Thanks to the painstaking work of talented breeders, lovers of aquarium living creatures got such an amazing fish as golden gourami - the result of numerous crosses of marble rocks. This representative of the suborder of labyrinths is also called sunny, woody, lemon.
Description
The average size of an adult gourami is 8–10 cm. The body of the fish can be pale yellow, with no visible spots, or decorated with bright black transverse stripes. In most cases, there are light spots on the abdomen, and dark stripes on the back become brighter. A feature of the structure of the golden gourami are the fins in the form of a filiform mustache on the abdomen, they are a kind of touch organ.
The dorsal fin has a short shape, and the anal, in turn, is quite long, with a dark stripe, which loses its brightness with age. As a rule, the color of males is brighter than that of females, the fin on the back of them has an acute shape and is noticeably extended to the tail. The eyes are gourami of a reddish hue, the mouth is small and elongated upward. An unusual feature of this fish can be attributed to the fact that they eat hydra, which allows us to call this sub-order of labyrinths a kind of aquarium orderlies. Also, gourams are happy to eat small clams, such as snails, coils , etc. On average, fish live up to 7 years.
Behavior
Golden gourami differs from other varieties of aquarium fish in its calm and peaceful behavior, although it was noted that during spawning males can be aggressive and conflict with each other. They live in gourami, as a rule, in the middle layers of water, but they are rather shy, therefore they can hide in dense algae. It is necessary to plant an aquarium with a large number of plants and be sure to use driftwood and houses. In such conditions, it will be very good and comfortable to feel like a golden gouram.
Compatibility
This type of fish coexists wonderfully with other aquarium representatives. Only occasionally do males exhibit aggressive behavior towards other males. Usually, you can safely plant both small and large neighbors to the golden gourami. For this role, scalars, neons, laliuses, etc. are great.
Conditions of detention
Among most aquarium fish unpretentiousness and endurance is distinguished by golden gourami. Their maintenance requires only compliance with the most common conditions. Basically it is clear water, bright lighting and the presence of large free space. The size of the aquarium should be at least 100 liters for 2-3 fish, as the gourami need a lot of space for swimming. Water should not be hard, temperature fluctuations in the range from 23 to 27 ° C are allowed, it is necessary to replace weekly up to 20-30% of the volume of the aquarium.
Given that this type of fish belongs to the representatives of the labyrinth, gourams need to be provided with the necessary amount of air, therefore closing the aquarium tightly is unacceptable, but it is also not worth leaving completely open, as the fish often swims to the surface of the water. In order for the golden gourami not to catch a cold, in the upper part of the aquarium it is necessary to create a constant circulation of warm air. It is also worth remembering that for breeding and maintaining a solar miracle, absolutely pure water is needed, so filtration and aeration will not be superfluous.
What to feed
Gurami is an omnivorous fish. The feed can be used both live (cyclops, tubule, bloodworms, etc.), and dry substitutes. When choosing food, you need to remember that the mouth of the fish is small. Gold gourami, whose photo is posted in this article, is prone to overeating. It is worth remembering and strictly monitoring the quantitative portion of the portion so as not to harm the excess food.
Breeding
For the breeding of golden gourami, the same measures are taken as in most cases with the reproduction of spawning fish. Spawning grounds should be at least 50 liters in volume. During the spawning period, the female needs shelter. For this, part of the aquarium must be abundantly planted with algae. Before the breeding process begins, the female and the male are seated in different containers for 2 weeks and plentifully fed with live food, mainly bloodworms, until the female’s abdomen significantly increases. After that, the fish can be transferred to spawning grounds. On the surface of the water, the male builds a foamy nest with a diameter of 7-8 cm from air bubbles, using small particles of plants and algae, while eating nothing. On average, a female tosses up to 2 thousand eggs.
The spawning period lasts 3-4 hours. After its completion, the female is laid out, and the male collects eggs by mouth into the nest and begins to guard the brood, thereby taking care of the offspring. But do not forget that the golden gourami fish can independently prepare for reproduction in a regular aquarium. Abundant food and too warm water can contribute to this. Most often, such spawning is of little benefit, since fry can be eaten by other fish in the general aquarium. Therefore, to avoid such situations, you must not overfeed the fish and keep the water temperature not higher than 23-24 o C.
The rate of development of caviar after spawning depends on the temperature of the water - it should be warm and comfortable for the fish. Usually, larvae appear in a day, the male takes care of them until they turn into fry and cannot swim on their own. As soon as this happens, the male should be immediately put into a separate container, because the parent can accidentally eat the fry.
After 2-3 weeks, individuals can multiply again. It is necessary to feed the fry with ciliates or nematodes; finely grated egg yolk is allowed. They grow quite quickly. On average, this period takes 2–4 days. At this time, it is necessary to lower the water level in the aquarium to 10 cm, this will allow young individuals to capture air at the surface, since the labyrinth organ will be fully developed only by 10-14 weeks of life. After about 1 year, the fish reach puberty.
If a golden gourami lives in an aquarium, where suitable conditions are created for it, then, as a rule, he has health problems. An outbreak of illness can be triggered by malnutrition or contact with sick fish.