Breeding Golden Gouramis

[Olycius]

So about 3-4 months ago I purchased some female golden gouramis to go with my male that has been in the tank for about 2 years now. I would like to breed them as he had started making bubble nests. When I bought them they were around 6 months old.

My question is how do you know when they are ready to breed? They have not really grown any bigger and look a lot smaller than the male. They are about 4 inches big and the male is close to 6-7. I did notice that he seems to be paired up with one, but have not seen them do any dancing that would indicate they are ready to breed.

 

[Byron]

I cannot suggest a time frame, but if there is a male in with females there will likely be spawning unless the male has rejected all of the females, which doesn't sound likely from what you've posted. You will need floating plants for the bubblenest, and I would make sure there are lots of them 9entire surface won't hurt) along with lower plants and/or branches to provide refuge. If spawning does occur, the females (including the one the male spawns with) should be removed when the spawning is finished or the male may kill her/them. Here is more from Seriously Fish:

The breeding tank should contain water of no more than 6-8″ in depth with lots of floating plants. Filtration should be gentle and air-powered filters are ideal. It is recommended to provide 2 or 3 females for the male as he can be quite hard on unwilling females. Condition the fish with live food. When a female becomes plump with eggs the male will construct a large bubblenest amongst the floating plants. He also utilises small pieces of plant within the nest. He will then begin to display to the female. As the female approaches the nest the fish can be seen touching each other with their modified ventral fins. Spawning occurs under the nest in the typical anabantoid embrace. The eggs float upwards and the male shepherds them into the nest. Several more spawnings occur and between 500-1200 eggs may be produced. When there are no more eggs the female is chased away. It is best to remove the female(s) at this point or she may be seriously harmed. The male then tends to the nest until the eggs hatch, usually in around 20-30 hours. The fry become free swimming in another 4-5 days, at which point the male should also be removed. They should be fed infusoria or liquid fry food for the first week, after which they are large enough to accept brine shrimp nauplii, microworm and powdered flake. The fry must be watched carefully and separated as different growth rates become apparent or much cannibalism will occur.

Gold Gourami is one variety (developed by humans) of several that are all the same species, Trichopodus trichopterus; more here:
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trichopodus-trichopterus/

 

[Colin_T]

how big is the tank?
if the tank is 3ft or longer, you can normally leave the females in with the male, but it depends on the male. Some are very aggressive when defending a nest and others are nice and will let females stay nearby.

The water level doesn't have to be that shallow for gold gouramis, anything up to 14inches of water depth is fine. The main thing is minimal surface turbulence so the bubble nest doesn't get broken up. Water Sprite is the best plant for this purpose.

The above comments about air operate sponge filters are a perfect choice.

In my experience the male actually looks after the fry during the first few weeks and he helps them when they first hatch. But you need to watch them because some males (not many) will eat the fry when they hatch. Normally tho the male catches newly hatched fry and spits them back into the bubble nest.

The fry can die if the air temperature is significantly different to the water temperature. To prevent this you should have coverglass over most of the aquarium to keep the air temp similar to the water temp.

Some males stop feeding when guarding the nest, other males keep eating. If your male eats while guarding that is good