Chocolate gourami care

[GregJ23]

I have been keeping fish for a few years now and wanted to try something a little more challenging than the typical community fish. I came across some chocolate gouramis at my LFS, and now I really want some! Does anyone have any recommendations/advice for setting up an appropriate tank for these fish? I have been reading they prefer soft, acidic water with lots of tannins and low flow, but I was hoping to get some information from people who have experience keeping this fish. Thanks!

[Guppysnail]

I think @tolstoy21 breeds these. I hope you make it work. I would love to follow your journey. I love Chocolate gourami I have never been brave enough to try them though. 

[tolstoy21]

On 8/2/2023 at 8:05 PM, Guppysnail said:

I think @tolstoy21 breeds these. I hope you make it work. I would love to follow your journey. I love Chocolate gourami I have never been brave enough to try them though. 

Alas, I don't breed those. But I do breed a few other black water species that require super low Ph, so I can answer any questions on how to achieve that if needed.

Should I breed them?  🙂

Edited August 3, 2023 by tolstoy21

[GregJ23]

@tolstoy21 thanks for the response! Do you mainly use tannins to achieve the low ph? I was thinking off boiling some indian almond leaves and alder cones to generate the blackwater, and then mix that with my tap get the desired water parameters. 

And I am hoping to breed them at some point! I have bred some mouth brooding bettas and was excited when I learned that chocolate gouramis are also mouth brooders.

[tolstoy21]

On 8/3/2023 at 5:10 PM, GregJ23 said:

Do you mainly use tannins to achieve the low ph?

Tannins and RO water.

I find it best to start with water with little or no mineral content. This means a Kh of 0, or as close to 0 as possible. Gh between 1 - 3. After that you can use peat pellets, leaves, or any botanical. For some aquariums, I'll also keep the Gh at 0 when I want the super acid loving, softwate fish to breed. 

What has worked for me is to use 100% straight RO water, then use a box filter filled with Fluval peat granules.  I also scatter a decent amount of leaf litter in the tank. Oak leaves work, as well ad Indian Almond leaves.  This gets my Ph down to 4.5 - 5.5.

For other tanks where I don't want to bottom the Ph as much, I will start with RO water and then mix in some Seachem American Cichlid Salt, according to instructions. Last I checked, this gets mer to to the low 6's.

On 8/3/2023 at 5:10 PM, GregJ23 said:

I was thinking off boiling some indian almond leaves and alder cones to generate the blackwater, and then mix that with my tap get the desired water parameters. 

That should work fine, so long as your tap water does not have a lot of Kh. The more Kh it has, the more you will need to acidify it.

Rather than make blackwater, I will dose with Brightwell Black Water Extract. I mix this in with the change water.