Bubble nest experts

[Matt Nace]

My honey gourmis were placed in my 30 gallon, fully planted tank yesterday. Only 2 weeks in the q-tank, but I couldn't wait.

Well one was in the middle blowing some bubbles under a leaf. Is this a bubble nest?  It isn't big...and there is a lot Co2 bubbles and O2 bubbles so I cant tell, except when I see him, which are his or what.

What do I look for in spawning bahavior?

Thanks

[fishboy]

How big is the nest exactly???Do u have a male and fem??? If you do you can probaly safely say that it is one.But,you have to keep a constant temp of 80 or 82 and a good fitting cover or the fry will die from a cold temp.[glow=color,strength,width][/glow]. WHat to look for well, the male is usaully courting the fem. into the nest and then, he wraps himself around her and she lays the eggs. THe male the quickly pick them up and into the nest. HTH ;D

[Matt Nace]

Hey FB,

The temp of the tank, I try to keep at 78, so the plants don't have any problems with heat.

It is very hard to tell what a male and female look like, cause these are young...and they don't look like the picture yet that I have seen them look like.

I think the males are getting a stripe down their backs and stomachs.

[fishboy]

There are other ways from telling tham apart . Here is one on the male fish the upper finnage is more pionted and on the female fish it is more rounded. HTH ;D

[sonofseattle]

Well what I have found in what I have done in the past is to have 4 females per 1 male and tell you what you will have grrrreat sucess.  Of course the movement of your tank must be very slow moving temp. about 80 to really getem nice and hot and rdy to breed(like some of the welfare women do hehe).
 Have some nice floating plants on top.  And of course I am sure you do know that they get there air by getting it from the top of the water level so air stones in such are really not needed for this kinda of setup.  Anyhow this is how I have had grrrrreat success.



Sonofseattle :P

[kitten]

The female honey gourami's are silver grey, only the males will have the color...

Even if you have two males, they'll blow bubble nests. I had a male dwarf and a male flame and they fought it out over plant bits and stuff to build their nests with.
Spawning behaviour is pretty typical, the male chases the female under his nest and tries to make her deposit the eggs...it's pretty similar to betta spawning, just not as aggressive. I had a pair with about 30 fry, it was their first spawn, they ate most of them, so it would be a good idea to remove the babies/parents if and when you get a spawn.

[Colisa lalia]

If you have never bred gouramis before it is difficult to know what to look for. A small mound of bubbles means the fish is inactive and is waiting for something to do. A huge mound and I mean huge like an inch or so out of the water is what your really going for. The smaller gouramis in fact all gouramis are very timid when breeding so try to stay out of the room if possible. Feed lots of live food. Seperating them for a few days is also bery good at getting them to breed. I just bred blue gouramis and the male never made a bubble nest he just kind of herded the clear eggs together. GL ;D