Bird nest building gourami?

[squirrelrabbits]

I have what I believe are two male Dwarf Gouramis and one is doing an odd ting: he is pulling plant debri off the intake pipe of the power filter and ferrying it to the corner of the tank and assembling it, the way birds do, into a kind of a nest.

Two questions about this: 1) what's he doing? and 2) should I do anything to help him? (Because he's not having luck--the current disperses the debris almost as quickly as he assembles it).

Thanks!

 

[breezer40]

You have one very happy male there he is building a nest! If you want to help him you could put him in a well planted tank with less current and give him a girlfriend

 

[StrontiumDog]

You have one very happy male there he is building a nest! If you want to help him you could put him in a well planted tank with less current and give him a girlfriend 

or 2, If you can find a LFS with them

Good luck if you're trying to breed, read/research as much as you can before it happens.

 

[squirrelrabbits]

Thanks for your replies. My gourami has built quite a birds nest by this time but the lfs has no female dwarf gouramis for him to spawn with. Does anyone know if Dwarf Gouramis ever interbreed with any other kind of gourami?

 

[squirrelrabbits]

Thanks for your replies. My gourami has built quite a birds nest by this time but the lfs has no female dwarf gouramis for him to spawn with. Does anyone know if Dwarf Gouramis ever interbreed with any other kind of gourami?

 

[sylvia]

Yes they can but it is very irresponsible to let them do so for several reasons I won't list right now.

Regardless, they can and have inter-bred with honey gouramies and can probably inter-breed with other colisa species - the banded and thick-lipped gouramies. I trust you to do the responsible thing though and not encourage this.

The male will be fine on his own. If ever you come across females (and you can always order online), I suggest you get 2.

 

[Macracantha]

It's a clever fish that can build a 'birds' nest

 

[Doggfather]

Theoretically, it can breed with any members of the same genus although the fry produced will be infertile.

It is in the best intrest of the hobby not to let this happen since it can lead to mutations and diseases although any semi - decent lfs should be able to order in some female dwarf gourami

Btw, the nest your gourami is making is known as a bubble nest