Sparkling Gouramis

[Dave_31]

my 2 sparklers have been showing what i think are signs of breeding...

One keep swraping its self round the other, but for no great length of time (only afew seconds)

Is this how they breed and if so what can i expect too come next?

or are they just gettin to know each other abit better

dave

 

[sylvia]

I have never owned sparklers but I can tell you about other gouramies.

The male will build a bubble nest and then entice/force the female under it where he will wrap around/embrace her somewhat like you described in an attempt to squeeze the eggs out of her. They may do this several times and for varying lengths of time. He then fertilises them and chases her away. He will also catch any fallen/falling eggs and place them back in the nest. Once the female is being chased away, she should be removed and the male left to guard the eggs/fry until they are free swimming. He should then also be removed. The fry then need to be raised on very small foods like infusoria or microworms and later can take baby brine shrimp and powdered flake.

Unless sparklers are one of those rare gourami species that don't build bubble nests (like kissers) there should be a bubble nest if you are seeing this behaviour... If not, is there a strong current in your tank? What other fish are in with them? What size tank are they in? Do you know the sex of the two fish? Does the female (the one that is being wrapped-around for lack of a better description ) look quite fat or deep-bodied as if she is full of eggs? Are there any eggs being released? Is either fish showing any other unusual behaviour?

 

[Dave_31]

ok, first off there no bubble nest,
there is quiet a strong current in my tank,
the one who is being wraped around is larger and not as colourfull as the wraper,
cant see any eges,
no odd behaviour apart from this,
other fish are tetras, corys and ottos

Just incase it makes any relervence i lost a sparkler about a week ago, he was also small and very colourfull like the one doing the wraping....


Water tests are.....

Nitrite - 0
PH - 6.8/7.0 ( slightly more nuetral from some reason, norm about 6.8 )
KH and GH slightly higher than normal aswell

 

[sylvia]

Interestingly, I did some research on sparklers and found that they do build bubble nests. The more colorful fish is probably male and he may have tried to build a nest but the strong current broke it up. I've also discovered that sparklers will mate when there is a slight increase in pH and hardness so that may be the cause of what you are seeing though I still can't realy understand why they would be mating without the bubble nest or why the female would accept the male when she has no eggs... I doubt the eggs are being eaten quickly enough by your other fish so that just leaves me wondering what those fish are realy up to... could it be for fun lol? Do keep us posted and watch out for any sign of eggs...

 

[Dave_31]

I dont think that the female is even releasing egg's so it mite just be a fling, as i hanvt seen them doing it again 2day.