# Sparkling Gouramis - They spawned!



## Steve Smith (7 May 2011)

Just bought a trio of these, though I suspect I have 2 males and 1 female looking at their behaviour!  I've kept these before, and even had them breed, though I had no surviving fry as they were in a small community tank.  I had spotted these three in my little LFS (Rosedale Aquatics in Whitnash, Warwickshire), and I'd thought they'd be perfect for my Dennerle cube.  I've been thinking about what to do with it, and after some inspiration while visiting Matt's house I knew a low tech, slow growing aproach was needed.

Anyway, this is more about the fish than the tank 









(more planting required up front... maybe some crypt. parva or something)

Anyone else kept these little beauties?  I just love the way they move around the tank.  They remind me a little of dwarf puffers in how they're inquisitive, and how they investigate things


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## Tom (7 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

I had some a couple of years ago and they kept a bubble nest up in the duckweed. Never spawned though as far as I know. Really like them  I'm tempted for a couple in my Do!aqua now, but better not as the scape won't stay for long.


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## Steve Smith (7 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

My original post about when my last sparklers spawned is here:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2438#p26118

I think they prefer good plant cover.  I wanted to give them a nice amount, hence the massive bolbitis!  The smaller fish, which I think might be female, keeps checking out the floating plants... Fingers crossed   The two which I think are males seem to be flaring at each other and having a bit of a joust.  Hopefully they'll calm down - I'd hoped they'd be OK as they've been the only ones in the LFS tank for the last few weeks.


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## a1Matt (7 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

Meets certainly are great for inspiration 

I am happy to see that you got these fish again.  After chatting about them at the meet I added them to my mental list of fish I will keep at some point.

Was it really 2008 when you last had them   Time flies!


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## Gill (8 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

Ahhh so they are what you bought yesterday while cycling 
Great little fish with loads of personality, very inquisitive.


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## vauxhallmark (8 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

Love 'em! I've kept them a few times in community tanks, but no successful breeding. They live for several years though. They're suposed to make a clicking noise, but I never heard it. I've always been a sucker for fish with iridescent blue on them. 

I agree with you, they really deserve a tank to breed properly in - hope to see your results on here before too long. 

Mark


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## dw1305 (9 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

Hi all,
They are one of my favourite fish. I'd add a floating plant with long trailing roots, these are the preferred nest building sites. _Pistia_ is best, but it  might be a bit big for your tank, _Limnobium_ or _Ceratopteris_ are other options.

If you want them to breed now is the perfect time to start conditioning them, mosquito larvae/_Daphnia_/Grindal worms are all good, they need a very shallow breeding tank (it can be small) and you need to remove the female after spawning. You need to maintain very warm, humid air over the breeding tank, and the fry are absolutely minute, much too small for BBS or Vinegar eels (better than micro-worms, as they swim further up in the water column), you really need a supply of "green water" for the 1st couple of weeks.

If you set up a "Mosquito bucket", (Builders bucket, a pair of tights filled with lawn cuttings, 3/4 filled with rainwater and a cork floated on top, placed in 1/2 shade), you can inoculate it with _Daphnia_ (from the LFS) and you can also add the water (but with no Daphnia or Mosquito larvae), to a jar somewhere sunny and generate your own "green water".

cheers Darrel


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## BigTom (9 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*



			
				dw1305 said:
			
		

> If you set up a "Mosquito bucket", (Builders bucket, a pair of tights filled with lawn cuttings, 3/4 filled with rainwater and a cork floated on top, placed in 1/2 shade), you can inoculate it with _Daphnia_ (from the LFS) and you can also add the water (but with no Daphnia or Mosquito larvae), to a jar somewhere sunny and generate your own "green water".
> 
> cheers Darrel



Haha, I love how highly technically low-tech that is   

BTW Darrel, did you get my response to your email through the BCA forum? 

Lovely fish STeve, sorry for thread crashing!


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## Steve Smith (9 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

Thanks for the information Darrel   I have some floating plants already, a little Limnobium laevigatum and another which I'm not sure of the name (looks a little like pistia, but the leaves seem to stay the same size as limnobium, and the edges are rounder - it has a pale green leaf with a velvet texture and the larger leaves have the small ridges similar to pistia).  I can't remember what it is, as it was a random purchase from Vivarium.

Two of the three have almost certainly paired up.  They tend to stay together whilst browsing around the substrate and tend to rub against each other now and then.  The one which I think is the male tends to chase off the third fish, which I think is a juvenile male.  I'm considering whether to move him to another tank and leave these two too it   I'd like to get him a girl friend too


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## a1Matt (9 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*



			
				dw1305 said:
			
		

> You need to maintain very warm, humid air over the breeding tank



This is so the labyrinth organ can develop properly.


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## Steve Smith (9 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

Is that for the nursery tank, or for the gourami tank in general?


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## a1Matt (9 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

Just for the fry (while their labyrinth organ is developing).


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## Steve Smith (9 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

OK, thanks for the info   I'm not sure if they'll get separated out to their own tank to be honest (assuming I even get any young).  I'll see what happens!


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## OllieNZ (10 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

I currently have 7 of these in an 80l tank with just shrimp. I've only had them a few weeks and just moved the into their new tank last night. I was planning to have a go at breeding them so thanks for the great info. I can confirm the clicking noise they make, I was watching 2 fish display at each other and they were making a chirping/clicking noise.
Any more pointers on breeding them would be much appreciated.

Regards

Ollie


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## Steve Smith (13 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

I had a bit of a surprise about an hour ago.  I popped into my bedroom on the way out of the front door to get something and naturally stopped and oggled the fish for a few moments.  The gouramis all came out as they seem to do now that they've settled in (expecting food no doubt).  

I noticed that the larger fish (which I've been calling the female) had some damage to her tail   Then, the two that seem to have paired up doubled over together and spawned!   The female popped out a little white sack of what I assume were eggs, which the male popped into his mouth and swam off to the corner of the tank with.  It was then that I noticed a bubble nest in the bottom right corner, on the underside of the filter.  The male proceeded to insert eggs into the next  8) 

I checked a few moments ago and he's camped out in that corner keeping an eye on things     I'm not sure what to do now... Ideally it'd be nice to raise the fry but I'm not sure I have the resources to move the other two fish out to another tank.  I don't think they'd be happy in my 60cm, and they'd probably feast on any shrimplets in my nano (which I've spotted a berried female in at last).

I think I'm going to leave them too it this time and see what happens.  If I can raise some fry, then great... If not, well they'll spawn again, I'm sure


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## greenjar (13 May 2011)

*Re: Sparkling Gouramis*

awesome Steve...that happend quickly.... It will be entertaining for you to see how they get on


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## a1Matt (13 May 2011)

Damn.  That was super quick.  I agree leave them to it for now. 

I wish I was more local to you, I'd either led you a tank or take the fry off of you to raise.


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## Steve Smith (13 May 2011)

I've got enough bits to put together another tank, but I need to spend some time this weekend sorting stuff out really.  Like, I need to clean out a 2213 and try to find a spray bar (which I don't remember if I have or not).


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## Steve Smith (15 May 2011)

Well, after a couple of hours of trying, I managed to catch and move the young male and the female and they are now in my 60cm community scape.  They seem to quite like it in there!  They even spend time together now, after the female being quite nasty in the smaller tank.

The other male is happily guarding what are now fry!  I can see a small group of maybe 20 or so fry, all hanging out under the bubble nest.  The male seems to pluck them and move them back into the safety of the nest if they move to far out.

I'm a bit concerned about feeding them, as I don't have anything at the moment, and infosuria will take time.  I think this batch of young may have to fend for themselves, and I'll be more organised next time (who'd of thought I'd have fry within a week!)

Lessons learnt and all


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## a1Matt (16 May 2011)

SteveUK said:
			
		

> I'm a bit concerned about feeding them, as I don't have anything at the moment, and infosuria will take time.



I heard you can use powdered baby milk to create infusoria in just a couple of days.
Not sure the details, but might be worth looking into (maybe for future spawns).


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## Gill (16 May 2011)

Congrats Steve, 2nd time they have spawned for you after having them for only a short time. 

For feeding, you can also use hard boiled Egg yolk. Tiny bit ( 1/2 Little Finger Nail) mixed (tank water) into a paste then added to the water. It is what i use when Breeding Fighters and not had any probs with it. Powdered egg yolk from the supermarket works the same.


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## Gill (16 May 2011)

Where I have ordered from in the past
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10g-Powdered-...5?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item56408eadeb


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## Steve Smith (16 May 2011)

Thanks for the info Pard  

It was interesting last night.  I watching the dad zipping around the tank and thought he might be stressed or excited about something, but after I watched him for a while I realised that he was actually zipping around inspecting every bit of floating debris/detritus, or checking the edges of leaves and hardscape.  Any of the fry that had strayed out of the nest and been washed out into the tank he would peck off whatever they'd latched onto and return them to the nest.

I even got in on the action, using a wooden skewer (about the most useful tool in my hardscaping kit!) to gently move the odd fry that he'd missed.  I would poke them very gently and they'd latch onto the end of the scewer, and I would then move the skewer close to the male who would then peck them off the end and move them back to the nest.  8)


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## Gill (16 May 2011)

Wooden Spoons are great as they have been worn down by usage. They are soft edged and great for scaping and breeding. I also like to use the Soft Plastic Ladles.


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## a1Matt (16 May 2011)

Fishkeeping geek cool gets no better than that


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## dw1305 (16 May 2011)

Hi all,
Try squeezing out a filter sponge, and then pipetting the gunge to the fry, I usually squeeze out the sponge into a small beaker, and them 1/2 fill it with tank water. Give the water in the beaker a good swirl, and then suck the water out of the central vortex with a transfer pipette (little plastic eye dropper -  TA aquaculture sell them) and pipette it a drop at the time towards the fry.  You get a lot of rotifers this way, and they should provide some food for the fry.

Another possibility is if you used the "mosquito bucket" from earlier in the thread, you should now find egg rafts (thin black velvety smudges -  picture below) floating on the top of the water, 




you can transfer these to the tank, and as the fry get bigger they will eat the newly hatched mosquito larvae.

cheers Darrel


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## Gill (16 May 2011)

never thought of feeding the mozzie egg sacks


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## Steve Smith (16 May 2011)

Thanks for the tips Darrel   Hopefully some mozzie eggs on their way from Gill.  I've started with the egg yolk idea tonight.  I'm trying to be careful not to over do it though.

I had a shock when I got home tonight.  I couldn't see any fry, and the bubble nest was gone   I saw the male swimming about as he has been doing for the last few days, so I looked around to try and see the fry.  I assumed they'd somehow dispersed and been scattered around the tank.  I was hoping this was the case, and not my other thought which was that the dad had eaten them.

After 5 minutes of looking at all the roots of the various floating plants I spotted a single fry so I gave up and carried on with my evening    I went back and had another look a few hours later and was surprised to see all the fry crowded under a bolbitis leaf   The dad had re-built the bubble nest under the filter and was starting to transfer the fry back to it!  8)


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## Gill (16 May 2011)

Told you, don't worry the male will move the nest a few times. 
Will send Egg sacs in the morrow.


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## OllieNZ (21 May 2011)

Congrats Steve,
What are your tank stats, hardness, ph etc?
What sort of behavior do they show when they are starting to pair up?

Regards

Ollie


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## greenjar (13 Jun 2011)

Hi Steve.  How are the fry getting on?  How did the mozzie egg rafts work out?


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