Pearl Gourami
Synonyms: Trichopodus leeri, Osphromenus trichopterus, Trichopus leeri
The Pearl Gourami is found in rivers heavy with plants in Malaysia, Borneo and Sumatra. They were first found in 1933.
(©1997 by Kaycy Ruffer)
Pearl Gouramis are quite attractive with hardly any body color per say but they do glisten with all these tiny silvery-white spots all over their bodies with a contrasting dark jagged line that runs from the tip of the mouth through the eyes and ends at the base of the tail with an area tinged with orange along the belly and edging of the anal fin. (This orange coloring is more pronounced in the male.)
The males and females are easily distinquished from each other. The females dorsal and anal fins are shorter and their body does not contain the intensive orange/red coloration of the male. I love watching my 30-gallon tall tank filled with these young ones growing up. They are miniatures of the adults in shape and coloration.
If one watches closely on the male, you can see his anal fin growing longer each week. I began watching my male because I thought his anal fin was becoming tattered. It wasn't, to my relief. The anal fin grows main filaments first and then the rest grows to fill in the rest to where the males anal fin has an even edge. It grows filaments again and the process repeats until the male's tail is at it's longest length.
These are my favorite gourami. Pearl Gouramis are bubble nest builders and are very easy to spawn. I placed a pair in a 10 gallon tank with a few pieces of plastic plants at one corner and a sponge filter at the opposite end of their tank. This was to protect the female when they were no longer spawning. The nest will be built the farthest away from the strong air/water current so it is best to turn the outflow way down as to not destroy the nest.
During spawning the male takes gulps of air at the surface of the water and then ‘blows' bubbles at the surface of the water and can make them quite large. The nest this male built was approximately three inches wide, two inches long. When he was finished it was almost a quarter inch thick. When the male ‘blows' the bubbles they are sticky and that is how he manages to keep the nest together. Even though the bubbles are sticky they do pop so the male is constantly blowing bubbles back into his nest to keep it to his specifications.
When the male thinks his nest is ready he will start displaying for the female. This male would go to the other end of the tank, get her attention by flaring out all his fins to look the best he can to her and she would follow him back to the nest site. I have noticed at times the positioning isn't always correct. This was mainly when the female is placing her head towards the male's side. If the position isn't correct they will abort the position and try again until they get it right. The female will put her nose towards his side and then the male will begin wrapping himself around the female. As he wraps around her he inverts her body to position her upside down. There is movement like quick spasms and the female releases her eggs. As the male releases the female he begins gathering the eggs and spits them into his nest. The female during this time is falling slowly to the bottom of the tank and then regains her composure. After a few seconds the ritual starts all over. This pair spawned for about three hours. I never noticed the male picking up eggs that had fallen to the bottom of the tank and these were fair game for the female to eat, which she seemed to enjoy immensely. When you notice that the pair are no longer spawning you need to remove the female. She will make short order of the eggs if she can get past the male. The male will then care for the eggs by constantly making bubbles and fetching any eggs that start to fall from the nest.
I wasn't prepared for setting up this pair for spawning. I just put them in the 10 gallon tank and fed them live tubifex worms until I could get another tank, a 20-gallon, set up to hold the fry.
The pair didn't know of my plans and decided for themselves that they were comfortable with their surroundings and began spawning despite my lack of preparation.
I set up a 30-gallon tall with a one inch layer of gravel and a 4"x 4"x 4" square home made sponge filter and a heater and a lot of live plants.
After the pair spawned I took a fine mesh net and came up from underneath the bubble nest very slowly and scooped the nest into the net. From the top this looked like tapioca pudding. Most of the bubble nest was destroyed in getting the eggs and a large quantity of the eggs floated at the surface. I then placed this net in the 30 gallon tank by hanging it on the edge so the net was hanging in the water and waited. Two days later the tiny dark slivers were visible. Once hatched I could see them hanging tail-downward and a lot of them were hanging on the glass. After another couple of days some fry were free swimming and others were still clinging to the glass sides of the tank. I started feeding them ‘Tetra Min' powdered food for egg layers. After four weeks they were large enough to start consuming newly hatched brine shrimp and finely ground flakes. At three months of age the fry were three quarters of an inch long and perfect tiny replicas of their parents! A very beautiful display in a planted tank with live or plastic plants!
My pH was 7.2 and the hardness was 750 ppm and I kept the temperature at 78° F.
These Gouramis get to about 4" in length but are quite peaceful with other tank mates. Because of the beautiful finnage of the males I would strongly suggest not placing them in a tank with fish that are known to be fin nippers.
I wish I had photos of these beautiful fish. Some day I will get these fish again and take the photos I love to take so much of my fish!
References:
Baensch Aquarium Atlas Vol 1, by Rudiger Riehl, Hans A. Baensch, 1997, Microcosm Ltd.