ASHCO

BAP Report

Bob Swanson

This is one of the smallest gouramies suited for the community aquarium. It only gets about 5 cm. or a little over two inches long. The basic color is a golden brown with the lower third on the males a very dark brown. I started with four small fish around three quarters of an inch in size. With good water and food they were up to breeding size within five months. We set up a five gallon aquarium with about five inches of water. We used a quart jar to hold the heater and placed several nylon mops, so the female could have some hiding spots until she was ready. At first, I kept the female away from the male by means of a glass cylinder. Almost immediately the male started to construct a bubble nest about two inches in diameter. After two days at 80 deg F. I released the female. Within three hours the male had persuaded the female under the nest and was wrapped around her. After several hours and many embraces, the female was chased away and the male was taking care of the nest. I removed the parents and left the nest unattended. The next day I checked and the eggs had started hatching. On the third day I added boiled egg yolk through a clean handkerchief. This was fed for about a week, at that time we started adding some micro worms and newly hatched brine shrimp. In my opinion this is one of the easiest gouramies to spawn. No special water requirements are needed as long as extremes are avoided. The only disadvantage is the fry grow very slowly.