I had recently put my Dwarf Gourami into a tank of their own as they have layed eggs twice before in my community tank and I thought I may as well give it a try. Nothing had happened for a few days so I thought I would put them back in the community tank. When I went to remove the adults I noticed sparkly specks which turned out to be hundreds of fry. I have removed the parents and will get suitable food today. Hopefully some of them will survive. This is my first succesful egg laying breed. Seriously stoked and excited
Thanks @Reedfish. Yup, seriously exciting and a pleasant change from vermin...I mean guppies. :blink1:
@llewellynkearney - Thanks man. Yeah, they are really beautiful. The colours on my male are seriuosly vibrant. I thought I made a mistake getting them but haven't regretted it yet. Amazing to watch the whole courting/spawning process.
Thanks @BBQ; @bylaag - They are seriously microscopic so will post pics when they are visible to my camera @llewellynkearney - I will definitely sell them if they survive so will keep you in mind and keep updating here.
@TheGrissom - BS I have but the problem is they are smaller than freshly hatched BS. I am going to get Liquifry No1 as it is supposedly suitable for egg layers unless anyone can suggest a readily available food source?
Have any of our members ever bred Colisa Lalia (Dwarf Gouramis) successfully? When should I switch to Brine Shrimp? Any advice would be helpful...
Hi MarcHawke, I have bred Colisa lalia in the past. The fry are a nightmare to raise because of their size. Have you tried greenwater? I have also used egg suspension. Did a small water change everyday to keep up condition, with warm water once the fry were free swimming. Make sure to keep your lid on tight, to prevent chills. These guys tend to croak because of minor fluctuations. After a few days or so on the greenwater/ egg suspension, move them to microworms. I had been adding microworms to the water everyday from the time they were free swimming though. After a week or 2 BS. If you raise a few you have done well. I have bred Thick lipped gouramis, trichogaster species and raised hundreds from a single spawn. But Colisa lalia only a handful from the spawn, around 20 or so. I'm sure there are members here who have had better success and can help you out though. Regards Shaun
@KennyG - I didn't see the spawning take place this time as I had them in an isolated tank but I noticed eggs a few days later on the surface of the water (not in a bubble nest). The fry must have been there for a day or so as they are so tiny that I only noticed them by accident. Thanks @Shaun P. Always helpful to chat to others who have suceeded at breeding the same species. I don't have access to greenwater or microworms but I'm hoping there are infusoria in the tank anyway as it has a lot of plants (I read that this is possible). I bought liquifry no1 yesterday but didn't see them actually eating the stuff. I have brine shrimp but only have means to hatch 1 batch a day at the moment. I need to DIY a second system. As I said their tank is inside my cabinet so temps stay consistant and I have a sponge filter on very low so that it doesn't disturb them too much. I will need to look at covering my syphon with sponge so I can do small water changes. When I looked this morning there are still loads of little shiny sparkly fry so yay...all good so far. For anyone that has never seen their fry, they are about 1-2mm and have tails (which is sort of odd considering the adult shape). I feel like a kid in a candy store - I keep opening the cabinet and looking inside:amuse:. Hurry up and get big enough to feed brine shrimp!
Thanks very much @Ryno. I really hope this works but if not, at least I know I have a breeding pair. I noticed last night that the father has uprooted more of my plants in my 300l and is hovering just below these plants again. Give him half a chance and he uses cuttings, plants etc to start building nests!
