# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Anabantoids >  Pearl Gourami spawned (Trichogaster leeri)

## CK Yeo

Not many people give these a second look nowadays and I always wonder why they almost never offer the females for sale. Now I know why. I found these during one of my LFS trips. The male Pearl Gourami is gorgeous red chest and nice fin extensions, but what really caught my eye were the 2 females amongst the males. I bought them home and dumped them in a community tank. 


4 days later, I noticed the rest of the denizens (including the killer Laetacara curviceps trio) were all hiding and only the proud male hanging around a corner near the surface. It had built a bubblenest. On closer inspection, there were hundreds of fries under the bubblenest. They had spawned! I didn't even condition the pair. Unfortunately, they did it in my absence so no pics of the spawning process (that would have been so cool!)

I removed both parents and fries from the tank in case the hungry tetras start to pick on the fries. Besides, they are easier to gather now than when they are free swimming. 



Cute aren't they? Interestingly, they float on their own and you can still see their yolk sacs.

Now the problem is, what to feed them when they absorbed their yolks?? Articles online say infusoria. I only know of one person in Singapore who keeps a infusoria culture and he has quited the hobby. Will microworm work instead?

ck

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## hwchoy

do you think your fishes are close to wild form?

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## EvolutionZ

i kept 3 male pearl gouramis before.. and they are super greedy fish!

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## CK Yeo

Don't know. Never seen the wild ones before. Got picture?

ck

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## juggler

CK: Very nice. Brings back my childhood memories. I used to keep gourami such as the 2-spot and moonlight (silver) gourami caught at my grandma's pond.

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## mickthefish

if there's no infusoria CK, try boiled egg yolk wrapped in a piece of cloth, dip it in the tank and gently squeeze the fluid in the tank so it makes the water look milky, that should do them till they can go onto bbs.
i've used with method with decent success.

mick

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## sheng

i found these interesting sites, hope it is useful for you:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/fry_food.php
http://www.guppies.com/forums/showth...ry-10871.html?

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## hwchoy

CK, no idea really as I have not seen any _in situ_ photographs.

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## CK Yeo

Hahaha. But I am sure these are not the shortbody or deformed. A better look of the male.


Thanks all for the suggestions on how to feed the fries. I should have thought of egg yolk  :Exasperated: 

ck

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## xaine

Nice, I didn't know pearl gouramis spawn that readily.

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## lucasjiang

hi bro, just want to ask, will green water work? green water is actually something like infusoria.

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## xaine

Don't think he can cultivate green water that quickly.
Maybe normal guppy/betta fry food should work, (e.g. BBS or daphnia). Can even get the frozen ones.

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## hwchoy

> Hahaha. But I am sure these are not the shortbody or deformed. A better look of the male.
> 
> 
> ck


lovely pose. I just wonder if their anal fins are quite so long naturally. but I think these are pretty close to the wild state from what I recall of Linke's pix.

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## CK Yeo

From what I read, they are _au natural_.

ck

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## talev

Nice CK!

Mine spawned in my new tank too. 

Male is in the top left corner of the last picture.

Sorry my pictures are incomparable to yours!

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## SCOPE

Nice spawn....hope to see the development of the fries

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## slypower50

nice tank bro! dont think you need to do anything much with the fries with such a well planted tank.. looking forward on your update soon!  :Jump for joy:

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## MrTree

wild one looks like this also.

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## luenny

Last time - long time ago - when I breed pearl gouramis, I just feed them those liquid form of fry food that you buy from LFS. Can't remember the brand already. After the fries grow a bit it's tubifex (last time almost all fishes were fed with tubifex - live ones).

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## CK Yeo

An accident happened and I lost the fries. There might be survivors somewhere, but I doubt it. Oh well...  :Sad: 

Here's the male again... handsome isn't he?


The lovely couple again.



ck

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## Quixotic

Such lovely patterns! Shame that they don't seem as popular here.

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## nickLee

so you can sex the pearl gourami by whether the fish has a red belly??

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## CK Yeo

> so you can sex the pearl gourami by whether the fish has a red belly??


It depends on it mood really, but it is one indication. In LFS conditions, it might not be in the mood to show the red belly. A better way is to look at the extensions in the anal and dorsal fins. Females have stubby dorsal fins.

ck

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## johannes

nice nice.... :Smile: 

lovely pairs ... congrats to both Talev and CK; and sorry to CK ... but it may happen again..
 :Smile: 

normally takes about 5 days... to convert to bbs/daphnia

Talev's fries in the picture seems bigger already...

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## potato

this pair its so beautiul..

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