I have not seen them in shops for years except for one unique shop in Chinatown, here in Manhattan. Females are available from several on-line sources.
Dwarf Neon Gourami
- Thread starter Ram419
- Start date
They are all males and are territorial (as others have mentioned). If you add a female that will make the males fight over territory. You might be able to keep them together due to the number (6 males and no females) you have but you might lose them all one by one as the dominant male bullies the others and they slowly waste away.
They are also prone to Fish Tuberculosis (Fish TB or Mycobacteria) and they could all die from that if they have it.
They are also prone to Fish Tuberculosis (Fish TB or Mycobacteria) and they could all die from that if they have it.
Back when I kept these--in the "Colisa" days--I kept trios, which generally worked out. Has anyone kept a larger group of females, with or without a male, and if so, how was that? Or are T. lalius females like B. splendens females and eventually sorority life breaks down?
I had the Colisa powder blue in male only tank and they need at least twice the number of females to be happy.
To breed them you need a tank filled with floating plants and 3-6 females in. Take your favourite sparing male and introduce it in the female tank. ( this instantly starts another pecking order ordeal in the boys room. ) and a brawl in the ladies room.
Many will tell you to use only a pair... But the day the male will not like the lady is not going to end well.
As soon as a couple forms... If you don't like violence. Move the remaining females to brighter sky quick. And let the magic happen.
Once this step's passed there will be lots of bubbles. And you might see their nuptial dance and wedding night. And see exactly how eggs are fertilized.
And how the male pickup falling eggs and bring them back to the bubble nest
If everything goes well there will be repeated bubble nest and dances in the tank until surface is covered.
Once the dances stops the female should be removed as soon as possible and leave the male take care of the rest.
Once fry are free swimming for 4-8 days you'll have to return that peppered bully to the boys room. Loll.
And the circle starts again... But it takes 6 months to have selling juveniles So a minimum of 8-10 tanks is required to have a rollover.
And they mean a lot's of netting operations.
But still the coolest fish ever. When mad at you, they are hilarious.
To breed them you need a tank filled with floating plants and 3-6 females in. Take your favourite sparing male and introduce it in the female tank. ( this instantly starts another pecking order ordeal in the boys room. ) and a brawl in the ladies room.
Many will tell you to use only a pair... But the day the male will not like the lady is not going to end well.
As soon as a couple forms... If you don't like violence. Move the remaining females to brighter sky quick. And let the magic happen.
Once this step's passed there will be lots of bubbles. And you might see their nuptial dance and wedding night. And see exactly how eggs are fertilized.
And how the male pickup falling eggs and bring them back to the bubble nest
If everything goes well there will be repeated bubble nest and dances in the tank until surface is covered.
Once the dances stops the female should be removed as soon as possible and leave the male take care of the rest.
Once fry are free swimming for 4-8 days you'll have to return that peppered bully to the boys room. Loll.
And the circle starts again... But it takes 6 months to have selling juveniles So a minimum of 8-10 tanks is required to have a rollover.
And they mean a lot's of netting operations.
But still the coolest fish ever. When mad at you, they are hilarious.
No problem, Yes group of females are not a problem compared to the males.
fishorama
Fishaholic
We tried 2 females & 1 male together. He got impatient & killed 1 not quite ready female trying to drive her to his bubble nest. He did breed with the survivor female, but we didn't move her fast enough. Eggs but no fry or not for long, as I recall.
I had a pair a long long time ago, they did well together. But my male was exceptionally docile with tankmates and he really liked the lady we had. Shame she died of DGD but they're really great fish. They did breed and i had fry, but the fry didn't end up surviving for me.
fishorama
Fishaholic
Your female looks as pretty as I remember them,, subtle beauty. I never see females much anymore. Nor males like yours either now, all "electric blue" or some such. It's a shame.
There's debate whether he was crossed with something else or if he was from wild stock, but we will never know. He would get a full black throat even when he was moody, resembling honey gourami males. He had a more elongated body too. And lived 3 years, which is very long for dwarfs thanks to their poor health. But his personality was something else.
It puzzles me that more wild T. lalius have not been imported to mitigate and even bypass the disease issue given that the disease is unknown in wild fish. Isn't that the obvious way out of this?
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Mr Limpet
Fish Fanatic
A male wild-type Trichogaster lalius is one of the most spectacular freshwater fish, IMHO. Unfortunately, some people decided that solid red or blue males were an improvement, but all they succeeded in doing was to ruin the species.
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That is the irony within the tragedy of all of this.
I also wonder if all the purported aggression in the species is also a result of over-farming. I honestly do not remember this being the case years ago, before the creation of all the color morphs. Nor does the early literature mention it. Sure, they note that things can get dicey during mating and the female may need protection, but almost to a source they talk about how peaceful and shy a species it is. Now we hear the opposite and that they are intolerant and attack corydoras and tiger barbs.
I've seen this in other farmed species over the years. I have found Indonesian-bred Nannostomus beckfordi males to be far more aggressive than wild stock, for example. And Cichlid-keeper friends tell me that Firemouths--T. meeki--were far less fiery decades ago.
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No. The Gourami Iridovirus and Fish TB are in the exporter's tanks, the importer's tanks, and the pet shop's tanks. Unless you get wild caught fish sent straight to your home, bypassing other aquariums, you can never be certain the wild caught fish haven't picked up either disease before you get them. When you get the wild caught fish you need to put them in a clean tank that has never been exposed to domesticated fish, plants, snails or water.
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