My Gourami Are Getting It On.....

[abih2005]

So - two months on, my 15 fishies (5 gourami, 9 cardinal tetras) are happy as can be, yesterday I noticed one gourami sulking in the left hand side of the tank, viciously launching itself into the tetras thereby forcing them into the opposite end of the tank. I hadn't a clue until Peter suggested that perhaps it was protecting something? So I watched for a while, sure enough a second Gourami appeared and the two of them were definitely mating, it was fascinating to watch - the male was carrying over what looked like a blob to a small nook, going to the surface every so often then returning to said nook before repeating the process...

Question 1 - What next? They produce fry and I can just see the tetras being very happy bunnies....

 

[waterdrop]

The build bubble nests in protected (ideally planted) corners at the surface of the tank. Unless you want to get into the business of breeding then you might as well just let it play out. They often do their bubble nesting and behavior many times without it actually being successful breeding. WD

 

[abih2005]

Thanks for the reply, the nest - if there is one seems to be hidden between a bunch of small rocks forming a cave in the bottom left of the tank. I'm worried about the tetras as the gourami is being really vicious - none of the tetras have seen anything beyond their enforced third of the tank for two weeks!

Anybody think it's ok to *ahem* disturb potential nest?

 

[waterdrop]

I don't know that disturbing the nest would interrupt the behavior, it might encourage more of it. But there may be others with more careful observations of this than me. WD