Gourami Breeding

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What kind(s) do you intend to breed? I've done dwarfs, Giants, Blues, Golds, Opalines, Moonlights, Pearls, Honeys and most of the paradise fishes. Maybe I can help (y)
 
What do you like to know?
For starters, are you sure you have a male and female? If both your fish are very colorful, they are 2 males. Females are very bland in color and not often available for sale at most chain stores and some pet shops.
 
Hahaha Andy is there a group of fish you haven't bred?

Yes,actually. I never really got into African Cichlids much besides Kribs and Brichardis. Mbunas and other Tang. cichlids were not being done when I was being taught and then were being done by my buddy while I was amassing large volumes of Angels in the 1980s. But pretty much most fish available before 1975, I've bred. ;) It helps when you are breeding fish for a store. As you may know, all the fish for sale in my Mentor's pet store were bred in the back of the store or in our houses. That makes for quite a long list of fish. (y) What other kid has 20+ tanks of fish in their small bedroom? I actually slept underneath a rack of tanks. :whistle: :lol: (y)
 
I only have two males ATM I'm just finding out the facts first before I rush out and get a female there is a store here that sells females


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Great, I suggest you get females that are slightly smaller than your males and are already showing signs of being plump with eggs. It makes the process so much easier. (y)
 
Yes,actually. I never really got into African Cichlids much besides Kribs and Brichardis. Mbunas and other Tang. cichlids were not being done when I was being taught and then were being done by my buddy while I was amassing large volumes of Angels in the 1980s. But pretty much most fish available before 1975, I've bred. ;) It helps when you are breeding fish for a store. As you may know, all the fish for sale in my Mentor's pet store were bred in the back of the store or in our houses. That makes for quite a long list of fish. (y) What other kid has 20+ tanks of fish in their small bedroom? I actually slept underneath a rack of tanks. :whistle: :lol: (y)


Woah this is all too much to handle I would love to be able to do this for a living. :D I'm loving the chance to breed killis at the moment so much colour and character.
 
Woah this is all too much to handle I would love to be able to do this for a living. :D I'm loving the chance to breed killis at the moment so much colour and character.

Not wanting to hijack this Gourami thread but just keep in mind, many Killies are annuals so you only get 1 to 2 years out of them. Do your research before diving in. ;)

Now, back to the Dwarf Gourami (y)
 
Not wanting to hijack this Gourami thread but just keep in mind, many Killies are annuals so you only get 1 to 2 years out of them. Do your research before diving in. ;)



Now, back to the Dwarf Gourami (y)


Yes I'm well aware. At the moment I have started with a gardneri variant "udi berge" my neighbour breeds 20 different species at a time :).

Sorry to hijack, hope the gouramis work out
 
I've managed to successfully get 3 dwarf gourami babies from my first real attempt. Not really sure what I did wrong Andy...:-/
 
I've managed to successfully get 3 dwarf gourami babies from my first real attempt. Not really sure what I did wrong Andy...:-/

Possibly nothing. ;) 3 babies means you have a fertile pair which is a good thing to know. (y) More than likely, the food you fed was not small enough for the fry and so only the largest ones or the "hardier" ones were the 3 that survived. They also may have just been eating their dead siblings so let's go over your feeding regimen once the fry became free swimming. (y)
 
I did have a fertile pair.. Mrs gourami died unexpectedly yesterday..:-(
I had made some infusiora for them, but then I went away for 3 weeks and had my friend looking after them. When I got back there were 4 left, then one of those disappeared. I was also feeding first bites powder. I've offered crumbled flakes now that they are about 10weeks old, but they aren't interested. I wonder if I should get some brine shrimp or something for them..
 
At 10 weeks old they shouldn't be picky eaters.
My gouramis will feed from all levels but are most enthusiastic surface feeding good quality flake.
Feed often and change water gouramis in general are pigs!
Higher quality,aka frozen,live foods will help fish grow faster and healthier ,but they can be raised on prepared foods fine also.
 
How big should they be at this age? I'm surprised at how tiny they still are. They are less than a cm in length still.
I have them in a 60L tank, maybe it's too big for them to find the food? They never seem to notice the food when it's put in, they just pick away at things on the filter, plants and glass. :-/
 
At 10 weeks some of my pearls were almost 1 inch with color/spots showing.
They were bred ,hatched and raised in a 20 gallon long tank.
Proper food and water changes are the key to good /fast fry growth IMO.
 
Hmmm, sounds like mine are runts! Lol
They didn't get the most attentive start to life with me going away, so I guess that could have been a factor.
How do you go about water changes when they are tiny without sucking them up?
And.... To help them develop their labrynth lung, I had the tank wrapped for a few weeks to maintain the air temp, so I didn't really clean the tank or do much in the way of water changes..
 
To grow fry water changes are very important.
When tiny(like my GBR fry) I use an airline tube(hard and flexible) to vacuum if necessary.
Otherwise just removing water is fine.
I use a sponge on a hose/tube to remove large volumes quickly.
I also use a clean white bucket for my water changes so I can search for fry if they were to get sucked up.
Are the fry in same tank as adults?
 
They are all by themselves. I removed mum and dad pretty soon after they spawned. I was so reluctant to open the lid in case cooler air got in. Probably less of a disaster than dirty water though...
I'm thinking I might move them into another tank, get another Mrs, and have another go.
My set up is a bare bottomed tank with a few potted plants, an air driven sponge filter and a broken terracotta pot as a hiding spot for Mrs.
Sound ok?
 
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