# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Anabantoids >  Honey gourami breeding

## Serketa

Last week I got my trio of honeys, one male two girls.

I was wondering if my male is building a nest. There is one lotusleaf, and I saw him hustling under it, blowing air. I took a look under it and there seemed to be bubbles. I thought honeys build their nests between vegetation, not under.
Bubblemass isn't very large, but it seemed to be thick (about 2-3 rows of bubbles). While he wasn't under the leaf, he was blowing water 5-7 cm high in surface, is it part of a mating ritual or what? I watched the male over an hour but females stayed away. I don't know what has happend during my two-hour nap.  :Roll Eyes: 

There are no other occupants in the tank yet. I guess I'll put more surfaceplants in now. pH is slightly under 7, dH 10, nitrate about 10. Yesterday I added Sera Torumin to get water brown and peaty.

Guess I'll go and take a peak a again there...  :Grin:

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## johannes

seemed to me like they are indeed spawning.
just wait for results..

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## fisherw

Reduce water and surface disturbance. Too much disturbance break up the bubble nest. If he is still building the nest and spawning has not started, try covering the tank with something to raise the humidity. I used kitchen cling wrap. This stops or at least slow the bubbles bursting.

I had a pair spawn before. Same method as betta splendens. The male wraps his body around the female and then picks up the eggs and deposits them in the nest. Interesting to watch. But he fries did not survive.

You might want to find out about how to feed and when to start feeding.

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## Serketa

I do have good news. The nest under the leaf disappeared... BUT...

Yesterday I did water change, about 30 %. After putting fresh water, I added some co2-liquid (for the plants) and Sera Torumin. I have fed them with dry food, JBL mini granulets (10 % is krill). At evening I took the lights of. This morning morning I saw that the male had made a large bubblenest on the other side of the tank. There is only slight movement of water. Females are hiding, and male was aggressively guarding the nest. There are no plants in this corner yet. I placed high plants in front of the filter to make waterflow even lower. The nest is a bit larger than in this photo.

Ja tässä on isä, vartioimassa ns. pesää.jpg

Just about an hour I saw fry hatching. It was a total surprise, something I didn't expect..

Do I have to remove male, since his attacking females if they come in sight? Or do the females eat their fry if male is removed? I can choose between two tanks, tetratank or cichlidtank.

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## MarcJoshua

Hello, I don't think removing the male is a good idea. If breeding is similiar to betta splendens then its actually the male which takes care of the fries. This is just from my limited experience as I have never bred honey gouramis before, just betta splendens. I hope your fries survive.  :Smile:

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## Serketa

That's what I was thinking. Hope the females don't suffer too much.

I too hope that the fry will survive. I've heard they are difficult to raise. I don't know if they can eat JBL NobilFluid, after their yolk sacs are gone. Will see about that.

At least the nest was magnificent.  :Smug: 

Btw, do this new forum show pics as pics or link to photo? For me it showed first link and now photo.

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## Serketa

Yup, 20-40 babies born on friday. I moved them to their own tank to grow. I hope at least few of them survive. And male has started to build new nest.. That one I won't take anywhere. It's just so warm weather that they breed almost without nothing special.  :Opps:

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## Keithw

how to differentiate the sex for gourami? i am new to this. any advice?

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## stormhawk

Males have an elongated dorsal fin that ends in a point. Females usually have a rounded dorsal fin. Males are slimmer, females plumper when viewed from above. Male Honey Gourami will develop a dark bluish throat area that ends in the start of the anal fin and their sides become intensely orange when in breeding colors. Females take on a different pattern with a broad horizontal band from the base of the pectoral fin till the caudal peduncle. They are more of an olive-brown color as compared to the orange males.

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## Keithw

Stormhawk thanks for the reply. hmmm i have both female on hand i cannot ID this gourami i bought from C328. the gourami is full yellow with slight red on the tail.

may i know what breed?

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## stormhawk

If they are small in size about 3 cm or so, then you have males of the Honey Gourami. See this image for a better illustration of the sexes in breeding colors:

http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fishimage...ey_gourami.jpg

The female is the first fish on the right hand column from the top.
However, a picture of your actual fish will be more helpful.

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