Minimum Tank Size For Breeding Pearl Gourami

[crazysilverwolf]

Hi everyone. my partner has a beutiful male and female pearl gourami and the male is puffing his fins and going quite red so he's obviously ready to breed and the female is i think sligtly fatter than usual ( might just be me ) they are both doing lots of tenticle cuddling which is interesting to watch. hav'nt managed a photo as they seem camera shy.

Anyway back to my question, they are living at present in a 60ltr tank with a plec, 4 platys and 4 mollies. tank conditions are great but they want some privacy, would this be a correct assumption.

now we do have a small spare/hospital tank 10"*6"*6" how does this stand for a temporary breeding tank

Cheers

 

[Biulu]

I am a metric person, so I cannot comment on the size of your tank. However, Sylvia , the gourami-expert, once wrote this about pearl gourami breeding:

Something at least 10 gallons is necessary but the bigger it is, the longer you'll be able to raise the fry without worrying about grow-out tanks or water changes.The size tank I'd suggest personaly is a 20 gallon but only half-fill it. It's the surface area that's most important for the adults and the water level should be low if you want to maximise the number of fry that survive and if you want to make sure the male retrieves all sunken eggs while spawning. Later you'll have to fill it up so that the fry aren't over-crowded.

What I tend to use for breeding is a large plastic storage box. Anything at all, provided it's food-safe, will work. The big upside is that this is extremely cheap and you can get as large a volume as you like. The downside is that you cannot see through the sides clearly (most are at least partly opague). This is only realy a problem if something goes wrong though. In fact, fi all things go well, opague sides are good as they make the breeding fish feel more relaxed. Avoid anything dark colored - white or light grey etc is best - this way you can see even tiny fry quite clearly from above.

Good luck!