Gurami, Or Pearl Trichogaster

Gurami, Or Pearl Trichogaster
Gurami, Or Pearl Trichogaster

Video: Gurami, Or Pearl Trichogaster

Video: Gurami, Or Pearl Trichogaster
Video: Trichogaster Leeri (Pearl Gourami) 2024, March
Anonim

A year ago, the pearl gourami looked just plain ugly: gray sides and a black stripe along - that's the whole outfit. This is not enough for aquarium inhabitants. Behind the glass coast, fish of outlandish colors usually live.

But pearl gourami fully meets these requirements, you just need to be patient. Having matured, he will sprinkle himself with pearls, he will throw a purple tint on the silvery sides, his transparent fins will shine with a pearl shine. And during spawning, these fish become even more elegant, brighter.

Gurami, or pearl trichogaster, photo photography aquarium fish
Gurami, or pearl trichogaster, photo photography aquarium fish

As if realizing their irresistibility, gourami stand in the upper layer of water or swim calmly, not bothering themselves with frequent rises for a breath of air. Like all labyrinth fish, pearl gourami breathe oxygen, not only dissolved in water, but also from atmospheric air. This is how these fish are arranged. Therefore, they can live in close bodies of water with muddy, spoiled water. If the macropod, one of the representatives of the labyrinth family, is not allowed to rise to the surface of the water, then even in fresh water it will die in seven to eight hours. And lined with wet water plants, it will live for more than a day.

Gupami pearl, photo photography aquarium fish
Gupami pearl, photo photography aquarium fish

True, funny and mischievous fry, unpretentious and indiscriminate in food, for up to three or four weeks require the same attitude towards themselves as fry of other fish species: they need clean, fresh water. And this has its own explanation: the labyrinth organ, which is responsible for the air breathing of fish, develops in them only at the age of three to four weeks.

Gourami kissing (Helostoma temminkii)
Gourami kissing (Helostoma temminkii)

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Like every representative of the indoor underwater kingdom, the pearl gourami is also not without quirks. He doesn't like the aquarium to be brightly lit. He tries to hide from the light in thickets of plants. It takes food from the bottom and at the surface, but only floating. It eats soft enchireus and tubifex worms more willingly than hard bloodworms, and prefers red ones over gray daphnia. Only old, standing water requires water in the aquarium. Prepare such water from ordinary tap water, adding peat infusion.

Gurami pearl, photo photography labyrinth fish
Gurami pearl, photo photography labyrinth fish

Or, even better, tap water is diluted with rain or distilled water, and only then peat it. And the last thing. The aquarium where pearl gourami will spawn should be placed in a place where no one walks by. If this cannot be done, block the outer wall of the aquarium, Usually, the water temperature in the aquarium where pearl gourami live is maintained at about 22-24 ° С, and for spawning fish it is raised to 26-28 ° С.

Offspring are easier to obtain from young gourami between eight and fourteen months of age. Before spawning, males and females should be kept separate for seven to ten days and fed abundantly with live food. It is easy to distinguish a male from a female in all types of gourami: his dorsal fin is sharp, long, reaching the tail. And in the female, this fin is shorter and rounded. And the male is colored brighter, especially the abdomen. It becomes orange-scarlet during the abuse period.

Pearl gumami, photo photograph of fish
Pearl gumami, photo photograph of fish

In an aquarium with spawning fish, there should be two or three dense bushes of plants, where the female could hide from the male, and on the surface there are floating riccia and duckweed. The male usually uses pieces of these plants to build his aerial nest. Capturing air bubbles in his mouth, he spits them out side by side, one next to the other. If there are many debris of Riccia, the nest does not spread out, but rises above the water with a hat.

After the last portion of eggs has been spawned, the female should be removed from the aquarium. Otherwise, the male guarding the nest will be very worried and may kill the female.

Pearl gourami, photo photo of fish
Pearl gourami, photo photo of fish

In 24-26 hours, very small, weak larvae with a yolk bladder will hatch from the eggs. For three days they will live off the reserves of the yolk bladder. Starting from the fourth day, they need to be fed with ciliates. And two days later, the caring daddy, who vigilantly guarded the eggs and who came to the aid of the baby who fell out of the nest in time, grabbing it with his mouth and placing it in the nest, needs to be planted. Now he can inadvertently eat his own offspring. By this time, the instinct of protecting offspring disappears from the male.

Spotted gourami (Trichopodus trichopterus)
Spotted gourami (Trichopodus trichopterus)

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At first, while the larvae feed on ciliates, the water temperature in the aquarium should be maintained at 25-27 ° C, then it can be gradually reduced. The growing fry should be fed several times a day with "live dust" until they grow up.

Now that the simple requirements of pearl gourami have become known, many aquarists successfully breed them.

Source: V. Sanina

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