My Honey Gourami fry journey

[TDee]

My experience with Honey Gourami Breeding as a new fish parent

Fry hatched - 05/02/22 and 10/02/22

At first, I saw black little shapes in the male’s bubble nest.  I quickly went online and read a few articles and found they hatch very fast…. I had to act if there was any hope for the fry as they were in a community tank and I had no intention of breeding…. Alas, I was at work when they hatched and that was the end of that.

Next time I was a little more prepared as I bought a Ziss breeder box and I transferred as many black bubbles as I could.  To my delight they hatched and were safe from all the other fish, including the parents.  In five days’ time there were more black bubbles, so I also put those in the breeding box, totally not knowing what I was doing.

Now what to feed them…I tried making infusoria but that did not work for me so after a few days of the hatching (they eat their own yolk first) I sprinkled some spirulina powder and this is what I fed them for a few days.  I also tried egg yolk but I think I put in too much and it went mouldy (Since read, you mix the yolk with a little water and squirt that in)

Once I could get to the LFS, I bought some liquid food for fry and fed with this and the spirulina.  As they were still in the breeding box in the community tank, they may have fed on other small organisms.

These fry are so tiny, I could not see them with the naked eye and resorted to using my phone camera and zooming in to see their growth.  I did not know if I was doing the right thing and whether they would survive.  I use a piece of clingfilm on the top, under the lid to create the humidity that is required for their labyrinth organ development. Every day after work I would be looking – it was slow progress and I had to look for the future for a grow out tank.  I had a couple of sponge filters and bought a Ziss moving media filter, only because I like these (this would not be used until they were 7 weeks old)

Once they reached 14 days, I started feeding them baby brine shrimp which they gobbled up and had nice fat, yellow bellies.  The parents would be patrolling the breeding box and trying to suck out the bbs.  So, my next few weeks will be daily breeding and feeding bbs.  The bottom of the breeding box became a little mucky so I would use and airline to suck up debris and sometimes the fry!  I would carefully look so I could return the fry to the box.  Using a white bowl helps to see the fry.

At day 25/20 the fry were added to their first grow out tank 13 litres (in retrospect I would use a bigger tank).  I thought I may have had about 30 fry at the most…well as I transferred them to my astonishment I had 75!  Wow, that was a shock

At day 35/30 I placed the fry in a bigger tank 32 litre.  I could see the little feelers on some of the fry and they were looking like real fish.  The tank is bare bottomed but have plants in pots and the 2 sponge filters.  When I tested the water parameters all were good.  Having a bare bottomed tank made it very easy to clean, using an air line tube – it was slow but less likely to suck up any fry.  I did partial water changes every few days, not enough to shock the fry but keeping the water clean.

My daily schedule was to feed some baby brine shrimp to the fry, between 3-5 times a day, depending on work. I would keep the bbs after they hatched in the fridge, and this batch I would use to feed.  Another batch would be in a bottle in the main aquarium to hatch with an airline and warmth.  I transfer this batch when hatched into another bottle to drain.  Sounds complicated but its not, you get into a routine and it becomes easy.  If you want to raise Gourami this is what you have to be prepared to do, and I like to have two batches on the go.  Always can feed to my other community fish too.

Having these little fry growing and you responsible for them is so rewarding and I find I spent many hours just watching them.  At around 50 days, at the same time as they get the bbbs,  I started sprinkling a little powdered flake food and noticed occasionally some would come to the surface and take a bit.  Can’t wait for the day I do not have to feed them bbs, and just choose to hatch and feed bbs as I wish.

At about 7 weeks it was time for the big tank!  155 litre.  I have only half filled it so far, as transferring them from their previous tank could be a big shock in the water change.  Put as much old water in as possible. Added a hopefully seeded internal filter, the Ziss filter and the 2 sponge filters. Tested this new tank before adding the fry and it looked good. The fry are fast little buggers and proved too hard to catch, so I drained as much water out as I could and then tipped the fry into a container.  Then I acclimatised the fry to the new tank by adding and subtracting water out of the container over a couple of hours.

So this is now day 52/47 ....more to follow as the grow up

Update 06/04/22

Oldest are nearly 9 weeks and are happily eating flake food.  Still giving them baby brine shrimp as well.  They seem to be constantly looking for food and I do feed them a few times a day, but small amounts.

Just starting to show colour at day 61/56.  Very surprised at the different growth rates, still some tiny ones in there

At 10 weeks

At 3 months - no more brine shrimp needed, they are happy with flake food and stickon pellets.  Been given a culture of vinegar eels so feeding with these also

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by TDee
Update

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Awesome! Gourami babies are so cute! Looking forward to your updates. 🙂 

[drewzero1]

Wow! They look almost as big as my honey gouramis were when I got them. So cute!