Is My Female Pearl Gourami Filled With Eggs?

[WhatTheJack]

I know this might be a bad question,
but is pearl gourami filled with eggs?
It's just that my male is getting really orange.
Its a bit fatter than normal, it might be because I'm feeding it too much.

 

[helterskelter]

Yes it look's like it.

These fish are relatively easy to breed, but rearing the fry is quite difficult if you have never breed fish before.
Are u thinking of breeding then?

 

[WhatTheJack]

Yes it look's like it.

These fish are relatively easy to breed, but rearing the fry is quite difficult if you have never breed fish before.
Are u thinking of breeding then?

I'd love to

 

[helterskelter]

It's quite possible, but do u have a breeding tank, this should be something like a 24x12x12, lots of floating plants and a simple air powered sponge filter.

Do not use power filters.
Fatten up the female with loads if live foods, like blood worm and daphina.
Let the male settle into the breeding tank and see if he builds a bubble nest.

If he dose then all is going well.

next you will need to think about feeding the fry.

Hatching Brine shrimp is a must, and research on here their are many pages on hatching.
This can be used as a first food from about day 3 of being free swimming

Feed for as long as possible.

Always keep a safe area for the female to recover in if she get's a little beaten up.

If the male dose his job he'll care for the egg's and after 2 days you have tiny fry in the nest, once their free swimming remove the male and start the filteration.

 

[WhatTheJack]

THANKS A LOT!

Is a 10 gallon/38 litres tank big enough?
Its a Aqua One Aqua Start 320, others on this forum say its OK and so does this website: Breeding Pearl Gourami

If it is OK, I can get a sponge filter.
I've heard that the fry are too small to eat baby brine shrimp, is that true? I've done a lot of research
I can get live food for the female (brine shrimp).
I can also get some floating plants.

It's quite possible, but do u have a breeding tank, this should be something like a 24x12x12, lots of floating plants and a simple air powered sponge filter.

Do not use power filters.
Fatten up the female with loads if live foods, like blood worm and daphina.
Let the male settle into the breeding tank and see if he builds a bubble nest.

If he dose then all is going well.

next you will need to think about feeding the fry.

Hatching Brine shrimp is a must, and research on here their are many pages on hatching.
This can be used as a first food from about day 3 of being free swimming

Feed for as long as possible.

Always keep a safe area for the female to recover in if she get's a little beaten up.

If the male dose his job he'll care for the egg's and after 2 days you have tiny fry in the nest, once their free swimming remove the male and start the filteration.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi WhatTheJack

It's been several years since I've raised a batch of gourami fry, but I've recently bought a nice trio of them and hope to give it a try again in the near future.

As I remember, these fry are incredible tiny and feeding them during their early days was the biggest problem I had. Once I got past that, they developed well. What I succeeded with was green water made by putting lettuce leaves, in a gallon jar of water, on a sunny window sill.

I would use a 10 gallon tank for breeding purposes but keep it only half full of water. Again. this is because the fry are so tiny at the start. Another important point is to keep the tank well covered for the first few weeks while the fry are developing their labyrinth glands. This will keep the surface and the air immediately above it reasonably warm and moist which helps them grow.

 

[WhatTheJack]

Hi WhatTheJack

It's been several years since I've raised a batch of gourami fry, but I've recently bought a nice trio of them and hope to give it a try again in the near future.

THX
When can I fill it to full size again? will lighting affect them?

If I make green water, will it stink? Can they eat this till they are ready to accept flakes and pellets or will green water be too little for them?

 

[Reesy1989]

Green water? Sounds very interesting, is it just water and lettuce or are you adding anything else with it?

I have bred gouramis, accidentally (without knowing) and I unfortunately had nothing in place as they bred whilest I was on holidays, While I was away my little sister had been feeding the tank enriched brine shrimp, bloodworms and also general tropical fish flake, When I got back I was unsure of how to proceed to I just kept up with regular feeding of the later and unfortunately not all of that generation of fry suvived but i did manage to raise 6 - 8 of them successfully sold them then for a profit as I did not have space to keep them all.

Good luck with yours!

 

[WhatTheJack]

Green water? Sounds very interesting, is it just water and lettuce or are you adding anything else with it?

Green water is actually a one celled organism (a lot of these one celled organisms makes the water green), 1/2 algae, 1/2 animal. It can photosynthesis like a plant but moves around and eats (plant decay as food) like an animal. Perfect for just born fry.

Is there a chance of it poisoning the fry like infusoria sometimes can?

 

[Inchworm]

Green water? Sounds very interesting, is it just water and lettuce or are you adding anything else with it?

No, just washed lettuce and water.

If I make green water, will it stink? Can they eat this till they are ready to accept flakes and pellets or will green water be too little for them?

It got a bit slimey and I added it with a small ladle. It wasn't the most attractive stuff to work with, but I don't remember the smell being too bad. I think they went right to powdered flake food after that. I know I never hatched brine shrimp and I don't remember having microworms that long ago.

Is there a chance of it poisoning the fry like infusoria sometimes can?

I don't know. All I do know is that it was the first thing I ever found that I was able to feed such tiny fry with and get them to survive. Water changes and tank cleaning is difficult because they hang out near the surface, but the portions of green water I fed them didn't pollute the tank like Liquifry did.