| Chocolate Gouramies 
Photo by Andy These are very delicate fish and not for the beginner, Even to successfully keep these fish is not easy never mind breed them. They should be kept in a species tank because they are not suited to life in the community, most will only accept live food but with patience the majority of them will learn to eat frozen or freeze-dried food, even flake eventually. They require quite a high temperature 77f to 86f and soft acidic water pH 6 to 6.5, GH 0 to 5, Filtering the water through peat also helps, the water must also be of a high quality, Ammonia nil, Nitrite nil, and Nitrate below 10ppm. They are quite small at less than 2 inch, and very peaceful fish and you should allow 2 Imp Gall per adult. The tank should have gentle filtration and heavily planted. Regular partial water changes are essential and the pH should be carefully monitored because in very soft water there is the risk of a sudden pH drop. Try to keep equal males to females to encourage pairs to form. The sexes are difficult to distinguish but the male has a yellow border along the edge of his anal fin and tail. If kept in this way once the fish have settled sooner or later a pair will decide to breed, there is very little you can do to encourage this other than keep them has outlined above. There is little or no obvious courtship and then the eggs will be laid and fertilized the female will then pick up the eggs with her mouth and stores them in a brood pouch, they will stay there for about 3 weeks although young inexperienced females may eat there own eggs for the first few times and this should be expected. If the fry are to have any chance of survial the female will have to be placed in a tank of her own or the fry will be eaten as soon as they emerge. The female should not be moved imediatly though because this will almost certainly cause her to eat the eggs. You should wait for about 7 days then move her, this gives ger time to get used to the eggs and to allow her protective instincts towards them to develop. The water in the new tank must be identical in its chemistry and temp as the old tank. And quite a few plants should be included to help the female to settle and feel secure. Twelve days after spawning the fry will emerge, they will usually head into the plants and stay there motionless. the female should be removed now and retured to the original tank The fry are big enough to be fed on newly hatche Brine Shrimps and grow very quickly. At the age of 5 weeks the fry should look like minitures of the adults and be over 1/2 inch long. The water must be kept within the bounderies as outlined for the adults because the fry are even more sensitve than the adults and maintaining good water quality is the only way to succeed with these fish. Back to Species Selection | 
