The Love Life of a Dwarf Gourami

[Nippyfish]

I just bought my Dwarf Gouramis last night. I purchased one male and three females. After acclimating them I noticed the male was cuddly with one of the females in particular. I call her Dot because she has a blue spot on her caudal peduncle. This morning I turned on the lights to find my male has turned a brilliant red and blue color. His red stripes are much more pronounced then his blue but his chin area and gill covers are bright blue. He is quite striking. He was also running around (and still is) like a chicken with his head cut off. Back and forth between collecting floating plants, placing them carfully in a still part of the tank and then chasing the females off.

I couldn't believe he was building a nest already. I was expecting a long adjustment period, followed by conditioning, water temperature changes, and of course lots of observation to see which female he is smitten with.

Well he hasn't stopped working all day and while he is keeping all females at bay he is especially aggressive toward Dot whome he was so lovey dovey with last night. I wonder if she's The One.

My intention was to set up a breeding tank where he could build his nest and care for the fry. I wanted a seperate tank so I could remove the female and allow him to tend the nest without needing to fight off my female. I wonder though, if he's happy where he is if I should just let them do their thing in the main tank and see if any young survive having him and 3 other females around. I still have the other tanks ready to go to move the babes to when they're out of the nest.

Any opinions out there?

I'm so excited and probably jumping gun a little, after all they haven't even mated yet.

-Christie

 

[lmw80]

oooh! It sounds like you have love in the air!

His brighter color is probably a combination of him adjusting, being less stressed and trying to show off for the females.

Congrats! Definitly keep us updated!

 

[Frank_the_Tank]

I got a dwarf gourami last night also. Looked good at the store...but this morning the colors are really vibrant. Mine is also running around the tank like a chicken with its head cut off

 

[BASSNMAN]

He will start building a bubble nest when he gets serious. He will then try to get a female under the nest. They wrap around each other. The female will drop eggs and the male will pick them up and spit them into the nest. At this point, you should remove the other females. Good luck. Mine built nests twice but failed to complete the spawn. It often takes them several trys to be successful.

 

[JohnPaul]

Hehe you could start a soap opera about this... "Days of Our Dwarves."

 

[Billsgate]

If you have allot of plants in that tank, you can let them do their thing in the main tank. I have my honey gouramis in my 18.5g together with 7 white clouds (who are being picked on by my male defending his fry) and 2 albino bristlenose plecos. They did their thing in the tank and 3 days ago I noticed 20-30 fry floating at the top of the tank. One of the fry floated away and the male took it in his mouth, swam to the nest, and released it back to it's brothers and sisters. Fun to watch!!!
My sister was at my moms house yesterday and told me that she had seen some fry swimming around (I'm at my dads until tonight, so I haven't been able to look for the fry myself). But I will be moving the remaining fry to a breeding tank tonight, to get a better survival rate.

So that's what you can do as well, let them do their thing, once you see fry, or when they are free swimming, scoop them out and put them in a tank for themselves. Be sure the tank for raising is the same temperature and has the same water parameters as the main tank. Good luck! I will post pictures tonight if there are still some fry left.

And post pictures if you can! Always fun to see other members fish

 

[Nippyfish]

Hehe you could start a soap opera about this... "Days of Our Dwarves."

:rofl:

Great advice guys, thanks for the tips. I'm not sure yet if I'll remove the females or not. When I set it up I intended on moving the breeding pair to a 10 gal tank and when they were finished I would put the female back in the main tank. With them breeding in the main tank there is little choice for moving them. I have spare tanks for breeding and rearing but they're all 10 gals and not appropriate to move all my females to.

The tank is quite heavily planted and I suppose I could try it this time in the main tank and if it's a complete and utter disaster I could not do it again.

Fortunately, this is my first time breeding DGs and I am not looking for financial gain, just to understand the breeding process first hand for the sake of knowing. If there is a smaller number of stock in the end, that would be fine.