used to like to surf in it. I read that they were still water fish and changed to a tank without an air filter. Maybe I’ll add one back.

StG

[shayaalliard]

My big apple snail (tennis ball sized) used to “walk” over to the bubbles, fill his shell with them, float up to the top of the tank, stretch out really big and push the air bubble out, then “fly” back to the bottom. Over and over and over. I’ve taught quite few fish tricks and to be petted- they are plenty smart.

[shiningwizard255]

I hate to be “that person” but 5 gallons is pretty small for a dwarf gourami and several guppies. A single dwarf gourami needs about 15 gallons.

That being said, dwarf gouramis love hiding places. You could do something as simple as get some PVC pipe from the plumbing section in Lowe’s (I’ve found the ones shaped like a “Y” to be a big hit). As top dwellers, some floating plants (real or not real) will probably thrill the little guy. My honey gourami LOVES floating plants! Anacharis/elodea is one of my favorite live floating plants - easy to find, cheap, grows well, and pretty. Or you can remove fake plants from the bases that keep them at the bottom of the tank and let them free float.

[StGermain]

[QUOTE=shiningwizard255;7503962]
I hate to be “that person” but 5 gallons is pretty small for a dwarf gourami and several guppies. A single dwarf gourami needs about 15 gallons.

That being said, dwarf gouramis love hiding places. You could do something as simple as get some PVC pipe from the plumbing section in Lowe’s (I’ve found the ones shaped like a “Y” to be a big hit). As top dwellers, some floating plants (real or not real) will probably thrill the little guy. My honey gourami LOVES floating plants! Anacharis/elodea is one of my favorite live floating plants - easy to find, cheap, grows well, and pretty. Or you can remove fake plants from the bases that keep them at the bottom of the tank and let them free float.[/QUOTE]

He doesn’t seem to be a hider. There are plenty of hiding places in the plastic plant that goes almost to the top of the tank, and the decoration has lots of swim-through holes, etc. He likes to hang out right at the front of the tank and beg. If I’m not paying attention, he’ll spit out of the hole and leave a puddle on my desk. On Friday he was so excited when I was about to do the final feed that he launched himself through the hole (which isn’t all that big, maybe 1" X 3") and landed on the desk. I scooped him back up and put him in the tank. I’ve blocked the hole now, of course.

Since you have a gourami, what’s your opinion of bubbles? As I said earlier, he used to enjoy surfing on the bubbles, but I moved him to a still water tank because I read that they weren’t supposed to like lots of moving water.

I may upgrade his tank if I find something bigger that catches my eye. Limited space on the desk, of course. I’m also getting some live plants to put in there with him. The guppies are Endlers, so they’re very small.

StG

[shiningwizard255]

[QUOTE=StGermain;7504026]
He doesn’t seem to be a hider. There are plenty of hiding places in the plastic plant that goes almost to the top of the tank, and the decoration has lots of swim-through holes, etc. He likes to hang out right at the front of the tank and beg. If I’m not paying attention, he’ll spit out of the hole and leave a puddle on my desk. On Friday he was so excited when I was about to do the final feed that he launched himself through the hole (which isn’t all that big, maybe 1" X 3") and landed on the desk. I scooped him back up and put him in the tank. I’ve blocked the hole now, of course.

Since you have a gourami, what’s your opinion of bubbles? As I said earlier, he used to enjoy surfing on the bubbles, but I moved him to a still water tank because I read that they weren’t supposed to like lots of moving water.

I may upgrade his tank if I find something bigger that catches my eye. Limited space on the desk, of course. I’m also getting some live plants to put in there with him. The guppies are Endlers, so they’re very small.

StG[/QUOTE]

Ha, he sounds like a character Regarding the bubbler, it’s true gouramis don’t need bubblers because of their labyrinth lung and dwarfs come from slow-moving water environments. However - because you also have guppies, I would be concerned about the oxygen levels in the water if your filter malfunctions for some reason. I’d run a bubbler for them to be safe, even if it is just a gentle bubbler, as something to agitate the water if the filter dies. Filters can and do give out, and I learned the hard way it’s best to have a backup (a bubbler or second filter) in place.

My honey gourami is in my 40 gallon, which has almost double filtration and a bubbler in place. He’s at least 3 years old now and does fine. He hangs out in the floating plants almost exclusively, where he fancies himself the king. If the platies come too close, he comes out with his little feelers extended like hey, these are mine, move along. He won’t chase them and doesn’t nip them, he just kind of redirects them. He’ll hang out with them sometimes, too, and they accept him and don’t act like he’s the jerk that hogs the floating plants.

The gourami family is pretty cool, probably my favorite…I am a huge betta fan, and I’ve had and enjoyed paradise fish, too.

Good luck and enjoy!

[rockonxox]

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