Breading Gouramis (Colisia Lalia)

[clubbing80s]

Hi.

I bought 2 weeks ago royal red and and colbolt blue with the aim to bread with them later in the year. Yesterday I bought what I was told was a female colbolt blue. When I checked the tank this morning my Royal Red and Colbolt Blue have started nesting. Building bubble nests and collecting plant material. This was unexpected and very exciting as a beginner.

When I was at a fish shop earlier today I was told that the majority of imported males are sterilized by breeders.

What are the odds my male are sterile ?

Is there a way to tell other than just trying to pair them off ?

Is there a way to reverse this ?

Is this female

a colbolt blue ?

I take it she is to young to reproduce ?

Thanks

Greg

[Joe]

Here's a really good website with lots of info

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?genus=Trichogaster&species=lalius&id=82

It appears that their latin name has been changed.

[Zev]

Have not heard about the sterilisation bit, what has been happening of late until recently is that only males are available for sale. You cannot tell if a male is sterile, best course of action is to see what happens.

How large is your tank? These gourami can be very aggressive to co specifics, especially the female, so offer plenty of plants for them to hide in or they will get beaten up.

The females usually do not show much colouration, blue bars show faintly over the dull grey if anything. They can hold all of the colour morph genes - red, blue and classic striped, so it is a bit pot luck what you get when they breed.

If you see them breeding the best course of action if you wish to raise the fry is to remove the bubble nest after they have finished by scooping the whole thing up in a container that you can float in the tank too keep the temp the same as the main tank. After they have hatched and are a few days old you can put them in a tank that you have setup with a sponge filter and a low water level to grow them out. Beware - my first spawn saw me feeding and raising about 80 fry on Liquifry then BBs for weeks!

[clubbing80s]

Here's a really good website with lots of info

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?genus=Trichogaster&species=lalius&id=82

It appears that their latin name has been changed.

Thanks for the link very informative have a better idea . Think I'll be buying an other tank or 2 lol

[clubbing80s]

Have not heard about the sterilisation bit, what has been happening of late until recently is that only males are available for sale. You cannot tell if a male is sterile, best course of action is to see what happens.

How large is your tank? These gourami can be very aggressive to co specifics, especially the female, so offer plenty of plants for them to hide in or they will get beaten up.

The females usually do not show much colouration, blue bars show faintly over the dull grey if anything. They can hold all of the colour morph genes - red, blue and classic striped, so it is a bit pot luck what you get when they breed.

If you see them breeding the best course of action if you wish to raise the fry is to remove the bubble nest after they have finished by scooping the whole thing up in a container that you can float in the tank too keep the temp the same as the main tank. After they have hatched and are a few days old you can put them in a tank that you have setup with a sponge filter and a low water level to grow them out. Beware - my first spawn saw me feeding and raising about 80 fry on Liquifry then BBs for weeks!

thanks for the advice.

I have a 70lt tank.

3 dwarf gouramis

2 perl gouramis

7 guppies think I'll find them another home.

2 algae eaters picus I think.

The tank is heaverly planted on the sides , plants on the one side still need to grow.

Tanks 4 weeks old just completed the cycle last week.

Can see I need another tank or two lol .

Thanks

Greg

[Caryl]

...and so it begins :gigl:

MULTIPLE TANK SYNDROME. (There is no cure!!!) :slfg:

[clubbing80s]

...and so it begins :gigl:

MULTIPLE TANK SYNDROME. (There is no cure!!!) :slfg:

Lol I see so :-D

[JS1987]

i wish you luck :nfs:

[clubbing80s]

i wish you luck :nfs:

Thank you :-)

[A-town...]

appears to be a female what an excellent find! where did you get her from?

[clubbing80s]

appears to be a female what an excellent find! where did you get her from?

World of water in Hamilton was the only one. Looking for another ..

[Sunbird73]

I am the same as you - have a cobalt male and royal red male and one female. I tried spawning the royal red and female a few weeks ago but no babies. I possibly panicked and took the female out too early as she started to pick at the eggs and I thought she would eat them. I saw them spawn about 3-4 times but not sure if they were finished.

I then fed the female up and put her with the cobalt male a few days ago, and they started spawning last night. This time I left them for about 3 hrs and then removed her (they looked finished and he was quite aggressive). Now I don't know whether to remove the male or leave him with the nest - will he eat the eggs/wrigglers?

Anyone actually had any eggs hatch? Hoping the reports of sterility are not true

[clubbing80s]

I am the same as you - have a cobalt male and royal red male and one female. I tried spawning the royal red and female a few weeks ago but no babies. I possibly panicked and took the female out too early as she started to pick at the eggs and I thought she would eat them. I saw them spawn about 3-4 times but not sure if they were finished.

I then fed the female up and put her with the cobalt male a few days ago, and they started spawning last night. This time I left them for about 3 hrs and then removed her (they looked finished and he was quite aggressive). Now I don't know whether to remove the male or leave him with the nest - will he eat the eggs/wrigglers?

Anyone actually had any eggs hatch? Hoping the reports of sterility are not true

Hi.

In answer to how long after spawning

"Once spawning has ended, the male takes responsibility for guarding and tending the brood. He becomes completely intolerant of his mate and she should be removed for her own safety at this point. Hatching time is dependant on temperature, but usually occurs within 36 hours, and is signified by the nest breaking apart. Observation thorugh a magnifying glass should reveal hundreds of tiny fry. Most males are ok to leave in with the fry for the first couple of days, until they have used up their yolk sacs. It is really a matter of personal choice if you choose to leave the male with the fry until they become free swimming or remove him immediately post-hatching."

From here http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?genus=Trichogaster&species=lalius&id=82 it's very informative. Credit to Joe for providing the link.

Mine haven't actually spawned yet as far as I know. There is to much competition in the tank. I'm looking around for another tank similar to mine just a bit smaller.

I will not be very impressed if my fish are sterile. Once I have another tank I'll report back.

Good luck with this spawning will be holding thumbs for success :-)

Greg

[Sunbird73]

I have a 60/30/30 you can have for free (tho no lids), tho if you are in Hamilton it might be a bit far to come.

Thanks for that info, the nest never did break up last time tho it was under a halved poly cup so not sure if that would make a difference? I checked daily with a magnifying glass and gave up about day 6 or so after spawning.

cross fingers!

[Zev]

I have never had them raise fry successfully in a community tank, only raised some that I took out as I mentioned earlier. The male would chase and beat up the female regardless - nest or no nest, then when he went all dark around the face and lower chest and started showing off his manly prowess, she would sidle up to him and they would spawn :-?

[clubbing80s]

I have never had them raise fry successfully in a community tank, only raised some that I took out as I mentioned earlier. The male would chase and beat up the female regardless - nest or no nest, then when he went all dark around the face and lower chest and started showing off his manly prowess, she would sidle up to him and they would spawn :-?

lol never expecting them to nest . was planing on getting a dedicated breading tank in a couple of months and was expect it to be quite difficult to get them to nest.. There is to much tension between the Gouramis for there to be any successes for a spawning.

[Sunbird73]

well - I think I have babies! They are just resting on top of the leaves around the nest, don't appear to be able to swim, and he is still actively blowing bubbles into the nest. Not sure how much longer to leave him there for (it is 48hrs post spawning), don't want them to get eaten?

They are so TINY, I wonder now if there were some babies first time they spawned but I just couldn't see them. Was also expecting them to be wriggling/vibrating like the apisto babies did when they were first hatched/before free swimming. These could easily pass for BBA fragments!

FYI the nest looked broken up yesterday evening (@ 24hrs post spawn), but I couldn't see any babies tho thought I saw a couple of eggs. By this morning he had re-blown the nest. So nest breaking up may not be a great indicator after all, as looking at it now its perfect but they have hatched :dunno:

Soooo not infertile then, good news for yours I wish I could take a photo but too small for my crappy camera.

[clubbing80s]

well - I think I have babies! They are just resting on top of the leaves around the nest, don't appear to be able to swim, and he is still actively blowing bubbles into the nest. Not sure how much longer to leave him there for (it is 48hrs post spawning), don't want them to get eaten?

They are so TINY, I wonder now if there were some babies first time they spawned but I just couldn't see them. Was also expecting them to be wriggling/vibrating like the apisto babies did when they were first hatched/before free swimming. These could easily pass for BBA fragments!

FYI the nest looked broken up yesterday evening (@ 24hrs post spawn), but I couldn't see any babies tho thought I saw a couple of eggs. By this morning he had re-blown the nest. So nest breaking up may not be a great indicator after all, as looking at it now its perfect but they have hatched :dunno:

Soooo not infertile then, good news for yours I wish I could take a photo but too small for my crappy camera.

Congratulations :-) Thanks for letting me know .. I feel a lot better about mine.