How can care your Honey Gourami Fish in your aquarium?
In a large family of Honey Gourami Fish, there is small colorful fish with a soft, even slightly timid temperament, but they are very active and enduring. These honey gouramis are the smallest and brightest among the rest. They are not only an ornament of the aquarium but also very undemanding in gourami fish care. On how to create conditions for them, how to feed, how to get offspring and much more, read on.
Honey Gourami Fish nature
The homeland of these fish is South Asia, Nepal, northeast India, Bangladesh. There they are called chuna. You can meet them in the river, the lake, the pond, the flooded field and even in the ditch. All these ponds are densely covered with vegetation. The water in them is soft, poor in minerals. The flow is very weak or completely absent.
How the Honey Gourami Fish looks like
Hurami honey He has an oval, tall, flattened body from the sides.
The head is provided with large eyes and a small, slightly elongated mouth.
Fins on chest small, transparent. The fins on the abdomen are long, filiform, and the fish feel them. There is a great similarity with the lalius, but the dorsal and anal fins are smaller. The first goes from the middle of the back to the round tail, and the second – from the peritoneum and also to the tail.
The average length of the male is 4 cm, the female is 5 cm. Sometimes there are 8-centimeter “giants”. Colisa chuna lives 4, 5 and more years.
Coloration
The natural color of honey gourami fish is jelly-silver-gray with a light brown stripe in the middle of the body. However, now more often they sell brighter and more spectacular fish, specially obtained by crossing red and gold individuals.
When they are sold, they may look bleak due to stress. Their beauty is revealed after adaptation, especially bright males during spawning.
They become red-orange or rich in honey (for which they got the name), the head and abdomen become densely blue, and the ends of the anal and dorsal fins turn yellow. Male specimens can also be distinguished by a more slender body and sharp fin ends on the back and near the tail.
Character and compatibility
Hurami Honey gurus inherent shyness, sluggishness, and timidity. They need more time for adaptation and control so that other fish do not deprive them of food.
Thick thickets will give them more confidence and reduce stress. Fishes are active mainly during the day. They prefer the upper and middle layers of water. Necessarily need access to atmospheric air, as these fish are a labyrinth.
Colisa chuna can be populated singly, in pairs or in groups of 4-10. They are not schooling, but they like the company and are fully disclosed only in the team. There is a hierarchy in the pack.
One of the largest and most powerful males dominates, which drives all the others. With the group content of male and female individuals should be equally divided.
Fish can live in both species and general aquariums, but only with small and quiet neighbors who will not offend gourami: zebrafish, barbuses, guppies, neon, tetras, ravings, corridor sores, non-aggressive labyrinths, etc. C Conflicts are possible. With overly active and aggressive species, the neighborhood is doomed to failure.
We create conditions for Honey Gourami Fish
The maintenance and care of these macro-subordinates will be able even for beginners aquarists. They are included mainly in feeding, weekly water changes and thinnings of plants. Now for more details:
Hurami honey Dimensions of capacity. Honey gurus do not require a large amount of aquarium. One fish will be enough 10 liters, two – 40 liters, a group – from 50 liters. From above it should be covered with a lid so that the air at the surface was warm and the fish did not catch a cold. The difference between the temperature in the room and in the water should be minimal.
Parameters of aquarium
The temperature of the water is better to maintain at a level of 24-28 degrees, acidity 6-7,5, rigidity 4-15. Particularly important is the constancy of the temperature, since changing it even by 2 degrees will badly affect fish. Ideally, it would be good to have a heater with a thermostat.
Aeration and filtration are desirable, but not necessary (especially in the species aquarium). Every week, it is recommended to replace 30% of water with fresh water.
Lighting
A bright direct light is not needed since his gourami is frightened and constantly sit behind bushes. The optimal scattered light will help create fluorescent lamps at 0.3-0.4 W / l.
Ground
The bottom can be laid with washed large gray river sand. On a dark background, chuna look much brighter. The main thing is that the soil is safe, that is, does not allocate anything harmful to the water.
Plants can be used any, the main thing is that they well tolerate warm water and form dense thickets. Most often, they use Vallisneria, elodia, pinnate, fern. They are located at the back and sides of the reservoir, leaving a free space in the center. Above they start floating duckweed, riccia, in the shade of which these fishes like to swim.
Honey Gourami Fish are a labyrinth, which means that in addition to oxygen dissolved in water, they need atmospheric air, so you need to provide access to it.
Decor
At the bottom, several snags should be laid and enough shelters installed, which will give confidence to shy and shy fish.
How to feed
The omnivorous Colisa chuna will not be difficult to feed. They eagerly eat both dry and live, and frozen food. Coretra, Artemia, Cyclops, Daphnia and bloodworms will come up without problems, but with a pipe man, you need to be careful since from it fish often become fat and die. Portions should be small. They are given 1-2 times a day. If the food is too large, then it must be crushed first. In addition, they are also fed flakes with plant components.
How to get offspring
Hurami Honey gourami fish are ready for reproduction at the age of 6-8 months. This process is not complicated. It can take place in a common aquarium, which is useful for females, as they do not get sucked, but in this case, it is difficult to preserve fry.
To increase their chances of survival, it is recommended to gently scoop up the nest with a saucer and transfer it to another container. You can also transplant the caring male.
Organization of the spawning grounds. Preferably still a variant with spawning.
For a pair of suitable 10-liter capacity, for the group – 40-liter, with a lid.
The water is poured no higher than the level of 15-20 cm. It should have a temperature of 26-29, a hardness of not more than 5 and an acidity of 6-6.5.
There plants are placed with broad leaves of the nymphaea type.
Primer is optional
Sometimes it is recommended to close the front glass so as not to disturb the fish.
Spawning occurs in a couple or a small group. Males are tolerant of females. The fish selected for breeding are fed a lot and nourished. As soon as the female is fattening from the calf, the male is sent to spawning grounds to build a nest of foam under a sheet of a large plant, and it is launched next.
After the construction is completed, the male lures to him a “lady” (where she produces 20 eggs), inseminates them, picks up her mouth and puts them in the nest. This is repeated several times. The number of eggs can reach 300 pieces.
After the termination of spawning, the female is ceded. The male is set aside to peck the eggs, that is, about 1-1.5 days, and then also cleaned.
Care for the offspring
Water in the spawning is reduced to a level no more than 10 cm, heated to 30 degrees and connected with a mild aeration. Top up the water and remove the aerator will be possible only after the formation of a labyrinth organ in fry (they will begin to rise to the surface and gasp the air).
After 3 days, as soon as the fry swim, they are fed infusoria and mashed egg yolks several times a day, avoiding starvation. After 10-14 days they have transferred to nauplii artemia. As they grow up, they need sorting, because gourami has a tendency to cannibalism.
A little bit about the diseases of Honey Gourami Fish
Hurami honey They are prone to odinosis, and in adult fish, it can be present for years in a latent form. But the fry is at risk.
Call the disease flagellate Oodinium, which are taken into the skin, fins, gills, mucous membranes of the mouth. Infection can occur from other fish, plants or equipment from an “alien” aquarium.
Sick fish can be recognized by a rough, as if with golden spray head, grayish-brown glued fins and spots of the same color on the body, sometimes peeling skin. The unfortunate creature is hammered into a corner and rubs against objects or plants.
For treatment, baths are used in which bicillin, copper sulfate, malachite green, hydrochloride and sodium chloride are added. Treatment is conducted in complete darkness, for pathogens are partly plants.
Buy only healthy fish!
The dim color of the honey gourami fish in the store is not an indication that they are ill. After getting used to the new permanent residence, the brightness of the colors returns to them. But shabby, torn, badly straightened fins and short broken off mustaches – this is the reason to not buy such fish.
Conclusion
We advise you not to neglect the quarantine before planting your new pets in a permanent aquarium. During the week, it is advisable to keep them separately and daily arrange baths from a mixture of biomycin, Zelenka and rivanol for about 15 minutes so. Observe these simple recommendations, and then your honey gourami will be healthy and live long.
