breeding gouramis

[happyhouse]

can anyone help me please, we have a pair of breeding gouramies, they have been in their tank together for 4 days, the male has built a nest and seems very protective over it. i know that this happens when they have successfully mated and there are eggs to protect, but im not sure if they have or not, i know i need to take the female out after they have done the deed, but as im not sure if they have i dont want to risk "spoiling the mood" but on the other hand i dont want to put her or the eggs at risk if they have bred without us noticing, if she comes near the nest he does chase her away, from what i have read this indicates that they have i dont know what to do for the best

[cocoa_pleco]

if theres a bubble nest, youre good.
If not, wait til you do see one, then remove the female

[Drumachine09]

I would love to agree with cocoa pleco, but i know absoloutly squat about labryinth fish, so.......:confused:

[cocoa_pleco]

ive got good, not great knowledge with labyrinths. Im good with saltwater, excellent with livebearers and good with cichlids.

if there is a bubblenest, they have successfully bred. is that what youre asking happyhouse??

[happyhouse]

i know that the bubbnlenest is made before they breed , what they do is if they are ready the male will make a bubble nest then if the female is happy with the nest she will go on her side then upside down while she is underneath the nest to release her eggs. after this has happened the male becomes very protective of the nest and wont allow the female near it. In our tank the nest has been made and the male is guarding it as he wont let the female near, so i think they may have bred but i'm not 100% certain

[Chipie]

Hi,
I have a few pairs of breeding gouramies and the male make the nest and waits for the female to be ready. He might chase her even if she hasen't laid eggs yet. They usually mate in the evenings.

Here's the female letting the male know it's time to spawn. She'll poke the male on the tail and side.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o76/Chipie30-06/cobaltrepro00002_RJ.jpg

Then the male wraps himself around the female.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o76/Chipie30-06/cobaltrepro00008_RJ.jpg

And then they both float and turn upside down and the eggs come out.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o76/Chipie30-06/cobaltrepro00009_RJ.jpg

Then the male take as many eggs as he can catch in his mouth and spits them in the nest.
They can do that many times during the nest hours.

After that, he won't let any fish come near the nest. Even the female. Taking the female out depense on the aquarium you have. If it's big enough and you have lots of plants, she should be ok as long as she can get away from him. I have a 60 gallons tank and it's not a problem.


Try to see if you can see small translusid eggs in the bubbles. If you can't decide if they spawned or not, don't worry, they will probably do it again very soon.

Anyway i though i'd share those pictures since i could never find any on the web so i took them myself. Hope you enjoy and good luck.

[hungryhound]

Wow, those are some amazing pictures and very informative.

Out of curiosity, how did you track down a female Dwarf Gourami? We currently have 3 Dwarf Flame Gouramis and would like to add a female, but cannot find one in our area.

Thanks.

[Chipie]

Hi,
Well i guess i'm very lucky to have a LFS that sell males and females. Some only sell couples but mine i can buy males or females separately.

Did you know that dwarf cobalt gourami females and dwarf red fire gourami females can breed with any of the two kind of males(red fire or cobalt)
Here's a few other oictures i took of the female dward cobalt mating with the Red fire dwarf. And by the way, the other picture i posted before where of a red fire female with a Cobalt male.

See she has the stripes of the cobalts.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o76/Chipie30-06/RedFirepro00025.jpg


http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o76/Chipie30-06/RedFirepro00028.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o76/Chipie30-06/RedFirepro00027.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o76/Chipie30-06/RedFirepro00018.jpg

I my LFS doesn't have the fish i want they just order it for me. Maybe you could try asking the LFS to order females for you. Remember it's a good idea to have a few females for every male. It makes sure that the males doesn't chase the same one all the time.
It's a shame you don't live around here, i just saw a Red Fire Dwarf female in one of their tanks this afternoon. Here people don't buy the females, just the male for their colors. Then i go i buy the females LOL .
Good luck finding females.

[hungryhound]

Hi,
Well i guess i'm very lucky to have a LFS that sell males and females. Some only sell couples but mine i can buy males or females separately.

Did you know that dwarf cobalt gourami females and dwarf red fire gourami females can breed with any of the two kind of males(red fire or cobalt)
Here's a few other oictures i took of the female dward cobalt mating with the Red fire dwarf. And by the way, the other picture i posted before where of a red fire female with a Cobalt male.

See she has the stripes of the cobalts.



I my LFS doesn't have the fish i want they just order it for me. Maybe you could try asking the LFS to order females for you. Remember it's a good idea to have a few females for every male. It makes sure that the males doesn't chase the same one all the time.
It's a shame you don't live around here, i just saw a Red Fire Dwarf female in one of their tanks this afternoon. Here people don't buy the females, just the male for their colors. Then i go i buy the females LOL .
Good luck finding females.

Thanks for the info. I think that we will definitely see if our LFS can order some in.

[Abbeys_Mom]

I managed to get a female dwarf gourami (entirely silver). She was in the a shipment of males by accident. I was there when they were floating the bags of new fish. Of course I pounced on her right away. Our LFS doesn't carry females of a few species. You'll rarely find female pearl gouamis either.

[Chipie]

Geee i guess i'm REALLY lucky to have a LFS that sells females. I have females Dwarf gourami (cobalt and red fire) i have a few honey gourami females and a Pearl gourami female also. Hope you find some.

[vanessa]

you have great fish. i have a ? how do you keep your other fish from sabotaging the mating? I have one very fat female blue ,and one other small very curious one. and a large golden male . they are hit and miss. she has been fat before but I had no clue what happend or wich male she had choosen. I recently had one other gold male pass on( my fave).But the other still seems to be taking on the responsability. And how long does this all take place and how often? she has been fat for days? thanks VR