Breeding Gouramis

[OohFeeshy]

OK, not now but hopefully in the near future.... I have an 18 gallon tank. To start with it will be a community with 1 or 2 gouramis (honey or dwarf), but after, I might look to breeding. Mainly I was wondering about surface disruption by the filter. Now then, I can attatch a tube to the output valve and redirect it to, say, near the bottom. Will this cut down surface agitation? Also, how easy are honey gouramis to breed? I know the fry are tiny, so this will probably be in the summer holidays when I have plenty of time. I can get a MW culture an BBS, so thats no problemo. How territorial are they? Would I be able to, say, use the tank as a cory growout and also a gourami grow out? The babies will be given to a shop or put on a fish auction site.

 

[sylvia]

Firstly, I suppose you will remove the community fish before breeding as you couldn't breed the fish in a community.

To answer your questions:

Reducing surface agitation is only necessary to avoid destroying the bubble nest. A little disruption and breaking of the surface is good for when the fry start breathing air. A floating object - such as a plant - will help 'ankor' the nest and reduce the effect of current. What you should aim for is maybe a slight disruption or stop the filter running altogether and just use an airstone and, about a week after the fry are free-swimming, turn the filter back on. I think your main problem wont be the current or disruption but the fact that the filter might suck up the fry. I always use a sponge filter or a home-made kind of box filter. In the past, I have also managed to not use a filter at all and just have an airstone and do a good water change when necessary.

Honey gouramies are quite easy to breed IMO and they aren't particularly aggressive either. The males are territorial but don't attack each other quite like say three-spots would. They are more peaceful and slightly smaller than dwarfs. I personaly would reccomend you breed some honeys and try dwarfs some other time.

The fry size issue can be problematic if you don't have the right foods available. The newly hatchet fry often cannot handle even BBS. I always stick to microworms anyway as brine shrimp egg shells can sometimes be eaten and this can cause serious swim bladder problems. MW are also slightly smaller. Still, some fry will require infusoria for a few days after becoming free-swimming as they are so tiny. It also helps lowering water level (this also encourages the male to build his bubble nest in the first place BTW) and keeping lights on for longer to help the fry find food (would also help the male retrieve eggs that have escaped the nest).

Once the fish have spawned and the fry reached a reasonable size (say 1/2 inch), adding cories would be fine. Keeping cories before that might be a problem simply because they'd require surface aggitation and compete for food with the miniscule gourami fry. They also might eat any fallen eggs during the spawning while the male is still gathering them up.

 

[malakye]

If you are serious about breeding dwarfs or honeys you ideally need a seperate tank as once the pair have spawned you need to remove the female and as soon as the fry are free swimming you will need to move the male out. The fry tank will be better with sponge filters, anything else will suck the fry in, they need liquidfry for the first few weeks also. You will be shocked at how tiny the fry are.
I currently have dwarf fry who are 3 weeks old now and doing well but I am still amazed at how small they were.

 

[theshadowinc]

If you are serious about breeding dwarfs or honeys you ideally need a seperate tank as once the pair have spawned you need to remove the female and as soon as the fry are free swimming you will need to move the male out. The fry tank will be better with sponge filters, anything else will suck the fry in, they need liquidfry for the first few weeks also. You will be shocked at how tiny the fry are.
I currently have dwarf fry who are 3 weeks old now and doing well but I am still amazed at how small they were.

Totally agree, my babies are still very tiny most of them with the exception of a few that are the dominators of the tank obviously hogging food. Can always check out my kind blog about my breed going on at moment.

For sure seperate tank

 

[JakeKM]

Raising the temperature to around 28-29 degrees (amongst other factors) entices breeding in dwarf gouramis. No other fish should be in this breeding tank, as higher temperatures mean lower oxygen levels.

 

[pippoodle]

my fry are still doing well after moving the nest to a breeding net - as soon as the females had deposited eggs in there - then transfering them over to a small 30 litre tank - once they are free swimming

i also found this cut down on the male aggression as soon as the nest was removed to the net he became a pussy cat again