The Sparklers

They've been spawning so bright colours but some tattered fins from spats with each other.

1 male 2 females. The dominant female has really put out a ton of colour since spawning.

My females, Minnie and Tiny, settling a territory between the two. The dominant female thats been spawning with the male is the more colorful of the two here... pardon the swimming hilighter photobombing.


Dominant female, Minnie, again, but pretty tattered.


Smaller, darker female, Tiny. The moss is "hers".



Nyx, the male. He was heading back to his nest under a log after he chased off Minnie.


And then Nyx guarding his nest. He built a second bubble nest under a piece of driftwood. Currently guarding batch of eggs #2.




And fry, housed in a nursery outside of the parent tank. These are from the first spawning. Currently 3 days old.


These guys have some fascinating dynamics.

NCaquatics said:

They've been spawning so bright colours but some tattered fins from spats with each other.

1 male 2 females. The dominant female has really put out a ton of colour since spawning.

My females, Minnie and Tiny, settling a territory between the two. The dominant female thats been spawning with the male is the more colorful of the two here... pardon the swimming hilighter photobombing.
View attachment 109257

Dominant female, Minnie, again, but pretty tattered.
View attachment 109260

Smaller, darker female, Tiny. The moss is "hers".
View attachment 109258
View attachment 109261

Nyx, the male. He was heading back to his nest under a log after he chased off Minnie.
View attachment 109259

And then Nyx guarding his nest. He built a second bubble nest under a piece of driftwood. Currently guarding batch of eggs #2.
View attachment 109263



And fry, housed in a nursery outside of the parent tank. These are from the first spawning. Currently 3 days old.
View attachment 109262

These guys have some fascinating dynamics.

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I always enjoy your photos and shares!
What kind of fish are they?

vanalisa said:

I always enjoy your photos and shares!
What kind of fish are they?

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Sparkling Gourami. A nano species, the size of a neon tetra but as much attitude as some bettas lol

Thanks for sharing! Love it

Love the names and love the fish!

Beautiful!

Do you have any special feeding routine or are they able to get enough despite the swimming highlighters feeding habits ?

Thank you for posting love seeing fry and the parents

Thanks for sharing! The photos are great. I really want sparkling gouramis some day. I absolutely love how they look.

seangee said:

Do you have any special feeding routine or are they able to get enough despite the swimming highlighters feeding habits ?

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They're slower moving fish, but they eat well. They eat the micro sized Bug Bites with enthusiasm, they aren't bothered by my kubotai rasboras who share the tank and are much much quicker. Sparklers have attitude though, so the Kubos let them have space. My two females will take food from the surface eagerly. My male prefers food that is slowly sinking.

Live foods like cyclops stand no chance in the tank, the gouramis clear that out fast. I culture cyclops and the sparklers hunt them relentlessly. Any microworm as well. Basically if it moves, its food.

Basically theyre fed Bug Bites, OmegaOne flakes crushed small, live micro critters, and the occasional frozen food... frozen daphnia would be loved. Its not available where I am at, smallest I can get is mysis shrimp, but my females love that. My male is a fussier individual. He is more interested in my presence on the outside of the tank than he is trying to get the food before everyone else lol

Good to know. The kubotai are in a different tank but the embers get floating fry food (artemia cysts) because they can't manage even the micro bug bites, and they won't eat off the substrate, so I can use bug bites as a backup. They aren't crazy about the Omega One flakes but will take them if they are hungry and there is nothing else. They get banana worms and micro worms regulalry so I'm sure there will be enough to go around.

seangee said:

Good to know. The kubotai are in a different tank but the embers get floating fry food (artemia cysts) because they can't manage even the micro bug bites, and they won't eat off the substrate, so I can use bug bites as a backup. They aren't crazy about the Omega One flakes but will take them if they are hungry and there is nothing else. They get banana worms and micro worms regulalry so I'm sure there will be enough to go around.

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If you've got live micro foods, you are all set to go, they will go nuts for those.

I keep mine in a 20 gallon tall with 8 kubotai rasboras and 10 corydoras pygmaeus. I actually have more trouble feeding the pygmies as they're super shy. If I feed them during the day, the sparkling gouramis try to eat their shrimp pellet off the bottom which scares the cories away lol

I don't think you will find them hard to feed. Other fish learn to give them space.

The fry are even slow moving and very focused on staring at things looking for food.

Theyre a very food driven predatorial fish, despite their size.

None of my snails in their tank have antenna. They are constant food sources lol

Dropping some more pictures of the girls and one of the fry

Thanks for posting, I've always fancied housing the Sparkling Gourami but its a fish that I have never got round to having the pleasure of owning.