Can someone please sex this dwarf Gourami for me?

[mihzyd777]

Hello Everyone,

This is my fist post. I'm been in and out of fish/aquatic hobby for a long time and recently got back in and so far have built 3 Walstad style tanks. I have a 55 gallon, 20 gallon & 5 gallon all Walstad style planted tanks. My 55 gallon is my oldest at 6 months now and I can honestly say it is the most beautiful, easiest to care for and healthiest tank I've ever had. Same goes for my other 2 tanks, but they are only 3 months old and 2 weeks old.

I recently bought a gourami to get back into the hobby of mating them and hopefully have some buyers to buy the offspring if I'm lucky enough to be successful. I have a beautiful powdered blue male gourami. I purchased this female at my LFS and I dealt straight with the owner who has been doing this for over 30 years. I believe it is a female gourami like he said it was, but I just want to be sure. You can really see it in the pics, but she has beautiful blue stripes markings that are subtle but when the light hit them it shines and then 2 blue patches one on the gills and the other on the tail end. She is rather young still, so I'll be feeding her some blood worms for another month or 2 before mating her with my blue.

Also she is in a my 20 gallon planted tank alone, so that she gets comfortable and knows where to hide if needed once I place the male in there. From my research I'm read that I should lower the water to about 6-10 inches when I'm ready to mate them in the 20 gallon. Is this sound advice or ?

I'm open to all advice while I'm on this journey

Thanks for everyone's help ahead of time!

 

[betta fish]

I agree that is a female gourami, they are lovely fish, I used to have a pair but never had any luck breeding even though they went through the motions, she succumbed to dwarf gourami iridovirus after 6 months of ownership and took the male with her whom I had for a year and loved, this has put me off them now are you in the UK?

 

[mihzyd777]

I agree that is a female gourami, they are lovely fish, I used to have a pair but never had any luck breeding even though they went through the motions, she succumbed to dwarf gourami iridovirus after 6 months of ownership and took the male with her whom I had for a year and loved, this has put me off them now are you in the UK?

Thanks for responding and confirming that my gourami is a female The LFS owner says he gets his specifically from Czech Republic because he hasn't had issues with iridovirus (true or not I guess we will find out). I'm actually in California USA.
Wish me luck as I try my luch at breeding them.

 

[betta fish]

Best of luck keep us posted how they do, would love to see fry pics if you get any, shouldn't have any problems shifting them they are so popular and especially if they don't carry the virus, shame you're not in the UK I'd snap them up!

 

[hobby5]

Lovely female I would say. From the pic it's hard to estimate her size, but she looks ready to breed soon. Best food for getting fish ready is live black mosquito larvae. At this time of the year easy to collect. Personally, i would introduce the male already in one week Your tank might even be large enough to house them together permanently . But this will also depend on the structure of your tank and the character of your male.

No need to lower the water level.

What is your plan on raising the fry? Make sure you have tiny food ready.

 

[mihzyd777]

She's about 1 1/2" to max 2" almost half the size of my powder blue male. I'm afraid he can really do some killing if she is not ready. What makes her look ready? Just curious?

 

[hobby5]

She is well rounded and as mentioned black mosquito larvae will do their magic pretty quickly too.

Can we see a full tank shot?

 

[mihzyd777]

Ok so here is a shot of my female showing the whole tank (20 gallon). Also attached is my blue male in my 55 gallon. He is much bigger then her. Is it normal for the male to be much much larger? Also if she is ready with egg (well rounded), then is that something that can wait until I think she is ready and then throw the male in there or will she lay the eggs whenever because she can't hold them anymore?

I guess my question is ....is there a window of when they are able to mate just like a dog being in heat. Once that window closes, then will she not have more eggs for a while or will she hold onto eggs and only lay them once a male is in the tank? Just trying to figure out how the cycle works.

BTW - looking at the pics of both my female and more so my male they look so drab in pictures lol...they are so colorful in person with so much more red/orange on the male and so blue stripes on the female.

 

[mihzyd777]

Hobby5 - Sorry didn't respond to rest of your question So I'll be mating them in my 20 gallon which is where I placed the female alone already for 4 days as of today 6/27. I have a 55 gallon planted tank where my male currently is. Yesterday I picked up a 55 gallon acrylic tank for FREE! It's in decent shape but I figure that's where I could put all the fry (THAT LIVE into once they are on their own and ready.

As for fry food the LFS owner told me to just get a piece of lettuce and put it in a bowl of water at a sunny window for a few days. Then strain the water and use that to feed them? I still need to read up on this cause I have NO IDEA what to do still.....do you have any info or sites that describe all this really well?

**The ONLY thing that scares me in all this is trying to catch the male in the 55 gallon....it is so big and as you can see from the pics sooooo heavily planted that it makes it a HUGE pain to catch him....even for the female in the 20 gallon it is soooo hard to catch her because of all the plants! Any ideas on how to make easy would help

Also I won't be lowering the water level like you mentioned....how about turning up heater to 80 degrees Farenheit? It's currently at 78 degrees? Also should I turn off the filter when they are breeding like this site suggests and what does it mean by lower water pressure??? : http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/gourami/breeding2.php

Thanks!

 

[mihzyd777]

Here's another thing I was talking to the wife about. I'd LOVE to put the male in now but he is much larger...but if you all think that is ok then I may do so.

HOWEVER.....we are going camping July 14 for 3 days and then off to San Diego for 4 days the weekend after that. I know the fry need TONS of care and feedings 6 times a day?? I don't know if I know anyone dedicated enough to feed them that often while I'm gone if that's the stage I'm at

How long do I have to feed them for 6 times a day for? When can I switch to 2 feedings a day like my current fish?

**Sorry for all the questions but I really do appreciate everyone's expertise and help on this! Hopefully I'll have Fry pictures I can post soon!!!

Thanks!

 

[hobby5]

I am always impatient

But you are right, it's better to wait till after your holidays. The female will not lose her eggs, but can wait till she encounters a male, especially as she is still pretty young.

Your tank is definitely suitable for breeding T. lalius. I didn't spot any snail. I would recommend adding some ramshorn snails as cleaning staff

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trichogaster-lalius/

Make sure your filter is safe for the fry and does produce only very little or no current. I would use leaf litter this will help a lot with initial food.

I would say in that tank some could survive and make it without much work on your side. But if you want high numbers to grow up, you have more work to do.

For catching fish: Use green (!) nets with rather large mesh size. Use two. The bigger one as a trap (you can also place it before hand, so the fish get used to it) and the smaller one to chase the fish. But do it very calmly to not upset the fish too much. You can also try at night, while the fish sleep.

Edit about the feeding: You could start with feeding only twice a day, this only means that your fry will grow somewhat slower. But if you have a mature tank and feed the right life food, there might not be much difference. Also depending on your food, there is a fine line between feeding the right amount and feeding too much and impairing water quality. If you don't manage to have enough life food ready, there is some micro powder food which will also work.

 

[mihzyd777]

hobby5 thank yoiu very much for all the great info! I was afraid that the female would cycle her eggs and then was wondering how long until she gets more usually. You made me feel much better in saying that she will hold onto them until she finds a suitable male!

Here is another questions. I just setup another 55 gallong tanks with some Anacharis on one have and absolutely nothing except substrate and some moss balls on the other half of the tank. I designed it like this on purpose so that if I have fish (young gouramis) I have in there that I want to catch to sell, I can easily do so without messing up the plants like I have been in my heavily planted tanks. I know everything I've read up on say a 20 gallon tank like I have the female in now is the perfect tank to mate Gouramis, but it freaks me out on how I'm going to get the female out once she spawns without damaging the plants or bubble nest you know. Also once fry start swimming it freaks me out again on how to get the large male out! I was thinking if I just put them in the 55 gallon to start (With the female going in 1 week before the male) and then she spawns, it would be much easier in the new 55 to take both female and then male out.

What are your thoughts?

 

[hobby5]

Depends on what is your plan for raising the fry afterwards and what kind of initial food you will have available.

You could also just steal the nest.

There are some points to consider.

If you don't have the right food available, the more mature the tank is and the more infusoria type food is present the higher will be your success rate.

A large tank will be good to grow out the fish later, but initially a small tank is much better (even a 20G will in fact be to big) because you have more control over the fish and can feed them much better in a small tank. In the beginning they will not move too much and you will need to have high food concentration around them, which is difficult to achieve with infusoria in a 20G let alone 55G.

Did you read the part about "The fish grow at different rates...".

So you could also let them spawn in the 55G and only transfer the nest to some other tank.

Many options ^^

Tbh, I wouldn't be so afraid about catching the fish. Stay calm and you can mange.