# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Anabantoids >  Chocolate Gourami questions.

## whuntley

What varieties/species of what are generally called Chocolate Gouramis show up in Singapore? Apparently, folks haven't learned how to ship them well, so they tend to be pretty rare, here. I guess the same problem faces the Licorice gourami species. Not being too easy to breed, we just don't get to see them very often.

Robert Nhan once told me he collected some Chocs in Viet Nam and couldn't even get them to the airport alive and he's about as skillful a fishkeeper as I know.

What's happening here? [In Robert's case, he may have just had a water-quality problem.] Why are they so delicate?

A few years ago, I got a small group of beautiful Chocolates at Ocean Aquarium in SF. They had a most unusual red belly and anal fin. I never got them to breed (may not have had a pair), but didn't try as hard as I should have. I forget where they went when I shut down my Fremont fishroom.

I'd even be tempted to deviate from my "killifish purist" posture if I could find them, again. I also like both the Licorice Gourami and _Betta foerschi_ but the only sources are not very accessible to me.

[Oops! The chubs I use to keep my "green water" green aren't killies. I guess I'm already sinning!]

Wright

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## stormhawk

Wright, the ones that I've seen for sale locally in Singapore would be the following species:

1) _Sphaerichthys osphromenoides_ (the common chocolate gourami)

2) _Sphaerichthys selatanensis_(some people consider this to be a subspecies of the common chocolate, only difference being that it has stripe going from above the eye and down straight towards the bottom of the head)

3) _Sphaerichthys vaillanti_(Vaillant's Chocolate Gourami)

What I've not seen before is the largest species, _Sphaerichthys acrostoma_, the sharp-nose chocolate gourami. The species that you had with a red belly and red anal fin should be the vaillanti. Here's a picture of my pair (before they expired several days later). Not taken too well though.  :Opps:  

[img][350:198]http://www.killies.com/forum/albums/album11/vaillantipair.jpg[/img]

and the female.

[img][350:217]http://www.killies.com/forum/albums/album11/vaillantiFEM.jpg[/img]

We just had a shipment of _Betta foerschi_ that came in recently at our regular meeting spot. That was the first time in my life that I saw the REAL deal rather than just pictures in books. Just recently a batch of chocolate gouramis came in at a LFS that I usually frequent and all died within hours of introduction into the new tank. As long as the water conditions don't suit their needs, they'll start getting all sorts of ailments and start to waste away. The other odd bit is that young, farm-bred specimens do quite well in the same tanks.  :Confused:

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## whuntley

Mine didn't look a lot like the _vaillanti_ but more like _osphromenoides_ but with about a 1/8-3/16 inch band of deep dark red all along the lower body, extending out into the anal fin., sort of like the patch on the gill cover of your fish, but continuing on back.

The body shape was the deeper one of _osphromenoides_ and the chocolate markings were a rich, deep brown. IDK if it was a sub-species, or maybe even a hybrid. They did not have the red stripes up the sides.

Wright

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## stormhawk

Do you recall anything about them having an eye-stripe? If they did then most probably they were the _selatanensis_. Very beautiful fish indeed. I still have that spawning article by Vierke somewhere.

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## whuntley

> Do you recall anything about them having an eye-stripe? If they did then most probably they were the _selatanensis_. Very beautiful fish indeed. I still have that spawning article by Vierke somewhere.


Sorry, but it has been several years, and my memory has become my second shortest thing. I don't consciously recall a stripe through the eye, but it could have been there. Wish I had taken a snapshot, now.  :Sad:  

Wright

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## stormhawk

That's the very reason why I take pictures of almost all of fishes and my new purchases. For memories and also to remember that I once had this species in my tanks. Good for a pictorial guide too. :wink:

To jolt your memory, here's a picture of all the _Sphaerichthys_ species.

Sphaerichthys acrostoma
Male

Female


Sphaerichthys osphromenoides
Male

Female


Sphaerichthys selatanensis
[img][300:200]http://www.aquajapan.com/encyc/labyrinth/bellontiidae/sphaerichthys/osphromenoidesselatanensis_04.jpg[/img]
Sphaerichthys vaillanti (male left, female right)

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## whuntley

Thanks Jianyang,

Mine were the _osphromenoides_, but it's likely I had all males, as I think mine maybe all had the white edging on the unpaired fins. They looked just like your pics, except for the red bellies.

Wright

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## whuntley

Next question: (OK, 5 questions. A fool can ask more than...)

Why are wild fish so fragile?

Do they freak out and die at the agitation and sights of movement?

Are they incredibly low on natural biological immunity?

Is it a breathing thing?

Would breather bags help or suffocate them?

Wright

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## hwchoy

Wright, I think it has to do with how the fishes were handled and conditioned when imported to your area. We have lots of wild fishes in the Singapore trade, both from the region as well as from South America. Most are tough as nails as long as you got them healthy from the shops.

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## Green Baron

I saw some Chocolate Gouramisat KingFisher AQ a few weeks back. Ian who owns the shop told me that Chocolate Gouramis need to be properly condition before putting into our tanks. It seems their natural habitat has PH 4~5 ! He usually condition his Chocolate Gouramis for ~ 2 weeks before putting them in the display tank for sale. Many LFS don't condition their fish, that is why they die within a few days after you introduce them into your tank.

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## MrTree

Both Paros & Chocolates can travel to anywhere in the world in fine condition. It's all depends on which exporter you buy from, and good quality doesn't come cheap too..

Not all the wild fish are fragile...these two are labyrinth fish, they are much easier to handle comparing to the _Boraras_ spp, S.axelordi and etc. But in comparison, the chocolates usually do better than the paros.

Healthy chocolate gouramy would respond very quickly to food..especially the S.vaillanti, they are begging for food all the time. 

I sent S.vaillanti in breather bag to China, no problem.

As for the water parameter of their natural habitat. As far as I observed they can be found in parameters ranging from 4.5 to 7.

QH used to have S.acrostoma..plus P.lineatus & P.ocellatus that occasionally come in. The Singapore market have/had all the chocolate gouramy. 

Lastly, its not easy to keep the chocolates for long time(I am talking about 3, 4 years). 

Cheers,

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## stormhawk

Wright, my answers to your questions (my opinions may differ from the others):

Why are wild fish so fragile?

Ans: Not all are that fragile. It depends very much on how they were handled and shipped in the first place. Some exporters tend to overload bags with lots of fish to save on shipping costs and this inevitably increases the problem of ammonia poisoning and lots of other problems.

Do they freak out and die at the agitation and sights of movement? 

Ans: Not exactly but it is best to give them as much privacy as possible during the initial stages of acclimatisation and introduction into the tank. Keeping the tank dark and slowly increasing the light levels will slowly acclimatise the fish to the new settings. Stress from incessant disturbance by people can in many ways have a detrimental effect on the fish.

Are they incredibly low on natural biological immunity?

Ans: I would say that their natural immunity very much depends on their habitats. During shipment, many of them get stressed and this very much takes a toll on their immunity. Injuries from the collection process or during the repacking period at the transit shippers can also cause problems like fungal infections.

Is it a breathing thing? 

Ans: Since they're labyrinths, they would require atmospheric oxygen to breath. I'm not sure whether the oxygen that they use to fill up the plastic bags would play a part but I think even pure oxygen can cause alot of stress to the fish. Natural air contains many other gases and not just oxygen. By breathing in just oxygen it may affect the labyrinth fishes adversely. Fishes that get their oxygen by gill movement certainly would not have this problem since the gas slowly diffuses into the water. (Again, this is very much theory on my part)

Would breather bags help or suffocate them? 

Ans: Since MrTree has said that he has sent the fishes using breather bags, it is possible that they will survive, but my understanding of the breather bag is that its supposed to be full of water and tied with a knot or heat-sealed with as little trapped air as possible since O2 and CO2 are supposed to permeate the bag. If labyrinths were kept in just water and no outlet for them to take in atmospheric air then it may cause their death. This was documented by Vierke in his book where several Betta splendens suffocated when they got trapped in a fish trap without being able to surface for atmospheric air. 

The time it takes for the package to reach the destination is also a key factor in ensuring the survival of the fish. By sending it using express or priority mail the fish should have a higher chance of survival. I personally would not take the risk with normal air mail. 

Addendum:

I forgot to add something though, chocolates will create a pecking order amongst themselves and they're not exactly the most peaceful of fishes. Aggression has been observed by myself and some others. If they were kept in large numbers in a small space aggression is diffused but if they were kept in small numbers in confined spaces then aggression can invariably kill some of them. Very much like Rift Lake cichlids.  :Confused:

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