Honey Gouramis Getting Ready to Spawn?

[GouramiLover]

So I got lucky about a year ago and I managed to get a male and female honey gourami. Since then they have matured, or at least the male has become dark to black on his lower half and up to his throat as well as become more bulky. The female is a bit lighter in both her orange/red color as well as the darkening along her sides. The darkening began about a months and a half ago on both of them.

The male made a large bubble nest two days ago, I accidentally broke it up during a water change, but he has been busy and has an even larger nest built today!

Now here is my possible problem or issue, the male is constantly chasing the female away no matter where she is in the tank. Have they already mated? how can I tell if there are babies in the nest? Is there anything I can do to help the process along?

Also, I have only a small school of neon tetras in there now, will this be a problem?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

 

[ilya]

Ya is the male producing any sort of bubbles

 

[GouramiLover]

yes he has made a large bubble nest and has been tending to it, replacing bubbles when necessary I guess.

 

[BigRedBetta]

It is possible. I only breed bettas but they are both labyrinths. The eggs tend to be small and white so they are hard to see. Just in case, I would remove the female and see if you can spot any fry after two days. If not, put the female back in.
Best of luck!

 

[GouramiLover]

Well, over night his bubble nest disappeared. He is working on a new one. I closed off most of the top to increase the moisture, hopefully this will help keep his bubbles from popping.

Once he starts shooing the female away again I will remove her and keep an eye out for movement. Thanks for the advice!

 

[trinifella]

Do you have any floating plants at the surface? This will help greatly with holding up his nest

 

[GouramiLover]

I did just get some the other day. Hopefully the plants help.

He has a new bubble nest and they have been wrapping around each other. It's a waiting game now.

 

[venymae]

Keep us posted! Following.

 

[BigRedBetta]

I'm very pleased to hear the good news. Remove the female after she has no more eggs and be sure to keep the humidity high.
With any luck, you will soon have fry!!!

 

[GouramiLover]

Well, no luck so far. I have been watching them as much as possible. They have been wrapping around each other, but I have not yet seen the female drop any eggs. Can I do anything to help her produce eggs?

In other news, the male's bubble nest is holding up better, but it is still smaller each morning than it was the night before. I've reduced the current in the tank, sealed off the top as much as I can without cutting off the oxygen supply. Perhaps the other fish are popping the bubbles? Should I move the gouramis to their own tank? A smaller one, perhaps without a filter?

Any advice would help!

 

[GouramiLover]

alright, I decided to move them to their own tank.

20 gallon tank
lots of floating plants
water is 8 inches high
temp is ~80-82 F
no filter
no bubbler
lots of plants in gravel (hopefully will help with filter water a bit)
top is sealed off with plastic wrap (except for a small air hole)


Hopefully the still water, floating plants, high humidity, and low water level will move things along quickly.

The move did cause them to lose some of their dark coloring. I am hoping they will adjust soon and darken up again!

 

[ArtistGardener]

Even in a 20 gallon with just a couple of honey gouramis, you'll need filtration. If that tank isn't cycled, you are going to have sick parents or babies in no time! Take some filter media from your other tank and add it to a new filter.

 

[GouramiLover]

Even in a 20 gallon with just a couple of honey gouramis, you'll need filtration. If that tank isn't cycled, you are going to have sick parents or babies in no time! Take some filter media from your other tank and add it to a new filter.

I am treating the water with seachem stability daily to keep the ammonia in particular in check. This stuff has yet to have failed to keep water parameters in my new tanks at a normal level! great stuff I'm my opinion.

I am also testing the water morning and afternoon. I am only giving this setup 4 days (with water changes daily), before I add several seeded sponge filters in the tank (if there are fry), or setup the tank with an extra filter I have in my larger tank ready for exactly this purpose.

I want to avoid sick fish and fry as well!

 

[trinifella]

Yea I myself notice that they become really pale very quickly. Water conditions look good. They will darken up once they become comfortable, no sweat. Keep us posted. I love the Honeys!

 

[GouramiLover]

Well today is the third day in their temp tank. The male darkened up quite a bit, but he does not seem in any rush to build a nest in this new tank. The female is more pale and shimmery than before. compared to the male she is truly golden colored. She is acting normal, but I am worried she is stressed. Also, is it normal for the male to be dark along his bottom fin AND have moltted dark patches on his upper body and fins? the darkening has spread...

In other news, I think I will be making this a more permanent tank for them with the addition of a filter tomorrow. They don't seem in any hurry and I am not in a hurry either.

 

[GouramiLover]

I know it's been a LONG time since I last posted here, but I thought I should make one final update post.

It has been determined I have two FEMALES. Apparently it is normal for females to make bubble nests and even wrap when no male is present.

It definitely explains the poor quality of the bubble nests and the failure to drop any eggs when they wrapped.

Anyways, they attempted to mate again finally and when they BOTH tried to make a bubble nest I was confused so i asked around and that's how I determined I had two females lol.

Sorry for leading you guys on. I really thought I had a male and female....