First Attempt At Breeding The Blue Gourami

[trit0n2003]

Ive decided yesterday to give it a shot with my blue gouramis to see if i can raise up some fry just for fun. I try this with lots of fish (angels, blue rams, zebras, guppies, platies, etc). You can also check out what ive been doing lately since im back in school and dont have a TON of free time to raise the difficult species (i.e. rams, angels), which is raising up the fry my platies give birth to since they are super easy. But i figure i can work with one breeding pair of gouramis it wont be tooooo tedious.

here is the link to my platy breeding
http/www.fishforum...7&#entry2825617

Anyways, here are the details:
-10 gallon tank
-100 watt heater
-HOB adjustable flow filter (lowered the flow to a VERY little flow, in order for the bubble nest not to get messed up)
-Sponge piece cut and placed on intake valve of HOB to make it fry safe (works as a diffuser)
-just some random marble type material for the floor ( i used this stuff when i breed zebras so the eggs will fall between them and not get eaten)
-live plant (some type of sword)
-aquarium fixture (for the female to hide in)
-fake floating foliage ( i took some fake plants i had and just popped each stem off of the plastic anchor base and laid them on one end of the tank and they float perfectly and covered the side its all on with a piece of cardboard. I did this because when i did some research, some people used floating styrofoam cups to provide a covered nest and others just used plants.. so i thought id use both ideas )
-Ph about 7.3-7.4
-Temperature 81 degrees fahrenheit

Here are some photos and video of the setup (its been up for about a day)
-The male is already building a nest in the area i set up so that is GOOD news i assume

 

[Jenste]

good luck!!! I can't wait to follow this one!

 

[Tonym]

Too cut down on the cost of conditioning the fish, condition them with Hikari Betta pellets then just before they are good to go feed them some live food. The tank looks good.

 

[trit0n2003]

thanks for being interested

so far the male's colors are showing up really well(ready to mate) but the female doesn't seem to be exhibiting them very much. So ill just keep conditioning her until she is ready and im sure the colors will show.

Also, does anyone know if you can cross breed different color gouramis? or only blue with blue.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

I can see no reason why this setup will not work for you.... Good luck, & keep us updated (pitty you did not show any views of the (potential) parents....

 

[trit0n2003]

I can see no reason why this setup will not work for you.... Good luck, & keep us updated (pitty you did not show any views of the (potential) parents....

 

[Tonym]

thanks for being interested

so far the male's colors are showing up really well(ready to mate) but the female doesn't seem to be exhibiting them very much. So ill just keep conditioning her until she is ready and im sure the colors will show.

Also, does anyone know if you can cross breed different color gouramis? or only blue with blue.

All the colour strains are the same species of fish (Trichogaster trichopterus) just different colour morphs, so they all breed together.

 

[trit0n2003]

Question, the male is being quite aggressive with the female. He keeps pecking at her. Any advice on whats going on or how to reduce this? Should i remove her and put one of my other females in with him?

 

[Tonym]

What i would look to do is seperate the female to a different tank while you condition her for breeding, the agression maybe that the male is ready to mate but the female isnt.

 

[trit0n2003]

Thats exactly what I did, I googled it and found out lol I'll she plumping her up til she's ready for a quick one with him lol then take her out after and let the male take care of the eggs

 

[Inchworm]

Hi trit0n2003

You have a great looking setup there. Hope you have success with it. I do have a couple of suggestions about breeding the gouramis.

I've had better luck by conditioning the female in the breeding tank and the male elsewhere. That way when they are ready to go you will be introducing the male into her territory. He will be a bit more cautious and she will feel more in control. I was surprised to see how bossy a female three spot can be in "her" breeding tank. Several times my male approached her and she would chase him back to do more work on the nest. Of course you will have to remove her so be sure you will be able to get the cave out without disturbing what might be a spread out nest.

At some point, before or after spawning, you will want to lower the water level to 6" or so and cover the tank. The water pressure makes it easier for the fry to live in and makes it possible for the male to scoop up any eggs that have fallen from the nest and quickly return them.

In addition to keeping the pair from jumping out of the tank, a cover will keep the humidity level high and this is beneficial for the young fry when they begin to develop their labyrinths.

Good luck!

 

[trit0n2003]

UPDATE!

I didnt have any luck with the original female i had conditioned, i believe this is because she was bigger than the male I was using. So today I moved the big female back to my community tank and replaced her with a small female I have. Conditioning for her has begun today.