Chocolate and Samurai Gouramis breeding

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Thought I would share some of my current breeding projects - chocolate gouramis. Both the regular Chocolate Gourami (Sphaerichthys osphromenoides) and the Samurai Gourami (Sphaerichthys vaillanti).

I got 6 Chocolate gouramis (3 males, 3 females by chance) in late April from Big Al's and they have been doing great in my blackwater 90 gallon tank (pH 5.0, TDS 35, KH 0, GH 2, temp 27C, no detectable ammonia, nitrite or nitrate). Recently, they started breeding. A couple weeks ago I notice that one of the females was holding eggs - they are mouthbrooders and the females are the ones that hold the eggs for 7-21 days. I moved her to a floating breeding box (without taking her out of water) but the stress of the move was too much and she released the eggs prematurely.   Currently, the other 2 females are holding eggs. This time I decided to leave them in the main tank and try to get some of the fry later (the tank has a heavy floating plants cover).  The female tries to stay away from the other fish and the male sticks close by chasing away anyone that gets too close.

Here are some pictures:

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In June, I was able to get my hands on some Samurai Gouramis. They are still young and are just starting to develop their amazing colours (https://www.google.ca/search?q=samurai+gouramis&biw=1536&bih=770&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCcQ7AlqFQoTCOzDsf6V5cYCFZAQkgodltAGZA#tbm=isch&q=samurai+gourami) but they have been doing very well on their own 20 gallon long. Again, I am keeping them in a blackwater environment (pH 5.7,TDS 54,KH 0,GH 3,temp 27.2C, no detectable ammonia, nitrite or nitrate).  I have 10 with a mix of  males and females although it is too early to be 100% sure. I have been feeding them lots of live and frozen foods (white worms, brine shrimp, bloodworms, Cyclops,etc). Here are some pictures:

[Mike L]

Learn something new every day. I thought all gourami's were bubble nesters. Keep us posted.
Mike

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Like the bettas, there are bubble nesters and mouthbrooders. Unusually, it is the female chocolate gourami that holds the eggs. For the samurai gourami, like the bettas (i think), it is the male. The female samurai is also more colourful than the male. Lots of diversity across these guys!

[MixmUp]

That's incredible!  I had regular chocolate gouramis for years and got nothing.  I also had samurai gouramis but the female picked on both of the accompanying males until they were too scared to come out to eat.  I sadly didn't have another tank to isolate them so they didn't make it. 

The next time I'm going to get more and put them in a much larger tank.

Fantastic!  You have a talent with these little gouramis!

[vic622]

Any idea what prompted them to breed? Did you change any parameters or do a big water change to coax them?

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Unfortunately, I have sad news . After holding the eggs for close to 20 days both females became too weak and sick and did not make it. Partly because they kept being pursued by the males. I am not sure if they released any fry and if the fry are alive as there is a thick cover of floating plants. Still, I don't have much hope as there are many hungry mouths in the tank.

Vic622: Getting them to breed was just a question of providing the right parameters (I use pretty extreme parameters - see above) and food (live bbs, microworms, white worms, bloodworms) and waiting that they matured. I think that very low carbonates, TDS and pH are very important. Also, a high enough temperature (>26C). I use RO/DI water and just add a bit of Seachem equilibrium to raise the GH. Besides that, I didn't do anything in particular to coax them to breed. I just waited. It could be that weather changes or other fluctuations are important but I don't know.

The good news are that the samurai gouramis are doing great and started showing amazing colours. I will post photos soon.

[vic622]

Sorry to hear about the chocolates. Too bad they stressed out

I am both intrigued and pleased to hear that good husbandry is what you figure brought about the breeding.

Intrigued, because I thought that it would take habitat change, like the start of the rainy season, to bring about breeding.

Pleased, because balance & good husbandry is something I strive for in all my tanks.

Hopefully, now the samurai's will cooperate & breed, too!

Vic

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Intrigued, because I thought that it would take habitat change, like the start of the rainy season, to bring about breeding.

The two are not inconsistent. With the rainy season probably comes a decrease in TDS, KH and pH. It could be that I am providing those conditions. The trigger does not have to be a change of conditions but could be the conditions themselves. Also, it could be that during the rainy season there is a bigger abundance of food and that is what I am providing.

I have noticed that my Boraras naevus (strawberry rasboras) only breed intensely and successfully when the pH is below 7. They also seem to breed more intensely some times in the year (june/july and later in the fall) and when a storm is coming.

There are still many mysteries to be solved

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The samurais are now in full colour and starting to pair up.