Dwarf Breeding, Help!

[JJ56]

Hey, Ive had a pair of cobalt blue dwarf gouramis for only 3 days now, yet they already appear to be breeding. The male is constructing a bubble nest, meausuring around 3 inches long by 1.5 inches wide.

Should I be expecting eggs under the nest soon? I heard I must remove the female after this, but I don't have another tank. I'm unsure what to do, after only having experiance breeding livebearers.

What should I do at this point in time? I may end up taking them back if this causes agression towards / the death of the female. I also would not mind knowing of a method to stop the breeding altogether, but I'm assuming this would meen removing the female asap.

Thanks

Jonathan

 

[JJ56]

Please someone give me some advice, I may end up taking them back soon as the male is getting more territorial around the nest and the female must be getting stressed.

I don't want to stress out the fish any more than neccesary, because I cannot move the female.

My options seem to be: take them back, or help them breed but risk some fighting? I know which one I'd feel better doing

A very unsure, Jonathan

 

[Colin_T]

If you have a pr of dwarf gouramis then the male will build a bubblenest and when it is ready he will display to the female. This will be noticeable as he will swim around the female flaring his fins and trying to look hot. If she is ready to breed they will swim together for a moment before she expels some eggs and he fertilises them. Then he will pick the eggs up and spit them into the nest. They lay a few eggs at a time and each egg gets coated in mucous, which helps it stay in the nest. Over the next hour or so they will continue until the female is out of eggs. Then the male will chase her away from his nest. In a tank that is 2ft or bigger the female can usually be left with the male. If he chases her into a corner and kicks hell out of her then she will need to be removed. However, dwarf gouramis aren't normally too agro and don't normally go out of their way to kill their partners.
If you have some floating plants and ornaments in the tank she should be fine.

A few days later the eggs will hatch and the male will continue to guard the newly hatched fry (baby fish). A few days after that and the fry become free swimming. Some males will abandon the fry at this stage, while others will continue to guard them for a few more days.
The fry need very small food along the lines of green water, infusoria and liquid fry foods.
Once the fry are a week or so old you can try feeding them on newly hatched brineshrimp and microworms.
You need a coverglass on the tank at this stage to keep the air above the water at the same temp as the tank water. When the fry are a couple of weeks old they start to develop a labyrinth organ. This allows bettas & gouramis the ability to take air from the atmosphere to breathe. If the young fish take in cold air it can kill them. A coverglass keeps the air warm and prevent this happening.

Once the male is no longer interested in looking after the fry the adult and young should be separated.

 

[JJ56]

Great advice Colin! Thanks mate.

It shows that what you can read on some internet sites is misleading and innacurate. After reading some sites, I gathered that I must remove the female, for instance.

The tank is 2ft long, so there is enough space for the two to get on with their own thing. As I type this, the male and the female appear to be up to something, the male coiling around the female, I suspect she is ready, but no eggs as of yet.

Will the eggs look much differant to the bubbles?

If I end up with fry, and they have become free swimming and the male has left them, could I put them into a large breeding net style box that clips into the tank? this could keep them safe, and allow me to feed them specifically.

Again. thanks alot mate!

Jonathan

 

[JJ56]

1st load of eggs now! male is frantically trying to gather them all up.

Jonathan

 

[JJ56]

3 loads now, but he appears to have eaten most of them, unless he is storing them in his mouth. Theres only a couple which just happened to get to the nest.

Jonathan

 

[Colin_T]

Keep an eye on them after they have spawned and make sure the male doesn't harass the female too much. He shouldn't but just watch him anyway. Some males are more pushy than others.

The eggs get coated in a bubble and look like part of the nest. You won't even be able to see them until the eyes start to appear and then you will notice little black specks in the bubbles.

Once the fry are free swimming you can scoop them up and put them into a breeding net so they are safe and can be fed more easily.

 

[JJ56]

Thanks Colin,

I'll try to keep you guys posted on the progress, and I'll be sure to be asking as many questions as I can, I'd love to raise some gouramis fry on my first attempt!

The male has some work to do, there is still around 20 eggs floating around on the surface of the water.

Jonathan

 

[JJ56]

Little update here, after a few attempts it looks like there making progress. Much more eggs now, the male is looking after them much better too.

I have also notice the eggs have developed tiny tails, about half a millimetre long, but there swimming like a sailor and genuinly providing some thrust! I should have some recognisable fry within the next week Fry! Fry! Fry!

Jonathan