# Do Gouramis not like high lighting?



## davercomeau (Feb 21, 2008)

My flame dwarf and power blue gouramis are in my planted tank which has high lighting (200 W). They seem to be stressed out. The water conditions are perfect and I'm not pumping in too much CO2 (if fact I need more). Has any had this experience? Has anyone had good results with gouramis in high lights?

Thanks!


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## mesapod (Aug 18, 2007)

how big is the tank?


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## ikermalli (Sep 23, 2007)

Maybe it is too bright for their eyes, I will do some research and get back to you


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## ikermalli (Sep 23, 2007)

Alright, I did some research and the only thing that they talk about is how their gourami's are looking healthy in their planted tanks, nothing else. I just checked some search engines for the info and it says nothing about the tank lighting. If you want to try maybe you could move your gourami's to another tank temporarily and see how they do


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## davercomeau (Feb 21, 2008)

Thanks guys for the input. It's the strangest thing because when I feed my fish the gouramis are out getting food and swimming around perfectly fine. When the light is on the gouramis are at the bottom of the tank breathing heavily, but when the light is off they are at the top of the tank near the heater (temp 80 degrees). It is a 90 gallon tank and my other fish aren't displaying any of the same behaviors. However, my 6 in opaline gourami recently died after displaying the same behaviors. I brought my water to my LFS and it came out perfectly fine. It's very bizarre.


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## ikermalli (Sep 23, 2007)

I think the light might be making the temperatures too warm for them therefore displaying the described behaviours


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## davercomeau (Feb 21, 2008)

That is an interesting idea. I'll monitor the light tomorrow and record the temperatures. Thanks for all the help.


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## ikermalli (Sep 23, 2007)

no problem


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## mesapod (Aug 18, 2007)

You accually don't have too much light. It is only like 2.2 watts per gallon


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## davercomeau (Feb 21, 2008)

Well that was just my assumption because it was the only thing that I change. They were perfectly fine before, but started acting abnormally immediately after the light change. This strange behavior persisted today. It's an anomaly that is driving me crazy.


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## Guest (Feb 28, 2008)

What were the readings on your water parameters? I know you said it's perfectly fine, but just making sure you know it is and not that some lfs guy told you so .

If everything else is fine, it does sound like the light is stressing them out. Which is odd, because that's low/med lighting. What kind of light is it?


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## davercomeau (Feb 21, 2008)

It's a coralife 6700K 260 W freshwater light, but I only run two lamps, not all 4. I tested the water myself and had my trustworthy LFS double-check. They eat normally and their colors haven't faded.


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## Guest (Feb 28, 2008)

What sort of CO2 system do you have? Do you have a device that measures how much is being produced/put in the tank? Is this a new tank/are they new to the tank?

Putting an air pump on the tank won't hurt. Gasping means they need more oxygen, regardless of what's stressing them, that will probably help. Still it's peculiar why they're stressing when the light goes on. Perhaps it's a number of things and that's just putting them on edge. Hmm.


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## davercomeau (Feb 21, 2008)

Yes, I can monitor my CO2 input. It is fine. They are fairly new to the tank, but not too new. I can't put an air pump into my tank because it will defeat the purpose of having CO2 injections. I don't think that it is an oxygen problem because the other fish are perfectly fine (Rainbows, Tetras, Rams, Angelfish, Clown Loach, Killies, Cories) and the gasping stops minutes after the light goes off. Thanks for all your help. I might just bring them back to the fish store and chalk this one up to an aberration. I don't want them to die.


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