Honey Gouramis

[toppman]

r they easy 2 breed?
have people had difficulties with them?
do they need any special care?
whats the easiest way 2 sex them?

 

[toppman]

nobody?

 

[-germ-]

Fairly easy to breed from what i've heard (never bred them personally) although not in a community setting.
Main issue IMHO is aggression they are territorail and can be vicious.
You want a low PH around 6, floating plants as well as lots of planted cover (especially if contemplating breeding), always keep 1 male to 2 females.
Sexing is really easy, the females are more robust and slightly larger. In good condition the male will show a copper-red colouration excluding the chin(?) area which would be electric blue. The females always have a more drab colouration than the male. You can sex using finnage as well, but in the common honeys this shouldn't be neccessary.
See the gourami link in my sig to compare the 2 sexes.
Tucos and Dega are female, Giblet and Germ male. Not sure if i labelled their sexes in the post.
Lovely fish.

 

[toppman]

thanks very much for the info, so they are not easy to breed in community aquarium?
my ph is around 7.4 so are gouramis a no-no then?

 

[-germ-]

No worries.
You could still keep them with that PH, at least in most aquarists opinion.
No its unlikely they'd breed in a community, they are bubble nesters so too much water movement would prevent a nest being built, i've not heard of succesful breeding without an actual breeding set-up (although i haven't looked very far and am sure it will have happened) also get even more territorial during breeding, so they'd make life hell for the other fish in the tank.

 

[toppman]

oh poop i still my just get a male, my kribs are tearing apart my tank at the minute so i cant be dealing with all that again....although........i might make something available for breeding them in the near future

 

[reggieschuey]

red honey gouramis and dwarf are quite susceptible to dropsy.

 

[Essjay]

My honeys are currently spawning in my community tank! The male hasn't bothered with a bubble nest, he's just hiding the eggs behind the heater. He hasn't done any damage to the other fish yet. He only becomes aggressive when the eggs have just been released and the other fish see them as a free meal before he can catch them, and when the other fish go near the eggs he's managed to save. I get round this last one by removing the eggs with a small dropper (easy without the bubbles!) and this doesn't seem to stress him nearly so much as having the other fish lunch on them.

 

[toppman]

so they dont always make a bubble nest then? anyone else seen their gouramis hiding the eggs somewhere instead of making a nest?