Dwarf Gourami Fish Care Guide And Breeding

Dwarf Gourami Overview, Tank Mates, Tank Setup & Water Conditions, Food, Care Guide & Breeding:

Dwarf Gourami is a simple egg laying fish that are bred in captivity. Need for breeding this fish differ from one specie to another, but their basic requirements remain the same.

Dwarf Gourami is a beautiful fish, & it is the most attractive fish in Gourami specie, & it is a very famous fish. They do not need high requirements & are called beginners fish. They are peaceful in nature & male of Dwarf Gourami may be territorial.

Dwarf Gourami in the wild can be found in slowing moving rivers, ponds, rice fields, & rivers of South Asia. They can be discovered in USA, Colombia & Singapore too.

Dwarf Gourami are from Osphronemidae family, & many aquarists call it Gourami family. Fish from Gourami family are famous because they are small & need simple care. Their life span is up to 5 years, but they can survive for more time if tank conditions are good.

Gourami are schooling fish & they like to be together because they are more relaxed & safer in school. They like to swim in the mid or top level of aquarium. Even you keep them in school, they are slow swimmers & often hide in the hiding spots.

Dwarf Gourami are very popular & can be discovered in almost any part of the world. You can get them from fish shops, or order them from online retailers. A single Dwarf Gourami costs about $4 but this price may slightly vary.

Dwarf Gourami Fish Care Guide And Breeding

Category	Rating
Level of care	Simple
Behavior	Good
Life time	Live up to 5 years
Size of fish	4 to 4.5 inches long
Food	Omnivorous diet
Family	Osphronemidae
Min. Aquarium Size	10 gallons
Aquarium Set-Up	Freshwater aquarium with plantation
Tank Mates	Other peaceful fish

Dwarf Gourami Tank Mates:

Keep Dwarf Gourami with peaceful fish in fish tank. Suitable tank mates include Dwarf Cichlids, characins & more labyrinth species are good choice as well. Male Dwarf Gourami may form territory & may show aggression to any fish trying to enter its territory, so it is advisable to keep just 1 male in aquarium. If you have more space in aquarium to let another male to form its own territory, then you can keep 2.

Female Gouramis can live together peacefully. It is recommended to mix different species in a big decorated aquarium. Also keep different color Gouramis together such as three spot, blue, opaline, gold or lavender Gouramis because they are the same specie with different colors. Gouramis swim slowly & can be kept with small peaceful slow-moving fish that do not nip fins. Large tetras, livebearers for example mollies, platies, fancy guppies, as well as peaceful barbs, danios & fresh water angel fish can be kept in Dwarf Gourami aquarium.

 

Dwarf Gourami Tank Setup and Water Conditions:

Keep fine to medium sized gravels of neutral color in Dwarf Gourami aquarium. Best temperature for keeping Dwarf Gourami include 74–79 Degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure the pH of water is little acidic, with low hardness. Keep some live plants in aquarium which provide hiding & resting place for fish. Plants can help your fish to hide from aggressive mate.

Keep 2 or 3 Dwarf Gouramis in a 10-gallon aquarium. For adding any extra Gourami, it is recommended to provide 5 more gallons of water.

 

Dwarf Gourami Food:

Dwarf Gourami feed on many diets, but you must provide different food to balance the nutrients your diet carries. Provide a mix of flake diet along with frozen & live diets to balance the nutrition it carries.

Gouramis will eat almost any food; however, it's important to vary the diet to ensure balanced nutrition. A combination of dry flake food as well as frozen and fresh/live foods will provide a well-rounded diet. If you want to induce breeding in Gouramis then offer them frozen & live diets.

Offer them flake foods like Aqueon Tropical Flakes, Tropical Granules, Color Flakes & Shrimp Pellets. If you want to provide them a nutrition balanced food then we recommend rotating their food daily & add food that Dwarf Gouramis can eat in just 2 minutes, 1 or 2 times every day.

 

Dwarf Gourami Care Guide:

Keeping Dwarf Gourami in small or community fish tank is a good choice. Gouramis do not like noise & like to live in silent places. Keep them in aquarium with abundance of plantation including floating plants that float on the surface of water & must cover only part of aquarium surface, as Dwarf Gouramis must have access to surface air on all sides of the fish tank. Keep this fish in fish tanks with at least 10 gallons of water.

If you keep them in aquariums smaller than this size then fish waste will build up faster & will release ammonia faster which can cause ammonia spike because if fish waste is added at such a faster rate in aquarium then your biological filter will not be able to convert ammonia into nitrites, & nitrites into nitrates which is less toxic than ammonia.

Make sure you change 10 to 20 percent water weekly to provide a clean environment for your fish.

Add abundance of live plants because Dwarf Gouramis like to play & explore rooted plants, & floating plants that subdue high intensity of light & assist fish to construct bubble nests when they want to reproduce.

Dwarf Gourami are hard fish & are able to survive in soft & hard water.

 

How to differentiate between male & female Dwarf Gourami:

Males of Dwarf Gourami are bigger in size than females & show more vivid coloring. As male Gourami reach adulthood, they develop a pointed dorsal fin. In female Gourami, dorsal fin is smaller than male & rounded.

 

Dwarf Gourami Breeding:

Breeding Dwarf Gourami is easy & they do not need high requirements. Keep 6 inches deep water level for providing better conditions for Dwarf Gourami. For bigger Gourami, you might offer little deeper level. Reduce time of lighting, & increase water temperature for several days before breeding until it reaches 82 to 86 Degrees Fahrenheit. Movement of water should be lowered so it is not disturbing the bubble nest of Dwarf Gourami. It is a good idea to use a sponge filter for breeding aquariums, as it will not suck the fries. Sponge filters also provide good mechanical & biological filtration which will keep your tank clean.

It is important to choose whether you offer a new aquarium or breed them in the same aquarium. If you want to breed them in the same tank, then it is important to remove any fish which can be problematic.

It is recommended to choose the breeding aquarium which must be like the original, but a little smaller. Monitor temperature of water, as young Gouramis are affected more with changes in water than mature.

The level of water in aquarium must be about 4 to inches & cover the base of the tank with a thin layer of sand or you can choose any other substrate good for Gourami breeding tank.

Dwarf Gourami spawn after they are 6 months old. Males of the fish start to make nests at this age.

Every specie of Gourami lay eggs so they form bubble nests for breeding & help the fries grow. Put floating plants or other stuff that floats on the water as most of the Gourami kinds make bubble nests that are attached to floating stuff that you have placed for them. If you can’t find any floating object then you can place pieces of Styrofoam on top of water.

Take care of the water conditions before keeping Dwarf Gourami in aquarium. It is recommended to maintain water conditions including temperature & pH before setting up breeding aquarium. Cover your aquarium with a lid. Adult Gourami do not need this, but fries & immature Gourami can’t tolerate variations in temperature.

Setup a breeding aquarium for your fish & move your chosen female Gourami. In this aquarium, female can rest in the hiding places. After a day or more, it is time to shift your male Gourami to the same aquarium. It is recommended to provide hiding places for the female, because it will need hiding spots when laying egg. If male is stressing the female to the point that she can’t escape & can’t hide anymore then it is time to shift another female to the same aquarium so that male is not always chasing one female.

Males of Dwarf Gourami will start making nests after you add pair to a new aquarium. To enhance the process of breeding, increase temperature a bit from 82 to 86 Degree Fahrenheit. Other water parameters should not be disturbed & should be kept in the ideal range for Dwarf Gourami.

They make their nests using foam & saliva. It could be disturbed easily because its nests do not have a solid structure. It is recommended to keep water flow minimum.

After male makes the nest, female starts to lay eggs. It lays multiple eggs, while male collect them & place them in its nest. After female lays all eggs, then it is time to take it back to the original aquarium.

You will see the first larvae after 25 to 30 hours of wait. They will be in their nest for a few days before they leave it. When babies begin leaving their nest, it is time to take male back to the original aquarium. Make sure you frequently provide food to the babies. It is a good choice to offer them infusoria in the start.