Pearl gourami: features, maintenance and care

Pearl gourami is a surprisingly beautiful view of fish, which is why we are loved by aquarists. The huge popularity is due to the simplicity in maintenance, good health and high decorative properties of fish.

Pearl gourami belongs to the category of specially protected species and is listed in the Red Book. The first description of the fish was compiled by the scientist Bleaker in 1852, and Thailand and the islands of Borneo and Sumatra are considered their homeland. The habitat of the species in the natural environment is warm reservoirs with an abundance of vegetation, located in the Malay Archipelago, Thailand and Indonesia.

Fish prefer sour water with an abundance of vegetation, where they feed on insects, their larvae and zooplankton. Interesting is the behavior of the gourami in the process of hunting for midges: the fish shoots insects with a thin stream of water, knocks them into the water and eats safely. For aquarium breeding, gouramis are grown on special farms, since it is almost impossible to catch such a fish in a natural reservoir.

A distinctive feature of pearl gourami is their ability to breathe ordinary air, and not oxygen dissolved in water, like other fish. This type of breathing is due to the special structure of the breathing apparatus, which must be taken into account by the owners when transporting fish to the aquarium.

An interesting fact is the ability of females to produce distinct sounds during the spawning season, the nature of which is not fully understood. Males do not make any sounds during spawning, but noticeably change. Their throats and stomachs acquire a bright red hue, which is why they begin to look much more attractive than females.

The body sizes of pearl gourami are not too large, and an adult rarely grows more than 12 cm. This allows them to be kept in medium-sized common aquariums with an abundance of algae and a small space for swimming. The body of the fish has an oblong shape and is somewhat compressed laterally. The dorsal and anal fins have an elongated structure, which is especially clearly seen in males.

The ventral fins are particularly sensitive and are designed to feel underwater objects. They are framed with peculiar threads that give the fish an unusual appearance. There are also individuals with a disc-shaped body - pearl gourami cylinders. Both of them are characterized by silver-violet, brown or red-brown color with an abundance of bright pearl dots located not only on the body, but also on the fins.

Sharing pearl gourami with other fish does not cause any problems. They get along well with all peace-loving and non-aggressive fish that do not differ in territorial behavior and do not belong to the category of too large species. However, peaceful neighbors often become unwitting offenders of quiet and timid gurus. They take their threadlike fins for worms and often injure fish. An ideal neighborhood is noted with neon, iris, rainbow and large shrimp.

The only thing to consider when growing gourami in a common aquarium is their inability to compete for food. For this reason, you need to carefully monitor so that the fish have time to eat fully and no one bothers them.

In addition, if pearl gourami are settled in already formed communities, then for a long time they will be frightened and hide in shelters until they realize that they are in complete safety. As for incompatible species, then pearl gourami cannot be settled along with swordsmen, goldfish, barbs, cockerels, haracin and most types of cichlids, with the exception of scalars.

Pearl gourami adapt well to their new habitat and are highly survivable. To do this, it is enough to follow the general rules of care and fulfill the requirements for the aquarium, water, soil and nutrition.

• When choosing a home aquarium It is advisable to purchase spacious tanks with a volume of at least 100 liters. Although the content of young animals is allowed in smaller containers, the fish grow quickly and require a full body of water.
• Coarse river sand can be used as soil, suitable for planting algae. Its layer should be 5-6 cm, which will allow the plants to form a strong root system.
• Plants for gourami should be selected branched and lush, since the fish loves to hide and build nests in dense thickets. Elodea and pinnacle are well suited for this, and floating species, for example, duckweed, can be laid out on the surface of the water. However, too many floating plants should not be placed; fish should always have free access to air.
• After planting the vegetation, aquarium decorations are installed at the bottom, which at first will serve as a safe haven for timid and shy pearl gourami.In addition to ready-made decor items, you can use coconut shells, driftwood, roots of an interesting configuration and ceramic pots.
• There are special requirements for water. Its temperature should be within + 24-28 degrees Celsius, the acidity level should be 6.5-8.5 pH, and the hardness should not exceed 15 dGh. In addition, taking into account the special type of pearl gourami breathing, one should not allow too much difference between air and water temperatures.
• When choosing a filter, it is better to focus on a low-power model. This is due to the fact that gourams do not like strong currents, preferring to live in water with minimal movement.
• Illumination of the aquarium should be moderate. Fish does not like too bright light; in the wild, it prefers shady, algae-covered ponds.
• Water change for gourami should be done once a week and make up no more than 1/3 of the total volume of the aquarium. As a new portion, take settled filtered water with a minimum content of impurities of heavy metals and ammonia.

Pearl gourami are omnivorous fish and in the wild feed on insects, their larvae and zooplankton. With aquarium content, they eat any animal or vegetable food, dry balanced mixes and frozen cubes.

Gourami well eat bloodworms, coronet, tubule and artemia, and eat prepared foods as daily food. However, when choosing food, you need to pay attention to the size of the granules, acquiring fine-grained compositions. This is due to the small mouth of the fish, which is why they cannot swallow large particles.

A distinctive feature of pearl gourami is their ability to devour pests, namely hydra. These intestinal creatures enter the aquarium with food and cause irreparable harm to the community by eating fry. Gourami, on the other hand, perfectly deal with aggressors, leaving them not the slightest chance of salvation.

Determining the floor of a pearl gourami is quite simple. Males and females are noticeably different from each other, so it is almost impossible to mix them up:

• males are characterized by larger body sizes and elongated dorsal and anal fins;
• their color is much brighter than that of females, which makes males very attractive from a decorative point of view;
• the third difference is the neck color: for example, in females it is always orange in color, and in males it is bright red;
• another difference is the caudal fin, which in males has a pointed shape, and in females it is smoothly rounded.

Breeding with gourami does not require special knowledge and even a beginner can do it. However, it is advisable for aquarists who have no experience with fish farming at all to familiarize themselves with some of the rules and features of this process.

• It is possible to engage in obtaining offspring both in a separate tank, and in a common aquarium. However, the presence of neighbors can adversely affect the health of the fry, and if it is possible to put the pair into another container, you need to use it.
• From the herd choose female and male signs of attention to each other from 8 to 12 months old and the rounded abdomen determines whether the female is ready for spawning. A couple is carefully caught and transplanted into a separate container with a volume of about 30 liters. Many aquarists recommend first to plant a male and only after a day to plant a female.
• Water in the spawning process should be crystal clear, and in order to make the fish feel more private, cover the aquarium with a sheet of thick paper. Sandy soil is laid at the bottom and a plant of riccia is launched into the pond - a natural material for building nests. The male quickly takes up the construction of the nest: he swallows air on the surface and releases small bubbles on the leaves of riccia. Gradually, a large foam cap is formed on the surface of the sheet, the diameter of which is 5-7 cm, and the height often reaches 4 cm. It takes about a day for the male to equip the nest, after which he kindly admits the female to it.
• The water level in the aquarium should not exceed 20 cm, and its rigidity should be from 4 to 8 dGh. A special temperature regime is also necessary: ​​faster spawning is facilitated by warmer water than in the general aquarium with a temperature of +29 degrees Celsius.
• Due to the likelihood of destruction of the nest by the flow of water the use of aerators in spawning is not allowed.
• Feed the pair before spawning should be exclusively live feed, excluding cyclops and daphnia from the diet. Otherwise, there is a high risk that young parents will gobble up their fry.
• Spawning itself lasts about 4 hours: the male pushes the female towards the nest and, wrapping it around her body, extrudes and fertilizes the eggs. Then he collects the eggs that didn’t fall into the nest, transfers them to the nest in his mouth and glues them to the foam cap on his saliva. For one spawning, the female is able to lay from 200 to 2000 eggs.
• Once the spawning process is complete, the female is placed in a different container, and the male is left to take care of the offspring. Larvae form on the third day, and on the fourth father of the family sits, and the fry begin to live independently. If this is not done, the male, which is not fed during the entire period of care for the offspring, can simply gobble up the young.
• After the fry appeared, the liquid level in the tank is reduced to 6-8 cm and kept at this level for a month. This is necessary for the correct formation of the labyrinth respiratory apparatus in the fry. If there are too many babies in spawning, it is recommended to additionally provide it with weak aeration.

As a feed for young animals use ciliates, live dust and special feeds. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the uneaten surplus of feed is removed from the aquarium in time and does not rot. And also it is necessary to observe the behavior of large fry, which eventually begin to eat smaller and weaker ones. This phenomenon occurs quite often and is due to the uneven growth of the population.

In aquarium conditions, pearl gourami live from 7 to 9 years. Fish are distinguished by strong immunity and very rarely get sick. Possible ailments more often occur due to insufficient care and overpopulation of the aquarium. Often, the factors that led to the disease are injuries during transportation or transplantation, violation of the temperature and acidity of the water, excess or lack of food, low-grade or contaminated food, as well as too cold room temperature.

Severe ailments include lymphocytosis, aeromonosis, and pseudomonosis., which are of a viral nature and are treated with special preparations and complete aquarium decontamination. The causes of infection are infected live food, soil affected by pathogenic flora and diseased plants, and the disease develops faster against the background of general pollution of the aquarium and low water temperature. But if care for the aquarium is carried out in accordance with all the rules, and the diet is carefully selected, then the pearl gourami are practically not sick and do not cause any problems to their owners.

For more information about the features of these fish, see the next video.