Hello all,
I have a breeding pair of dwarf gouramis in my community tank (planted, 55 gallon, albino cherry barbs, cory cats, dwarf rainbows and a clown pleco are tank mates as well as another female dwarf gourami that my male is actively disinterested in) and the male has built a very large bubble nest. This was about two weeks ago. They spawned and he tended the eggs and I did some googling to see how long to wait for the eggs to hatch. I read 30 hours so after three days and no sign of fry, I went ahead with a 50% PWC. That was last Sunday. I was gentle but not too concerned about the bubble nest and it split in two. Previous nests had been dismantled by Gary and the other fish after two days. The eggs that I could see had turned opaque white and fuzzy so I thought they were fungused. Gary (my gourami), continued to defend it. Vociferously. Lo and behold, Tuesday, we saw one fry. Weds, one fry was seen, different or same, we don't know. Gary continued to defend both nest sections.
Since Weds, (it's now Saturday), we've not seen any fry but the nests are so dense I can't be sure that they're not lousy with fry and I just can't see them. I was planning on another 50% PWC today but am considering putting it off until I can be sure the fry, if any left, no longer need the bubble nest. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of breeding gouramis? Will Gary cease his defense when there are no eggs or fry to protect or will he continue to defend the nest, regardless? I'm comfortable putting off the PWC for another day or two but it's much easier to do it on the weekend.
Any thoughts?
TIA!
~g
UPDATE: There are fry all over the place! Clustered around the nest parts, between them, under them. Oh my.
I have a breeding pair of dwarf gouramis in my community tank (planted, 55 gallon, albino cherry barbs, cory cats, dwarf rainbows and a clown pleco are tank mates as well as another female dwarf gourami that my male is actively disinterested in) and the male has built a very large bubble nest. This was about two weeks ago. They spawned and he tended the eggs and I did some googling to see how long to wait for the eggs to hatch. I read 30 hours so after three days and no sign of fry, I went ahead with a 50% PWC. That was last Sunday. I was gentle but not too concerned about the bubble nest and it split in two. Previous nests had been dismantled by Gary and the other fish after two days. The eggs that I could see had turned opaque white and fuzzy so I thought they were fungused. Gary (my gourami), continued to defend it. Vociferously. Lo and behold, Tuesday, we saw one fry. Weds, one fry was seen, different or same, we don't know. Gary continued to defend both nest sections.
Since Weds, (it's now Saturday), we've not seen any fry but the nests are so dense I can't be sure that they're not lousy with fry and I just can't see them. I was planning on another 50% PWC today but am considering putting it off until I can be sure the fry, if any left, no longer need the bubble nest. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of breeding gouramis? Will Gary cease his defense when there are no eggs or fry to protect or will he continue to defend the nest, regardless? I'm comfortable putting off the PWC for another day or two but it's much easier to do it on the weekend.
Any thoughts?
TIA!
~g
UPDATE: There are fry all over the place! Clustered around the nest parts, between them, under them. Oh my.
