Paradise Fish

stang1

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We have a 42g tank with 3 Pearl Gouramis, 2 Thick lipped Gouramis and 6 Paradise fish, 3 male and 3 female. We brought the Paradise fish believing them to be 1 male and 5 females but they've all been fine together and have shown no aggressive behaviour.
Anyway, 1 of the males has built a beautiful bubblenest under some floating plants and his colours have really darkened. One of the females keeps checking out the nest and her colours also seem to have darkened. The male chases her around the tank a bit and then he'll display all his fins for and flare his gills a little bit. This has been going on for a day or two now and I'm curious about their mating behaviour.
Any help would be much appreciated. :)

P.S. I've just read somewhere that the males will fight as they get older so we are probably going to swap 2 of the males for 2 more females.
 
The males can also get nasty towards pearls and thick-lipped gouramies (or any other similar fish). I expect the trouble will be starting pretty soon (depending on tank size) as they must be sexualy mature now and, when spawning, they become particularly territorial.

I don't know exactly what you are after when asking about breeding behaviour but I'll give it a try. Obviously, what you have seen so far is part of it. next, if the female is gravid, she'll agree to spend a little time under the bubblenest with her one-night-stand and they'll spawn. To do this, the male raps himself around her and, as she releases her eggs (which mostly float), he fertilises them. They may do this several times. After each session, the male picks up any eggs that have sunk or floated away and puts them in the nest - rearanging things to his liking. he may also blow a few mroe bubbles or add some more leafy support to his nest. Once the female is completely done laying eggs, the male turns on her and, often quite violently, chases her away. From this point on, the male should be alone with the fry (in a community tank, spawns rarely work out - other fish will harass the male, remove eggs - and eventualy fry - and the bubblenest is likely to be destroyed; not to mention the paradisefish' poor tankmates will get nipped and chased endlessly during this period.). the female, in particular, needs some time away from the male to recouperate after her ordeal. Once the fry are free-swimming, the male can no longer keep up with them and he should, idealy, be removed from the tank as well. This usualy only takes 1-3 days (2 on average but all depends on tank temp.). The miniscule fry then need to be fed infusoria for the first few days, followed by very small live foods such as microworm, vinegar eels or baby brine shrimp (I use microworm). Alternatively, you could try feeding liquid egg-layer foods but then 'feeding' has to start before the fry are able to eat (according to the instructions) as this food is also a way of culturing infusoria and their population needs a chance to grow before the fry start eating. If you have no access to small live foods, you might be able to feed them on powdered flake or, prefferably, commercial liquid livebearer foods. However, the mortality is liekly to be considerably higher (especialy considering hungry fry will cannibalise their siblings).

If you want to breed these fish, a fishlessly cycled breeding tank with a small sponge filter and heater would be the way to go. The temperature should bea round 80 deg F and there should be a small cave for the female to hide in until you can remove her as necessary and no substrate (this makes cleaning easier, means the male can spot all fallen eggs and means the fry have an easier time of finding foods). A small light will help the male about his business but isn't necessary and it's a good idea to include either some floating plants or a styrofoam cup cut length-ways with the concave side down to offer the male's bubblenest support (this latter method is often utilised by betta breeders so there may be something on it in that section of the forums). In terms of feeding, I know there's a pinned article in the betta section that's all about lvie foods and I think the same one mentions culturing fry foods (all betta fry foods are appropriate for paradisefish as well). BTW, get yourself a light-colored bucket as well (that way you can syphon your breeding tank and spot any fry you've accidentaly removed - then it's quite simple - she says - to catch them and put them back in the tank). Water changes in the fry tank - especialy as they start growing, are extremely important.
 

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