Blue Gourami (Trichopodus trichopterus) Good Beginners Species
The Blue Gourami as it is commonly known as is one of the more popular members of the Osphronemidae family of fishes and is well worth considering if you are fairly new to the hobby and are looking for a relatively peaceful member of a larger community aquarium. There are a number of naturally occurring colour variations and they are often referred to as Three Spot and Opaline Gouramis, however, as they are closely related and their care is pretty much identical. They originate from Southeast Asia (where they have some value as a commercial food fish), but the vast majority offered via the aquatic trade are now captive bred; this has resulted in a few colour variations being available. They are probably the hardiest member of the Gourami family and thus easy to keep as long as you follow the basics of good tank hygiene and maintenance. Their Ideal Water chemistry, tank mates and tank size is covered below.
Blue Gouramis are hardy and relatively peaceful
JLRphotograph/Shutterstock
Housing Blue Gouramis
Blue or Three Spot Gouramis grow quite large – to as much as 5 inches in adulthood, so they are not suitable for small tanks, the very minimum would be a two-foot tank but ideally no smaller than 30″ x 12″ x 12″ (around 20 gallons). In this size tank, you can keep a pair or a male and two females without too much trouble, and still have room for a few other suitable tank mates. In their native habitat, they would have lived in soft, slightly acidic but water but being largely captive bred now they can tolerate a wider PH range and seem to thrive in the 6-8 range. Given they are pretty hardy you can adjust the PH and hardness level to suit their less robust tankmates. Temperature wise, again they seem happy enough in a wide range with 74 –82 Fahrenheit (23–28 Celsius) being the upper and lower bounds. In the wild, their preference is for relatively slow-moving waters with lots of vegetation, so providing a few densely planted areas will make them more comfortable and may even encourage breeding if there are floating plants.
Suitable Tankmates
Blue Gouramis although fairly peaceful can be territorial and may become aggressive towards slightly smaller species. Avoid other gourami species unless you have a very large tank (4 foot plus) and for some reason, they don’t seem to get on that well with angelfish or long-finned guppies or goldfish. Including these species will almost always lead to fin nipping and aggression. Fortunately, all three of these are better suited to species tanks for one reason or another so it shouldn’t be a problem. Suitable tankmates would include most Tetras, Clown & Khuli Loaches, Danios, livebearers such as Mollies & Platies, smaller Barbs, and Catfish such as Corydoras or small Pleco species. Given they are midwater fish try and fill the other zones with surface swimming and bottom dwellers to give the tank more eye appeal and prevent overcrowding in their prefered area.
Corydoras Catfish are ideal bottom-dwelling species for a peaceful species community tank
Image Credit Ian Grainger/Shutterstock
Feeding Them
Blue Gouramis are omnivorous and far from fussy when it comes to food. They will accept virtually any type of food so a staple diet of flake & small pellets will suffice, supplemented with freeze-dried & live foods. They are also extremely fond of Hydra which is a fairly common tank pest and having a pair or small group in your tank will almost certainly ensure that Hydra never becomes a problem. They will eat plant material but rarely seem to attack aquatic plants.
Good Quality Flake Food is the staple of most community Fish Tanks
Image Credit Mirko Rosenau/Shutterstock
Breeding Blue Gouramis – I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles
Blue Gouramis are one of the easier of the egg-laying species to breed, and once an aquarist has had a bit of experience it is an interesting project to undertake. They are bubble nesters and if well fed and maintained male Gouramis will frequently attempt to build nests, often in the corners of the tank where the water flow is slowest.
Male Gouramis frequently build Bubble Nests Image Credit Ian Grainger/Shutterstock
In a large, well-planted (including plenty of floating plants and not to densely stocked community tank it is possible to have some moderate success. Ideal floating plant species would include Cabomba, Hornwort and Amazon Frogbit, although common duckweed would also suffice. Most of the fry hatched would be consumed by the other tank denizens, but usually a few survive and in a four foot plus tank we have seen small thriving communities build up.
Floating plants provide share and hiding places for fish.
Andrej Jakubik/Shutterstock
Get A Dedicated Breeding Tank
However, if you are serious about breeding Gouramis (or any fish species for that matter) then setting up a dedicated breeding tank is the best option. This should be around 2-foot minimum and have plenty of hiding places for the female to take refuge from an over-amorous male. Shallower, warmer water, plenty of floating plants and slow filtration will help set the mood, as will feeding some live food in the days leading up. The sexes in Goranis are fairly easy to distinguish with males having a long and pointed dorsal fin, compared to the females’ which shorter and more rounded. Also, Females, especially when in breeding condition have distinctly broader girths. When in breeding condition both males and females will become decidedly bluer in colour, make sure both are showing this condition before attempting breeding.
Image credit Andrej Jakubik/Shutterstock
Its a Male Job
Once the male has built his nest (something which tends to take place early in the day) he will entice the female into the vicinity where spawning will hopefully take place. As mentioned it is vitally important that the female has places to take refuge, as the male can become quite aggressive in his courtship, and after spawning has taken place he will drive the female away, as he will take sole responsibility for the nest until the eggs hatch. Spawning may take several hours and hundreds if not thousands of eggs can be laid. Once the spawning is over remove the female to avoid further aggression then sit back and watch the interesting spectacle of the male tending the nest. he will fastidiously check and rearrange the eggs and return ant errant ones back to the nest. This will go on for around 30 hours after which the eggs will begin to hatch. At that stage, the male will continue to look after the young, and it is safe to leave him with them for around 2-3 days by which time the fry will be free swimming. The good parenting often ends around this time so the male will need to be removed just in case he decides that the young look too tasty.
Feeding the Babies
Feed the young on Infusoria or a proprietary liquid fry food for around a week, after which begin offering brine shrimps and some finely powdered flake food. Do regular small partial water changes to keep the water clean, and if you have dropped the water level significantly during spawning you can begin to top this up in the second week.
Given the lack of natural predators, the tank will soon become overcrowded, so you will need to either move a number into another growing tank or dispose of some to ensure the others have room to survive. Ideally, you should see if there are other local fish keepers who might want a few to raise on or alternatively offer any surplus to your local aquatic retailer. As a last resort, some will need to be culled and surplus fry can be used as live food for other fully grown species, which is probably the kindest and most natural way to dispose of them.
Overall Blue Gouramis are ideal first fish, relatively inexpensive, hardy, easy to feed and house and fairly easy to breed. If you are planning a mid-size community tank they should be one of the first species on your list.
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