Breeding honey gouramis help

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rhapsody32

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Hi everyone,

Maybe you can help a beginner with some questions on breeding honey gouramis.

The backstory: I bought two honeys a few months ago and kept them in a 40l with some ghost shrimp (their population has exploded quite a bit!). I did not have much time watching my fish and if I had, I probably would have picked up on what was going on earlier. I thought that the difference in colour (one is orange, the other yellow) was mainly due to the orange one being more dominant and both being males. One day I noticed that the yellow honey (which turned out to be the female) was only hiding and had quite a damaged fin - the male had built a bubble nest with tiny fry and was defending it viciously. This is where I probably made a mistake, I put the male into my quarantine tank, thinking that the fry would not survive anyway.
At the moment, the male lives in the quarantine tank (it is 40l as well and I decorated it with some live plants and moss) and the female is doing well in my main tank. Her fins are also growing back very nicely.

I have been wondering if you think it would be possible to raise some fry with the current set-up. I do not have space for another 40l tank so the male and female would have to live together again without attempting to breed. Can I control breeding in the species by lowering the water temperature (when they bred, water temperature was quite high, 27°C, I dropped it now to 24°C and might even be able to go lower than that) or will the male constantly build a bubble nest and try breeding? Or, alternatively, what is the smallest tank size that I can use to raise the fry? If I find space for a smaller tank I might be able to keep the male and female separately.

Thanks a lot, I know breeding gouramis is not easy, but I would like to give it a try. :)
 
Hi, how big is the main tank? I have a pair of honey's and may attempt to breed when the weather warms up using two 40L (10 gallon) tanks, one for the parents to breed and then for the fry to go into afterwards. They are currently in a 120L tank with other fish, when kept in a smaller tank just as a pair the male goes into breeding mode and is quite rough to the female but in the larger tank they are not in each others faces so he is out of breeding mode and isn't aggressive to her. I would say 40L is a good size but you will need to do regular water changes to help the fry grow and plenty of small live foods such as baby brine shrimp and microworms 3 times a day, make sure the filter is a sponge filter so they don't get sucked in as they are so weak.
Temperature could play a part but I think the main thing that set my male off was being in a smaller tank with the female alone and no distractions.
P.s I have never bred honey gouramis but I have bred betta splendens many times but I imagine the care is about the same and good thing is the males can be kept together!
 
Hi, thanks for your reply and suggestions for setting up a breeding tank and feeding. Both tanks, my main and the quarantine, are 40l tanks. Previously, the two honeys got along quite well, they were chasing each other from time to time, especially during and after feeding, but aggression was quite easy to control by only feeding when the aquarium light was turned off.

I find your observations in relation to tank size quite interesting. Unfortunately, I do not have the space for a 120l... I guess I should put the pair together again and see if I can keep them from breeding before attempting producing any fry.

Good luck with breeding your honeys!
 
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I decided to give an update and maybe you can help me with some advice.

I put the honey pair together in a 40l again a few weeks ago. At the beginning, the male was very interested in the female while she played hard to get. This initial interest ceased after a few days and he started chasing her around so I separated them again, but only for a few days. They have been back together for a week now and he has been very relaxed. She also started to be more dominant than him, especially during feeding. Very interesting to see, I thought the males would always be more dominant than the females.
Anyway, I started to raise the water temperature to 27°C (previously it was 23°C) a week ago and I see her displaying to him a lot, following him around and occasionally chasing him around the tank. But he is not interested at all! He might blow single bubbles here and there, but no attempt to build a nest or anything. I thought that covid-lockdown might be the best chance to breed them, watch some interesting behaviours and maybe raise some fry, but so far it seems as if he is not in the mood at all. He is also displaying his usual colours.

I have been conditioning them on a combination of fish flakes and frozen cyclops. I am raising some artemia as well right now. Any other suggestions to get them in breeding mood? Or am I just impatient?
 
The following link is about breeding honey gouramis.

The following link has information about culturing food for baby fish.
 

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