# Gouramy spawned, what next?



## niutou (Oct 21, 2008)

*I got frys! what next?*

My gouramies just spawned today. I saw the female spitting thousands of eggs, and then the male collecting and fertilizing them (quite a mayhem).

The problem is, this is a tank with 10 other fishes. I wonder will there be fry survive. Can anyone please tell me once they hatch, should I move the fry to my spare tank (a 2.5G currently only a betta occupies)---I can transfer the betta back to the community tank. 
Q #2: How do I collect all the fry? 
Q #3:What should I feed them? I got a package of Hikari First Bites, will it be small enough for their tiny mouth?

Please, please help me and give me some ideas.

Thanks a lot!


----------



## Gordon C. Snelling (Jun 20, 2007)

I would consider this batch lost. They will not likely survive in any way in that tank situation. The first bites food is probably still too large for the fry.


----------



## niutou (Oct 21, 2008)

Gordon C. Snelling said:


> I would consider this batch lost. They will not likely survive in any way in that tank situation. The first bites food is probably still too large for the fry.


you are right. yesterday night two hours after the spawning, I checked the tank, they all gone, including the uwhole bubble nest. I guess the male got too excited, and distroyed his nest accidentally when he was chasing the female.

However, I do collected about 10 eggs into a cup, not sure they are fertilized, but Iam eager to see if there will be any hatch.


----------



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Congrats on having them spawn, even though it's too bad you lost them. 
Since you know the pair is capable of spawning, you always have the option of setting up a special tank just for them to increase the odds of success next time.


----------



## niutou (Oct 21, 2008)

Thanks for the suggestions. I got good news.

Turns out 20 of the eggs I collected are hatched---I can see clear changes of these eggs, yesterday they are just transparent dots, tonight they developed a thin black line on them: I think that's the spines. and I think I saw the tiny tails (my eyes!) Those not hatched eggs turned milky. So things are not that bad, I'll have 20 frys , hopefully.

But they are in a paper cup. Any one have experience what should I do now? 
Do I need to change water regularly? 
How long can I keep them in a cup?
Please let me know any suggestions. Thanks a lot!

Frys in the cup:









Threr tiny frys can be seen from this picture:


----------



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Congrats! I didn't think they'd hatch after you removed them, so that's great news.

You're going to have to move pretty fast to keep them alive, and the cup isn't going to work for very long. The first thing I would do is add some moss or other fine plants to the cup until you can get something else figured out.
I don't have any experience with breeding labyrinth fish, so I don't want to send you off in the wrong direction with the wrong advice, so hopefully someone else will chime in.

I think the thing I would do for now is at least get them into a breeding net inside the main tank, and keep the moss in there to give them some cover and first food.

Keep us posted.


----------



## niutou (Oct 21, 2008)

Thanks, JanS. I'll keep posting here. I have a breeding net, but I am afraid that the holes of the net is still too large for the babies.

here is today's update:

I made a infusia culture and green water culture this morning, hope to be able to feed the fry when they are free swimming.

The fry are much darker today, and they can wiggle their tiny tails rigorously.  They can quickly go up and down in the cup also. they look quite active.

maintainence: I kept change 30% of the water with my stablized tank water. no feeding yet. a desk lamp is used to keep the cup warm at night (I also loosely covered the cup with a black paper).


----------



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

That sounds like a great plan! It sounds like the fry are coming along nicely.


----------



## niutou (Oct 21, 2008)

*Day 5*
The fry are free swimming today. They are still like tiny tadpoles or little comma, but much longer than before---I estimated with my eyes that it is about 2-3 mm including the tail. 
They are transfered to a much bigger container (1 liter) now, and I start to give them a little bit of infusoria solution (hope my tulip culture really have some infusoria growing inside). Still don't know if they are actully eating it. 
maintainence: the same as before.
*Picture will be posted later*
My big belly guppy is going to drop at any minute now---this afternoon she droped a clear yellowish ball, I read somewhere is is a sign that she is giving birth soon. I am going to have hand full


----------



## prn574 (Mar 6, 2008)

OK what you need to feed the fry it's called INFUSORIA which is practically tiny bacteria. ITs very easy to make (and wont cost you a dime since you probably have the ingredients laying around your house) 
Guramies, bettas, paradise fish and other fish have very small fry that can't eat anything other than INFUSORIA. to find out how to make it go to: 
http://zda-fishenthusiast.blogspot.com/2007/04/preparing-infusoria.html

I bred bettas in 2000 (while i was in high school) and that's what i used, and the little fry would grow huge in a matter of days.

Once you make the infusoria, keep a flashlight at hand... and put it on your infusoria jar so the bacteria will be attracted to the light... and use a dropper to scoop some out and shine the flashlight to the tank to attract the fry, then put 2 - 4 drops depending how many fry you have and that's it! good luck and i hope this method helps the second time around.


----------



## niutou (Oct 21, 2008)

Thanks a lot for the great information!

I don't know if there are still time for me to make the infusoria culture---The first batch I made last week smelled so bad, I had to throw them away.

The fry are still doing Ok, I am feeding them with crushed freeze dried blood worm, hikari first bite and crushed flake. Don't know which one would work, so I give them all the three kinds alternatively, then do a water change afterwards.

I'll make a new culture following the instructions given by your link---the informations are great. Hope my fish babies can survive.



prn574 said:


> OK what you need to feed the fry it's called INFUSORIA which is practically tiny bacteria. ITs very easy to make (and wont cost you a dime since you probably have the ingredients laying around your house)
> Guramies, bettas, paradise fish and other fish have very small fry that can't eat anything other than INFUSORIA. to find out how to make it go to:
> http://zda-fishenthusiast.blogspot.com/2007/04/preparing-infusoria.html
> 
> ...


----------



## niutou (Oct 21, 2008)

*baby Gourami Update: 
This was at Day 3 (about 10 days ago)
Length: 2mm head to tail.*


----------



## niutou (Oct 21, 2008)

*baby Gourami Update: 
This was at Day 11 ( 2 days ago)
They have doubled their size compare to last picture. 
head to tail length: ~3-4mm
Only one fry did not make it. Now I have a total of 17 fish babies.

Again, thanks for the great suggestions above! *


----------



## derekp (Nov 5, 2008)

What kind of gouramis are they?


----------



## niutou (Oct 21, 2008)

derekp said:


> What kind of gouramis are they?


I am not sure, I think they are "thick-lipped honey gourami". Maybe someone can confirm that?
Here are the pictures of the mother and father.

*Mother:*









*Father:*


----------



## Lord Nibbler (Dec 22, 2005)

They look like my rainbowfish fry 

If they're similar at all, they'll love vinegar eels.


----------



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I'm glad to hear they're doing so well. Way to go!

Thanks for the updates.


----------



## niutou (Oct 21, 2008)

a few days ago something happened, I still don't understand why, but I lost the majority of my baby fish. sad
Now I only have three fry left. Good news is they are keep growing. So here is the new update:

*Update baby Gourami day 19 from hatch (Nov192008 )
You can see show start to show a orange/yellow color, which is the parents' color.
*


----------



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Sorry to hear you lost so many.  I don't have any experience with breeding them, so I can't offer any suggestions, but I've heard it isn't uncommon. 

I hope the other 3 can hang in there for you after all of your work.


----------

