Sparkling Gouramis!!

[Lennie]

Hey guys,

Yesterday, for my 50cube I got 3 sparkling gouramis. I have to confess, it was an impulsive buy, which I usually never go for. I have never seen them before so they are pretty rare to come by here. When I saw them, I was like, YOU ARE COMING HOME WITH ME! 😄 As I'm a big gourami fan in general.

I watched videos and read care guides about them. Seems like everything I have is what they really enjoy, so that's great.  Even tho they are some amazing nano fish and easy to care for, it seems like they are a bit rare and personal experiences are hard to come by.

So I wanted to learn about some personal experiences from you.

Those who have experience with sparkling gouramis, Could you please share your experience for the following questions:

• What's your group size? Currently I have 3 in a community tank setup. Should I increase the group size or is it good as it is?
• Have you ever faced any sort of agression between each other?
• If you ever had a chance to breed them?
• Sexing them seems to be a lil tricky, how important is it to have 1m:2f type of ratio. Do they get agressive later on if the ratio is not met? Do you have any tips to sex them?

Rachel O Leary says it is really hard to sex them unless they get into their breeding dress as males get significantly brighter and longer finnage.  

On another video, it was mentioned that the organs look like the females and males and it is an easier way to determine. The female on left and male on right. But it seems quite hard irl :')

 

Hope there are some peeps that enjoy this cute lil nano fish & would like to share some experience!

Edited April 3, 2023 by Lennie

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Jealous! I’ve wanted a pair for my 6 gallon dirted cube for a long time. Best of luck with them!

[Lennie]

On 4/3/2023 at 8:59 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Jealous! I’ve wanted a pair for my 6 gallon dirted cube for a long time. Best of luck with them!

You can't find them too? They are way too underrated!

Btw, they are a bit territorial, I'm not sure if the agression would calm down in a 6g cube as a group

Look at them! 😄

 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 4/3/2023 at 12:03 PM, Lennie said:

Btw, they are a bit territorial, I'm not sure if the agression would calm down in a 6g cube as a group

For sure. Definitely know the risk I would be taking, but a pair of them, especially if I could effectively spawn them would be rad. 

[Lennie]

On 4/3/2023 at 9:21 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

For sure. Definitely know the risk I would be taking, but a pair of them, especially if I could effectively spawn them would be rad. 

I may try to spawn them too! But who knows what genders I have 🤣

[Lennie]

On 4/4/2023 at 4:03 AM, Pepere said:

Definitely worth watching Foo the Flowerhorns experience keeping, breeding and raising Sparkling Gourami.  Granted there is a fair bit on shrimp, plants, and Walsted method, but plenty enough to take the time to watch it all.
 

 

 

Thanks, I will check it out. @Chick-In-Of-TheSea also mentioned that she has seen quite a bit of sparkling gourami videos of them. Def in my list to watch next!

I may even setup an extra tank to breed them maybe one day. But they seem to be not really liked by most people I guess? Not sure. They do give more of a wild type beautiful look which is not everyones thingy I believe

[Lennie]

Update:

 

They are fun and unique. Beautiful colors. Always act interested looking around stuff and searching for food around the tank. Kinda social yet territorial if feels like it. Even tho they have a small size, I wouldn't keep them in a small tank myself. I still keep mine in my 125 Liter tank. They love plants, and especially surface plants I think. Spend time swimming around them from time to time.

Interesting croaks that are loud enough to wake me up sometimes in the morning. Imagine telling a friend you woke up to your fish croaking in the morning.

[Stef]

They croak??  Do other gouramies do this?

[Lennie]

On 9/22/2023 at 5:53 AM, Stef said:

They croak??  Do other gouramies do this?

Nope, only these guys from what I know and experience

 

They croak very loud. I can hear them while sleeping. Mine usually croak during first lights hitting the room in the morning. They always be like this:

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Lennie

[Odd Duck]

 I think there are several species of gouramis that can make noise, but most don’t as commonly as sparkling or croaking gouramis.  Croaking gouramis (Trichopsis vittata) definitely do!  I know pearls can, honeys can, kissing will, pretty sure blues and dwarfs can, probably others as well.  Anybody else know about others?

[Lennie]

On 9/23/2023 at 12:20 AM, Odd Duck said:

 I think there are several species of gouramis that can make noise, but most don’t as commonly as sparkling or croaking gouramis.  Croaking gouramis (Trichopsis vittata) definitely do!  I know pearls can, honeys can, kissing will, pretty sure blues and dwarfs can, probably others as well.  Anybody else know about others?

Interesting. I currently have sparklings, golds and honey. I havent heard anything from golds and honeys till this day, they are also in my bedroom. Maybe they are super quiet?

 

I had dwarf and pearls ages ago. I dont remember anything specific about them

[Odd Duck]

On 9/22/2023 at 4:24 PM, Lennie said:

Interesting. I currently have sparklings, golds and honey. I havent heard anything from golds and honeys till this day, they are also in my bedroom. Maybe they are super quiet?

 

I had dwarf and pearls ages ago. I dont remember anything specific about them

I don’t think the others are as loud and mostly only with breeding. 

[Stef]

Amazing little fish!

[dangerflower]

I love sparkling gouramis so much! I have a small group in my 20 gallon long and I really wish they were doing better. In the year that I've had them, two have died from what seemed to be digestive issues / bloat, I think from stress 😕 I wound up with mostly males and they do get territorial with each other. I'm actually thinking of shuffling some fish around and moving mine into an established 10 gallon tank and keeping them in a species only situation. The smaller tank size is maybe not ideal but that tank is more densely planted so might be more comfortable for them. I have a school of emerald eye rasboras living with them in the 20 long and those guys are too boisterous for the gouramis. 

Before the one female of the group died, mine were almost constantly spawning! But I didn't have any luck keeping the fry alive. They're very tiny and don't go for powdered fry food. I did have two randomly survive on their own in the tank though, and now I have two adolescent sparklers who are very adorable.