thanks for the gourami advice...

[houndour]

Hello people!

I just want to say thank you for helping me make the decision to get dwarf gouramis. I waited patiently for 5 weeks before getting them this weekend. You may have already seen my post about my female gourami, but it seems you seem confident that she is in fact a dwarf. phew.

My male is building a nest! It's not very good, but I'm hoping that this is a sign that he is happy. He's collected bits of plant debris and algae and has created his nest of bubbles and debris amongst the vallis.

The female seems happy enough. She seems very chilled and just swims around looking for food. My male doesn't seem to bother her much and I rarely see her hiding completely. Is this good/bad?

I don't have room for a 2nd female do I? (19 UK gallon, 3 botia striata, 5 cory metae, 3 guppies and 2 dwarf gourami).

Sam

 

[sylvia]

How many uS gallons is that? 25? If it is, you may be able to fit one more in but I'd wait a little and see how things go with your current fish first.

Great news BTW, good to hear things are going well for you and your fish.

 

[houndour]

its 22 US gallons.

I've been reading up on posts on gouramis making bubble nests...

I'm worried now that when I do my water change this weekend I will destroy my gouramis nest (it's improved massively in a day ). Will he get upset or stressed?

Also, when I first was deciding about gouramis I did mention that I did not want to breed them. I know a bubble nest doesn't mean I'm going to have eggs, but I also don't want to be treating my fish badly.

If I were to have eggs and fry I was told the male and the fish would eat them so it'd be highly unlikely to have any survivors. But what about the part about removing the female...because the male gets agressive and she needs to rest? I do not have a separate tank for this. Do I have anything to worry about?

Sam

 

[sylvia]

Don't worry about destroying the nest - he'll just build it again if he's looking to breed. Sometimes it's actualy better to just keep destroying the nest so that he doesn't become aggressive (guarding it) and start stressing your other fish. It is something to occupy him anyway - rebuilding the nest I mean. The thing is, if your male does manage to get eggs from the female into his nest and does begin to guard it, he will be guarding it from ALL fish - not just the female gourami - so removing her only is pointless. Now depending on the species, this aggression can be very violent or less so. With dwarfs, the territory will be smaller so less of a problem. The thing is, once the fry do hatch out, even if the eggs survive this long and the fry become free-swimming, the fry are absolutely tiny. They require special tiny foods like microworms - infusoria is often necessary for the first couple of days though in a planted tank infusoria are usualy abundant - so, those that don't get eaten, will have a hard time finding food anyway or will get sucked by the filter. I can almost guarantee that NO fry will survive if your gouramies breed in a community so don't worry about that.

If at any point you do decide you want to breed them, set up your spare tank. Put a sponge filter, tight-fitting cover, some floating plants and a small ceramic pot in - leave the bottom bare. Adjust the temp to 80 deg F and lower the water level. Put in your pair. You should have conditioned them beforehand on live or frozen and other rch foods. Even if you haven't though, you'll be able to tell if your fish are ready to breed - your male will be blowing bubblenests (as he is now ) and your female should be full with eggs. Let them spawn in peace. Once the male starts chasing away the female, take her and the ceramic pot out (the pot was there for a hiding place for the female). Over the next couple of days, don't feed the male. He will guard the nest, clean the eggs and chase after falling fry once they have hatched. As soon as they are free-swimming and have consumed their egg sacks, take out the male as well and then start to feed the fry with infusoria, liquid foods, microworms and later powedered commercial flake. You may also feed BBS but I preffer to avoid these as swallowed shells can cause serious, terminal, problems. Frozen and freeze dried equivalents are good for older fry though. Once the male has been removed and the bubblenest is no longer necessary, re-fill the tank (you lowered the water level by half remember). Turn on the filter, add an airstone to break the surface tension if necessary. This is especialy important at around 1 week of age as the labyrinth organ is developing and access to (warm) atmospheric air is vital for development and survival. Do frequent water changes. Be careful to match water temps and always use de-chlorinated water. Baby gouramies can be quite fragile so keep this in mind. Use a white bucket so you can spot any sucked up fry.

 

[houndour]

thanks sylvia, fantastic info there. I don't think I'd ever deliberately breed. It must be hard to find homes for them.