New Dwarf Gourami

[aiwenbettas]

Hi all! I just bought a Dwarf Gourami today. From what I can tell, it's a male since the colors are so vibrant. I've read that you can keep them in as little as a 2g and that the minimum is a 10g from many different sources. So, can some one fill me in on the proper tank size for this fellow? Also, can I house him with a female or a 1 male : 2 female ratio? Or like bettas, they should be housed seperately?

Charlene

 

[DarkEntity]

Id say 10 gall will hold a pair of dward gourami on their own. Obviously you will need more space for cleaners and such.

 

[sylvia]

...and I'd urge you to never keep dwarfs in pairs at all. The male will eventualy start chasing the female around and she'll get extremely stressed. This oftens leads to death in these fish as they are susceptible to disease and this is quickly brought on by stress. It's even worse when they are in a small tank.

Dwarf gouramies should never be kept in very small tanks. Like I said, they are susceptible to disease and get stressed easily. The larger the tank, the more stable the environment.

A 10 gallon is large enough for one male dwarf. The smallest I'd go for a single male is 5 gallons (with nothing else - maybe some shrimp) but I honestly wouldn't advocate this unless you know you have an excellent heater with thermostat and will be able to keep up with water changes and not overfeed. A trio works in anything from 15 gallons up - but plant the tank. In particular, you need tall-growing and floating plants. Gentle filtration is also important. A bigger tank is always better.

 

[aiwenbettas]

I would like to try to get my hands on in trying to breed Dwarf Gouramis. But is that a wise decision? I read it's not different from how Betta splendens spawn and I have already spawned Betta splendens a few times which gave me nice viable fry and adults.

By the way, here's a picture of the fellow.

 

[sylvia]

He's very pretty.

Yes, breeding dwarfs is almost exactly like breeding bettas except that spawning isn't quite as violent and you don't need to jar the fry. The dwarf fry also tend to be slightly larger than betta fry but need the same sorts of foods. It can also take a little more work to condition dwarf gouramies than it is to get bettas 'in the mood'.

If you decide to go ahead with this, just make sure the adults you are using are healthy fish and have settled into their new home. They are prone to stress-related illness and the guaranteed way to stress them is to make them spawn as soon as you've brought them home

 

[aiwenbettas]

Thanks! Haha don't worry about it. I'm not those type of people who would buy a pair, stick them together, hope they would breed, and if they die then I'll go replace them. No way.

As of now, he in my 37g planted tank with some female Betta splendens, a Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, a pair of Ancistrus sp. and a Pomacea bridgesii. I know, I know.. You shouldn't keep two different types of Anabantoids together, but there is enough room for it to establish a territory... AND there I have yet to see any harassment or stress in the DG. He's actually making himself at home quite comfortably too.

As soon as my current batch of betta fry grow up, I'll move my trio of 10gs around and get a 20g for a 1:2 DG ratio. Does that sound good?

By the way, can male DGs and female DGs coexist peacefully? Or must they be seperate like Betta splendens unless in the spawn tank?

Charlene

 

[sylvia]

Yep, what you've suggested sounds great and, yes, the male will be fine with the 2 females in the same tank.
Having said that, maybe a week before breeding them it can help to seperate the male from the females - it just makes them more likely to spawn when they meet in the spawning tank. Just make sure that, if you do this (you don't have to if they are 'in the mood' anyway ), the tank you move them into is cycled.

 

[aiwenbettas]

Hi again! I finally found some females and boy were they gorgeous. I was about to get them online but shipping was a killer so I decided not to. Then I found some at a LFS.

I'm QTing right now and conditioning them with live foods and high protein stuff at the same time. If they make it through 2 weeks with no problems I will set up a spawn tank. When spawning, can I moved all three of them into a 10g heavily packed with anubias and hornwort? It will be temporary and once they are done embracing, all three will go back to the 37g. I can't have them spawn in the 37g because they are other female bettas that like to wreck his nests and I'm afraid for the eaten eggs.

What I'm trying to do is have the gouramis spawn and run a betta spawn on the side. Since I've heard many things about parent DGs eating eggs and fry, I may wait till the eggs hatch and put the wigglers into the betta tank. That way, I KNOW that the betta father will take care of them.

 

[sylvia]

They are beautiful!

Moving them like that isn't going to work. betta fry are canibalistic (so are most other gourami fry) and you will either end up with a spawn containing no dwarfs or one containing no bettas. Either way, you'll disturb your male betta and he's unlikely to care for them like you expect.

It's better to spawn the dwarfs in exactly the same way as you would spawn bettas (without the jars ) and just make sure you don't keep the male in the tank after the fry are free swimming. I've never ahd toruble with them eating their fry myself.

 

[Majjie]

Those dwarfs are so beautiful!

I always feel so sad for the miserable specimens you see in most of the lfs's around here. I tried a pair once - before I found Sylvia and TFF and realised that three would have been better. They didn't last long I'm afraid - but I'm almost tempted to try again

 

[aiwenbettas]

Thanks! Well, one of the females have passed away... I'm not sure why. She was fine the day before and in the morning, she was stuck to the intake with the second female nipping on dead fins. BUT, the second is now cleared of illness, disease and whatnot and out of the QT tank. She's currently in the 37g with my male. At first she was sort of slim but now she nice and bulky.. no visible egg sac like bettas though.

My question is, does size matter? By the looks of it, my male is about 2.5 inches and the female is about 1.75 inches, is she too small to breed with him? I know with bettas, as long as the male's body is long enough to embrace the female, it should be all fine. Does this go the same for Dwarf Gouramis?

I recently acquired a SHWEET deal on a 29g acrylic SeaClear show tank for $50 with a light strip hood. I think I may either spawn the DGs in the 29g or move my betta fry from my 10g to growout in the 29g and spawn the DGs in the 10g. Which sounds better?

 

[sylvia]

Sorry about the death - that happens alot with dwarfs

Yes, the size won't matter really - males are always a little larger anyway. However, if the female isn't in breeding condition and mature, it will matter.

It would be easier to spawn them in the 10 and move the fry to a larger grow-out later. Mainly because then you can make sure the fry get fed more effectively.

 

[aiwenbettas]

Yeah, I read that many die of stress caused diseases, but I believe she was already sick while at the store. Once my friend comes by to pick up 2 of my 10gs, I'll move my betta fry in the 29g and set up the 10g as a spawn tank. Both are being conditioned with blackworms ATM so she's getting fat fat FAT!!!