How To Get Your Dwarf Gourami (Colisa Lalia) To Breed
If you have decided to get your dwarf gourami pair to breed, you’ll need relatively little coaxing and cajoling. At the end, however, you’ll find it quite worth the effort.
Start with a separate tank for the breeding. One that can hold at least 10 gallons or 45 litres of water, and make sure it is well planted, as the male dwarf will use the plants to make it’s bubble nest.
Lowering the water level in your breeding tank to about 6-8 inches and raising the water temperature to 28-30 C will trigger spawning – this will resemble the dry season in the dwarf gourami’s natural habitat. Like the Siamese fighting fish (betta), the Dwarf Gourami are bubble nest builders, but use plant material bound together by bubbles, which is why you need a well planted tank (some suitable plant species are Ceratopteris thalictroides or water fern; Limnophila aquatica or Giant Ambulia; Riccia fluitans or crystalwort; Cabomba Green; Vesicularia dubyana or java moss. Another alternative, is peat fibre). Not surprisingly, the nests are very elaborate and sturdy, reaching several inches across and an inch deep.
Once the nest is completed, its courtship time with the male swimming around the female
with flared fins, attempting to draw her to the nest. This typically occurs during later afternoon or in the evening. Acceptance by the female is denoted by swimming in circles with the male beneath the bubblenest.
When she is ready to spawn she touches the male on either the back or the tail with her mouth. This is the signal for the male to embrace the female, which in turn leads the female to release approximately five dozen clear eggs, which are immediately fertilized by the male. While most of the eggs will float up into the bubblenest, the stray ones are collected by the male and placed in the nest.
Once the eggs are securely in the nest, the two will spawn again till about 300 – 500 eggs are released, after which the male covers the nest mouth with a layer of bubbles. Thats a sign that the male is done. Now, the females should be moved to a different tank, since the males tends to take his responsibility for guarding the eggs quite seriously.
Eggs hatch in about 12 to 24 hours but the fry may stay in the bubble nest for another three days or so. Once the fry start leaving the nest, you should remove the male, else he may eat the fry. Feed the fry infusoria initially, and later, brine shrimp and flakes.
There, it wasn’t that difficult now, was it.
Pic via here and here.
Here’s a video below to give you a ringside view of the ritual.
