Sexing my Sparkling gourami

[stormhawk]

Yes, A is most likely female and B is a young male perhaps.

[beetroot]

Thanks Stormhawk, i have moved both to a larger tank - hope they are happy as a pair!

[stormhawk]

Good luck! These small guys are highly territorial. If you kept them as a sexed pair, you should be fine. They do great in tanks with very little movement at the water's surface.

I found that keeping them in small groups almost always ends up with 1 or more deaths. The dominant fish will beat up any weaker ones, so only in a pair, or in a bigger group in a much larger tank.

[Tact]

Mind if i ask how do i determine the gender of flame morph colisa lalia? I will like to breed them... Any tips for breeding?

Thanks in advance!!

[stormhawk]

Males have pointed dorsal fin at the end nearest to the tail. Females have rounded edge for the dorsal. Almost always you will only get males at the LFS. I haven't seen any female lalia in ages.

[Tact]

Thank you so much! guess it seems rather impossible to create a mating pair then

[stormhawk]

Yup usually that is the case with local stores. It's the suppliers, not the LFSes that are doing this. However, it is occasionally possible to come across female C. lalia at LFS. So don't give up.

[Tact]

Thank you stormhawk

[apistomaster]

I have raised Pygmy Sparkling Gouramis many times and my favorite method is to raise them in a colony style tank. They do not eat their fry so over time you will have specimens of every size. Just keep the tank well planted.
They will build bubble nests under leaves, inside empty plastic film canisters and small clay pots. The fry may be started off on microworms then I feed Artemia nauplii to older fry and the adults although they eat flakes and also frozen blood worms.
They are a very enjoyable fish to keep. That is why I revisit them every few years. One display colony I liked was one that included cherry shrimp and Boraras maculata.

[schent781]

Is anyone interested in buying 4 sparkling gouramis? I know for sure one of them is a female cuz she has spawned with one of the males. There are three other smaller ones that are vibrantly colored, my guess is they are males. It was weird, the female actually bullies the males in this case. I'm making bio-load space for some clown killies. Sad to see them go, but I've been dying to rear some clown killies

[schent781]

I wouldn't mind trading them for some crystal shrimp either

[Puffer]

I rear and spawn Trichopsis pumila (unintentionally) in a densely 3ft planted tank with cardinals, pencils and C pygmaeus. Now I have this species of various sizes. I notice that the adults are territorial and creepy. They dart into hiding when threatened. That's why I find the adults almost impossible to net, especially in thick mass of jungle. I don't really bother about the fry - many could have been food for my bigger fish, but those survive probably get micro-organisms in moss as food source. It's a joy to watch a fry or two popping out into the open.

[beetroot]

I hope I'll have as much luck as you guys trying to breed them .