breeding dwarf gourami

[papa_bear_21]

We recently purchased a male/female pair of dwarf gourami, in hopes that they might breed. To those who have bred these beautiful fish, what advice, tips, or help would you be able to give?

I am looking for advice on how, such as tank conditions, should they be kept in a tank by themselves, are they egg layers or live bearers? If a seperate tank is desired, how big of a tank would I need? any and all help is greatly appreciated

Thank you in advance,

Bear

[norcalg]

Originally Posted by papa_bear_21

We recently purchased a male/female pair of dwarf gourami, in hopes that they might breed. To those who have bred these beautiful fish, what advice, tips, or help would you be able to give?

I am looking for advice on how, such as tank conditions, should they be kept in a tank by themselves, are they egg layers or live bearers? If a seperate tank is desired, how big of a tank would I need? any and all help is greatly appreciated

Thank you in advance,

Bear

I have a trio (2f 1m) of dwarf gouramis and they just spawned last night for the first time. Unfortunately, the bubble nest drifted apart today and the rainbows have been egg-snatching all afternoon. We'll see if any made it but I'm not hopeful.

So, in my (extremely limited) experience, the male builds a bubble-nest with small bits of plants and bubbles. He chases away the female until everything is just so. Then she nudges him and they go under the nest and fold around each other. He makes sure the eggs get into the nest and chases her away. I have no idea on the raising of gourami fry. I read that they'll hatch in 24-36 hours.

http://www.gourami-breeding.co.uk/breeding.htm

My tank is a 55 gallon community, with 3 dwarf gouramis, 6 albino cherry barbs, 6 cory cats, 1 clown pleco and 9 dwarf neon rainbows. It's about 2 months old and recently planted. I saw no spawning activity until after it was planted. pH is 7.8.

Good luck, I was fascinated yesterday as Gary built his nest.

~g

[papa_bear_21]

Your experience is greater than mine, and I appreciate you sharing it with me. Your gourami's stayed in the community tank? It sounds as if you have a similiar community to ours, except that we have loaches. My main concern would be the loaches eating the eggs, we have a total of 8 loaches, 3 dojo, 2 golden dojo, and 3 khuli. Living with them are the 2 gourami, 2 swordtail, 2 red serpae tetra, 2 black skirt, 2 bleeding heart, 2 glass cat's 2 plecos, 3 rasbora's, 1 lyre tail mollie, 1 baby guppy, 1 platy, 1 small snail and 1 baby sailfin mollie, would any of these pose a threat to the fry/eggs? thank you all in advance,

Bear

[norcalg]

Originally Posted by papa_bear_21

Your experience is greater than mine, and I appreciate you sharing it with me. Your gourami's stayed in the community tank? It sounds as if you have a similiar community to ours, except that we have loaches. My main concern would be the loaches eating the eggs, we have a total of 8 loaches, 3 dojo, 2 golden dojo, and 3 khuli. Living with them are the 2 gourami, 2 swordtail, 2 red serpae tetra, 2 black skirt, 2 bleeding heart, 2 glass cat's 2 plecos, 3 rasbora's, 1 lyre tail mollie, 1 baby guppy, 1 platy, 1 small snail and 1 baby sailfin mollie, would any of these pose a threat to the fry/eggs? thank you all in advance,

Bear

The gourami eggs are at the surface of the water so I'm not sure how much of a threat the loaches would be. My gourami used the surface tension as well as his bubbles and the foliage to build his nest. I don't know if any of his eggs will make it to hatch. If you want to be able to raise the fry, I would guess that you'd need a separate tank for them. I have another platy tank and can say with absolute certainty that platies will eat fry. And will in fact try to eat fry through one of those mesh baskets you can hang in the tank.

I don't think the plecos would be a threat but I imagine the tetras and rasboras would be, I don't know about the mollies. I was caught by surprise when Gary started his ritual. I didn't have anywhere else to put him so he stayed. I considered getting a tank divider yesterday when I realized he was serious about this but it didn't happen. I will probably pick one up for the future.

Good luck!

~g

[black hills tj]

Originally Posted by norcalg

My tank is a 55 gallon community, with 3 dwarf gouramis, 6 albino cherry barbs, 6 cory cats, 1 clown pleco and 9 dwarf neon rainbows. It's about 2 months old and recently planted. I saw no spawning activity until after it was planted. pH is 7.8.

Good luck, I was fascinated yesterday as Gary built his nest.

~g

Extremely, off topic but do you have any pics of your albino cherry barbs? I've never seen albino cherries.

[black hills tj]

Originally Posted by norcalg

My tank is a 55 gallon community, with 3 dwarf gouramis, 6 albino cherry barbs, 6 cory cats, 1 clown pleco and 9 dwarf neon rainbows. It's about 2 months old and recently planted. I saw no spawning activity until after it was planted. pH is 7.8.

Good luck, I was fascinated yesterday as Gary built his nest.

~g

Extremely, off topic but do you have any pics of your albino cherry barbs? I've never seen albino cherries.

[norcalg]

I forgot to mention the blood worms. Frozen blood worms really kick Gary into high gear as far as building his nest is concerned.

black hills tj, I will try and get some albino cherry barb photos posted.

~g