Big Boi the male Dwarf Gourami has started building a bubble nest! Just when I thought fish couldn’t get any more exciting! He has been carrying small pieces of plant matter to the nest, going to the surface frequently then swimming underneath the nest to release bubbles. He has been chasing any other fish who get too close for his liking.
The next stage, usually starting in an afternoon or evening, is the male showing off to the female by swimming around her flapping his fins, generally saying, “hey babe, come and look at my cosy nest!”
I’m sure Betty will go for it as Big Boi is very handsome and lets face it he is the ONLY male of her species in the tank. If she accepts him after his display, they should swim in circles underneath the nest. When she is ready for spawning, she would touch him with her mouth on his back, then he helps her to get those tens of eggs into the nest which he fertilises immediately. It will then be up to the male to blow more bubbles over the eggs to help keep them part of the nest. After 12-24 hours, the eggs will hatch. After about three days the young ones should be able to swim on their own so will escape the nest.
This is the part where I need HELP. Assuming all of this will happen successfully, advice I have read about using a breeding tank is that the female is removed straight away and the male removed after a few days of caretaking the nest. If the parents are not removed, the young are eaten. Bearing in mind that this is happening by chance in my 200Litre community tank, not a shallow water breeding tank, is it enough for me to see if any tiddlers survive on their own or could I remove the eggs and nest and keep them in a small tank? I would have to get another heater of course…
Any advice would be very much appreciated!
aquariumsetup 
I’ve so kept dozens of gouramis but non had ever done this! Congrats!
Hello, it’s all a mystery to me but really interesting watching his behaviour. I hope the nest will be used after all his hard work.
That’s cool! The only labyrinth fish I’ve ever had are Betta’s and they never made any bubble nests. If you read, read, read, and observe, everything should turn out alright.
Hi, thanks, it’s very nice of you to take the time to offer encouragement. I will do as you suggest and read as much a I can. The nest is in fine shape today so I’ll keep the blog updated. I hope you are closer to deciding on your new fish.
Congratulations! This is extremely exciting and I look forward to reading about what happens next!
Thanks, I am excited, although I think my friends are fed up of hearing about it now!
Wow! That sounds so exciting! Do you have a picture of the nest? I am personally quite useless when it comes to fish advice 😛
I just wanted to tell you that I’ve “awarded” (so to speak) you with this thing called a versatile blogger award. I hope you like it. I’ve linked it to this blog, but you can use it for both this blog and your gardening one.
http://curiousfeline.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/and-im-back-almost/
Thats the link 🙂
I couldn’t really tell which one is the nest in the picture. As I said, I’m pretty illiterate about these things 😛
I am now on a mission to get a good picture of the mighty nest….
Hey thank you! It’s very kind of you to look at my blog and try to appreciate the nest!! I will get better pictures as its not you, the pics are not clear enough… Thanks for the prestigious award too, that’s made my day. Best wishes to you