# sparkling\croaking gourami



## a1Matt (1 Nov 2011)

I've had sparkling gourami for about a month ish now.

They have settled in and this week they started croaking.

I caught it in this vid, the croaking starts 32 seconds in. It is a basic Nokia phone capture, nothing flash.  I left it running while out the room, hence the lack of zoom.


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## Ian Holdich (2 Nov 2011)

Thats ace! 

do you keep shrimp with these?


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## dw1305 (3 Nov 2011)

Hi all,
I think _Trichopsis vittatus_ and _T. pumila_ (Sparkling/Dwarf Sparkling) are both very underrated fish, and I don't understand why they aren't  more popular.

I think the croaking probably means that the male is ready to breed.

cheers Darrel


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## BigTom (3 Nov 2011)

I'm considering a pair/trio of _T. pumila_ for my 12" cube if I can't find any _Indostomus_, reckon they'd be OK in something that small? Not overly keen on keeping fish in cramped accommodation.


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## dw1305 (3 Nov 2011)

Hi all,


> I'm considering a pair/trio of T. pumila for my 12" cube if I can't find any Indostomus, reckon they'd be OK in something that small? Not overly keen on keeping fish in cramped accommodation.


 I think they should be fine space wise, as it is about 25 litres. I wouldn't go a lot smaller because of the problems in keep the tank stable. I'll ask Mike (at Amazon Aquatics) again about _Indostomus_, he kept on saying he was still expecting some in, but as far as I know they never arrived.

cheers Darrel


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## BigTom (3 Nov 2011)

I've got Colin Dunlop on the lookout for Indostomus as well, he hasn't had them on his lists for a little while though. Not in any rush but would be nice to get some next time I'm home (December).


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## a1Matt (3 Nov 2011)

ianho said:
			
		

> Thats ace!
> 
> do you keep shrimp with these?



Yes, my blue pearls are in with them.
They hunt the blue pearls continuously, but thankfully seem to be quite bad at it.  I expect they are getting to some of them, but the tank has lots of hiding places.  The moss wall in particular is a great once.  It is so dense in patches that I can lose two or three of the gouramis in it at once!



			
				dw1305 said:
			
		

> Hi all,
> I think _Trichopsis vittatus_ and _T. pumila_ (Sparkling/Dwarf Sparkling) are both very underrated fish, and I don't understand why they aren't  more popular.
> 
> I think the croaking probably means that the male is ready to breed.
> ...



Breeding would be fantastic!  Along with the croaking there is a lot of flaring, which shows off the red patterning on the fins nicely.  The reason I mention it is that the patterns have improved a lot over the last week.  Possibly another sign they are well conditioned.  Quite exciting.

I think they get overlooked in LFS as there are always more brightly coloured fish on display around them.  Such a shame as once they settle in, and under subdued lighting, their patterning is beautiful. It is the behaviour that draws me to them though 



			
				BigTom said:
			
		

> I'm considering a pair/trio of _T. pumila_ for my 12" cube if I can't find any _Indostomus_, reckon they'd be OK in something that small? Not overly keen on keeping fish in cramped accommodation.



No idea really, my fauna often get given oversized accomodation (my next shrimp tank will be 155l!), so I will happily bow to Darrel's judgement.  The only thing I can add is that I would give them enough hiding places, so they can be out of line of sight of each other when needed (they are always darting at each other and then retreating).


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## frothhelmet (1 Dec 2011)

epic! Thanks for sharing matt.


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## chilled84 (1 Dec 2011)

That is Fantastic!


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## Morgan Freeman (1 Dec 2011)

Are they easy to get hold of? Have decided on some for my NPT Riparium. It's 29 Uk Gallons.


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## Steve Smith (1 Dec 2011)

Great Matt   I love these fish.  I've had several over the years.  Currently have one loan male in my  60cm tank.  I had fry at one point last year, but they didn't make it unfortunately.

This is a photo of one of my originals from a few years back:

http://deviant-uk.org/pics/aquatics/Liv ... ami_02.jpg


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