Documenting the growth and development of Honey Gourami

[Hobbit]

Now that I have a macro lens for my phone, I want to document the development of my honey gouramis from birth to their trip to the local fish store.

To start, here’s Dad Fish, Parent of the Year, and Mom Fish, who’s very camera shy.

These babies hatched yesterday. Unfortunately I forgot I wanted to do this and didn’t get pictures of the eggs. At this point I believe they’re about 36 hours old. They’re only very occasionally starting their little motors to swim for a short spurt. Mostly they’re just hanging.

 

Lastly here’s Dad Fish trying to intimidate me. Instead he just looks derpy. (Don’t tell him I said that though!)

[OceanTruth]

Congratulations on the fry! Great pictures as well. It should be fun watching those cute babies develop.

[Ben_RF]

Love it! Absolutely going to be following this thread.

[Hobbit]

4 days old! They’re able to move purposefully and are starting to eat infusoria. It always amazes me how they get smaller before they get bigger, since when they’re born they have that big yolk sack. Human babies also lose weight their first week of life!

You’ll notice in the videos there are stripes on the wall of the fry box. Those are fingerprints. That’s how tiny they are!!

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by Hobbit

[Colu]

Really interesting  to watch them develop

[OceanTruth]

Wow great shot of those tiny little things.

[FrozenFins]

Nice!

[Hobbit]

Day 6! They can swim with precision now.

Dad Fish is still keeping babies in his bubble nest while I’m keeping some in the fry box. I tried to get a picture of his babies but he photobombed 😆

I also caught Mom Fish and Dad Fish flirting. And Mom Fish... barfed up some food and Dad Fish ate it? I’ve never seen them do that before. Is that romantic for fish?

 

[Maggie]

So cute! Does dad try to attack mom if she gets too close to the nest? I'm thinking of honeys for my danio tank and am wondering if I should get a pair, 2 females and 1 male, or just females (3 or more probably). 

[Hobbit]

@Maggie he definitely attacks any fish that gets too close. When the babies are young/the eggs just laid, he’ll chase her basically whenever he sees her, even if she’s not close to the nest at all.

As the babies mature he gets very torn between chasing and flirting and sends Mom Fish very mixed signals. 😅

As long as your tank has some natural divisions in it where they can stake out different territories and get out of each others’ line of sight, I think you could do a threesome. I’ve had a great experience with my pair though!

[Hobbit]

9 days old. It’s getting easier to see the diamond shapes on their back and stripes down their tails, as well as their little pectoral fins.

I’m trying to stuff them with infusoria so I’m always happy to see round bellies.

Apparently they’re also developing an attitude...

[Hobbit]

Day 14! Two weeks old. Today was the first day I could see some yellow pigment on them.

They’re also finally growing! It looks like a party in the fry box.

[Hobbit]

20 days old! They’re finally big enough to eat baby brine shrimp and last night they got their first meal. Yaaaay! They’ll grow much more quickly now.

Plus I’m figuring out how to light them better for photos. 😊

 

[Maggie]

How adorable! Look at those orange bellies full of BBS!! How I wish I could see this detail in my danio fry! Look at the beautiful fin and color development! 

[Hobbit]

24 days old and packing in the shrimp.

I should mention that three or four fry that are several days younger than the others. Mom and Dad Fish had another batch of babies after I collected the first set, and a few got sucked into the fry box.

[Hobbit]

Four weeks old (minus a day) and we have dorsal and ventral fins!! 😃

[Hobbit]

Day 33! Now that they’re on shrimp they’re growing fast. Around day 29 they started growing their feelers. They’re starting to look like little fish! And depending on the light they look either yellow or iridescent.

Note the lack of orange bellies because I’m trying to feed them frozen brine shrimp instead of fresh. 🙄 Oh well, I’ll have more fresh stuff tomorrow.

[Hobbit]

The fry are six weeks old today! They are growing so much and they’re beautifully acrobatic.

It won’t be long before they get to move out of the fry box.

[Hobbit]

Seven weeks old. Today they moved to the grow out tank! Unfortunately that means they’re too far away for my macro lens. And they’re swimming so much that it’s really hard to get pictures. They’re really excited about everything!

 

[Lifeisgood]

This is really cool to see!  Thanks for taking the time to document their growth and share it with us.  It is fun to see them discover their new environment.  And I find it amazing how they can swim ahead and then stop still in midwater.  So cute!!

[OceanTruth]

You’ve done a wonderful job raising the fry. Incredible growth.

[Hobbit]

Thanks, both of you! (I only have one reaction this morning apparently but I’ll come back with another one later. 😄) I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed it. All that growth is just from all the baby brine shrimp—I feed them at least three times a day until they’re totally stuffed. Nothing special. 🙂

8 hours ago, Lifeisgood said:

And I find it amazing how they can swim ahead and then stop still in midwater.  So cute!!

I love this about gouramis!! It’s adorable.

[Maggie]

Congratulations Hobbit! Do you know how many fry you have now and do you have plans for them? Good luck selling them if that's your plan - they seem to go fast at the LFS. 

[Hobbit]

@Maggie Thanks! I have 16!! My goal this time was to raise at least 10, so I’m pretty stoked. There’s a LFS about 1.5 hours away from me that’s taken my previous two groups, and they’re basically up for taking as many as I have whenever I have them. I usually end up trading them for some plants or other fish—they would give me cash but I know they’re struggling so I trade if I can. They’ve had a terrible time getting any stock at all. Most of what they carry right now they’re either breeding themselves or getting from local breeders. I just wish I lived closer to them!

[Hobbit]

Two months old. They’re not changing nearly as fast now, though their behavior is definitely developing. Just in the last week they started noticing each other. Mostly right now it’s just one fish will chasing off another, and sometimes two will circle each other REALLY fast. It looks like dominance sparring to me, but it’s always short lived. For the most part they’re still ignoring each other. Unfortunately I haven’t caught any of their interactions on camera but I hope to soon!