The homeland of spotted gourami is Indochina. In the natural environment, fish live in stagnant and slowly flowing water bodies. Locals enjoy eating gourams as food, in nature such fish reach sizes up to 15 cm in length.
In appearance, they are quite beautiful water inhabitants, they are very popular among aquarium lovers, they may well not only decorate the fish house, but also bring benefits by eating all the hydras in it. Have you decided to have such a fish as spotted gourami? Content, its compatibility with other aquarium inhabitants, diet and reproduction - you can learn about all this from the article.
Description
These fish were called so because of the special structure of the lips. They are highly developed by the gourami and are adapted to clean the glass of the aquarium of the remnants of food and growths of greenery. The movements of the lips are very reminiscent of a kiss, especially in those moments when the fish quarrel among themselves and push their mouths wide open.
Spotted gourami in an aquarium environment grows up to 12 cm. The body of the fish is high and compressed on the sides. The fins are similar to a thin, whiskered whiskers, which in their length correspond to the total length of the body. These antennae in fish help to sense the environment, they are constantly moving. If a spotted gourami sees an unfamiliar object, a fish or a snail, then it immediately begins to feel from all sides until it becomes familiar. During spawning, females and males touch each other with a mustache, as if caressing and hugging. If it happens that the antennae breaks off, then soon after the injury it grows back. The anal fin begins near the anus and ends at the beginning of the caudal fin.
The color of the spotted gourami is silver-lilac. Across the body are purple stripes with a dark tint. Near the tail and in the middle of the body there is a dark spot. The fins are transparent with white or pale orange spots.
Males differ from females in a more saturated color, in females the anal and dorsal fins are sharper and longer than in males.
Spotted gourami: content
There is no difficulty in keeping spotted gourami, as they are not picky, but you still need to know some features if you decide to have these beautiful fish in your home. The most important thing is to choose a suitable aquarium, which should be at least 40 liters in volume.
The next step is to prepare the house for the fish. Before filling it with water, it must be defended for two days. In what water will a spotted gourami feel comfortable?
• Temperature - 22-28 degrees.
• Hardness (dH) - 5-35.
• Acidity (pH) - 6.0-8.5.
At the bottom of the aquarium, place dark pebbles or gravel, put several different snags and large rounded stones. Part of the water house should be densely planted with Javanese moss, Thai fern, Wallisneria, or cryptocorins. On the surface of the water, place duckweed, salvia, richchia or pistol.
Aquarium with spotty inhabitants is recommended to be placed in a place where it will be lit by the sun for several hours a day. Fish of this species are very mobile, they can easily jump out of the water and die. To prevent this from happening, their glass house must be covered with a special cover. It must be cleaned once every seven days. Gourami aeration and water filtration are optional.
Food ration
Spotted gourami is not picky in food; it eats with pleasure both vegetable food and food of animal origin.
Plant feed:
- White bread crumbs.
- Lettuce leaves.
- Oatmeal, finely ground.
- Filamentous algae.
Live feed:
- The pipe maker.
- Bloodworm.
- Daphnia.
- Artemia.
- Flies.
Dry feeds such as cyclops, daphnia, gammarus can also be included in the diet.
Breeding
Spotted gourami spawns in a forty-liter aquarium with a water level of not more than 20 cm at a temperature of at least 27-28 degrees, the composition of the water is normal.
A week before spawning, the fish-parents should be fed only with live food. The male, without the participation of the female, builds a nest, spending about two days on this occupation. In a finished apartment, a future mother swims to him and begins to spawn, the future dad fertilizes her immediately.
After spawning, the female immediately needs to be planted, the male gourami himself perfectly cares for the nest and eggs. At this time, he is very attentive and caring, regularly adjusts the nest, if necessary transfers eggs to the best place in the house, creates a flow of water with the movements of the fins.
As a result of such efforts, after a day in the nest, you can notice small larvae that keep upright. A caring father will look after the children until they turn into fry and swim out of the nest. At this time, a good parent turns into a terrible cannibal and can easily eat all the offspring that he so carefully looked after. Therefore, it is very important not to miss the moment of transformation and to drop the male in time. The remaining small fish should be fed with infusoria for 3-4 days, then you can switch to small zooplankton.
Aquarium compatibility with other fish
Spotted gourami - the fish is very peaceful. Such beauties feel comfortable with other calm inhabitants of the aquarium.
It is only necessary to select for the neighborhood those species that need the same water parameters and conditions.
Ideal neighbors for gourami:
- Swordsmen.
- Barbs.
- Parsing.
- Somiki.
- Lyalius.
- Danio
- Pecilia.