gourami fry help

zephelia · 05-19-2009, 01:53 AM

I have a pair of "dwarf marigold gourami". I think they are actually a color variation of the honey or sunset gourami. The female is mostly the color of butter with a silver underbelly, and the male is vibrant yellow with orange tips along his fins, and he gets a five o'clock shadow when he's thinking about spawning (below his mouth and towards his belly turn black). He builds a bubble nest about the size of my thumbnail, spawns with the female, and protects the fry and nest...untill the lights go out and the kuhlii loaches dance all over the aquarium walls, destroy the nest and distribute the eggs/fry for all the other tank mates. This has happened three times so far, and this time I thought I'd intervene. I've managed to suck up about a dozen or so free swimming fry and have them in a floating container in my tank. They hatched on Friday night, and I had some "baby bites" powdered food I've been offering. I put some tank water in a jar in the sun with a spinach leaf to try to grow some green water (still waiting on that). I have also been reading that egg yolks are a good first fish food. My questions(finally) are, could raw egg yolk and nutritional yeast be offered? When will the fry be big enough to eat? How long does green water take? I'd love some help, these seem to be unusual fish. They are not googleable, and are the nicest fish I've ever kept. I'm a little concerned that the bubble nest is always so small and the egg count is scarce. Do fish suffer the same consequences as humans due to inbreeding? My pair of gouramis are very possibly brother and sister(icky). Thanks for any help!!!!!

ValRasbora · 05-19-2009, 03:30 PM

I've heard that most dwarf gourmais are all the same, only with color variations and are marketed under different names.
Don't fry have those food sack things to feed off of? I gave my goldfish (adult goldfish) (long time ago, actually) some boiled egg yolk. It didn't seem to harm them, so I would give your fry a very small bit of boiled egg yolk, finely crumpled up.

05-19-2009, 01:53 AM	#1
zephelia Teenie Weenie Fish Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 4	gourami fry help I have a pair of "dwarf marigold gourami". I think they are actually a color variation of the honey or sunset gourami. The female is mostly the color of butter with a silver underbelly, and the male is vibrant yellow with orange tips along his fins, and he gets a five o'clock shadow when he's thinking about spawning (below his mouth and towards his belly turn black). He builds a bubble nest about the size of my thumbnail, spawns with the female, and protects the fry and nest...untill the lights go out and the kuhlii loaches dance all over the aquarium walls, destroy the nest and distribute the eggs/fry for all the other tank mates. This has happened three times so far, and this time I thought I'd intervene. I've managed to suck up about a dozen or so free swimming fry and have them in a floating container in my tank. They hatched on Friday night, and I had some "baby bites" powdered food I've been offering. I put some tank water in a jar in the sun with a spinach leaf to try to grow some green water (still waiting on that). I have also been reading that egg yolks are a good first fish food. My questions(finally) are, could raw egg yolk and nutritional yeast be offered? When will the fry be big enough to eat? How long does green water take? I'd love some help, these seem to be unusual fish. They are not googleable, and are the nicest fish I've ever kept. I'm a little concerned that the bubble nest is always so small and the egg count is scarce. Do fish suffer the same consequences as humans due to inbreeding? My pair of gouramis are very possibly brother and sister(icky). Thanks for any help!!!!!

05-19-2009, 03:30 PM	#2
ValRasbora Large Fish Join Date: May 2009 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 605	I've heard that most dwarf gourmais are all the same, only with color variations and are marketed under different names. Don't fry have those food sack things to feed off of? I gave my goldfish (adult goldfish) (long time ago, actually) some boiled egg yolk. It didn't seem to harm them, so I would give your fry a very small bit of boiled egg yolk, finely crumpled up.