Opaline Gourami?

Question

My larger female opaline gourami has been looking ackwardly chubby as of late. I bought her from the pet store about a week ago and when i purchased her she did seem 'fat'. The other (female i'm pretty sure) opaline gourami does not have this symptom, and i'm speculating that she may be pregnant. I have a place for her to go and food prepared as well. I have no male in my tank.

1. If she is pregnant and i seperate her will she lay the eggs without a nest made by a male? How would i care for the eggs??

2. If yes will the eggs survive in my care?

3. If the eggs survive and hatch, will the babies be bothered by other babies (as i have a red wag platy preparing for birth in the same seperate area)?

4. How do i tell when a female gourami is pregnant?

5. When do they spawn?

Answer 1

hello
while it might be that your gourami has built up eggs, it also might be that the fish eats too much. some gouramis tend to overeat.

the fishes usually don't lay eggs without males (even if they would the eggs still would be unfertile), also gouramis don't build up eggs without a male presence, but in your case a male at the pet shop might have triggered the spawning.

it can happen sometime that a female fish builds up eggs but cannot spawn. this is not very good because the eggs may harden and the fish would die because of it.

Answer 2

If it is a female, it's possible she may have developing eggs. She will lay them, but without a male in the tank to fertilize them as she does, they won't be fertile, so you won't have any fry. As captive fish, there really isn't a "spawning season" as there would be in the wild, so they can spawn any time of the year.

You can tell the genders apart by looking at the dorsal fins - the males is longer and more pointed than a female's. This link has some photos a little more than halfway down the page: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile84.html

If your other gourami is a male, and he builds a bubble nest for the eggs, you should remove the female after the eggs are laid - the male will care for them. They'll hatch in a little more than a day from the time they're laid.

Getting them to spawn is relatively easy, but raising the fry is not. They should have a culture of infusoria prepeared about a week in advance. You can do this by several methods explained in this link: http://www.killitank.dk/food/Infusoria.htm As they grow, the next food would be newly hatched brine shrimp. You can get a hatchery kit in most pet stores, but you'll need to provide a 2 liter bottle and an air pump.