# Your fish series 4: Labyrinth fish



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Sorry about the lapse between series - it's been a busy time.....  

Tell us about your Labyrinth fish: what do you like about them, why do they work in your tank, do they spawn, etc.?


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

I keep bettas (mostly splendis) and have been breeding them for some time now. About 2 years ago I got into the IBC (International Betta Congress) and became a little more involved with them. I currently breed blues and blacks (with an occasional pastel thrown in on accident). For me spawning takes place in 10 gallon tanks (I use 4 of them at various times).
The tank is filled with 4 inches of water (water hardness really doesn't matter)
Tank temp is 82 degrees with a standard 15 watt flourescent bulb over the tank)
I run a small sponge filter in another larger tank for 2 weeks before introducing into the ten gallon spawn tank.
The male and female are conditioned on frozen bloodworms and enriched flake foods with live gutloaded brineshrimp.
THe male is introduced 1-2 days before the female. The female is introduced in a hurricane glass once the male has got accustomed to the new surroundings. Float a few live plants (shouldn't be a problem for anyone here lol) in the tank to get some infusoria going. Its the first thing your freeswimming fry will eat. Release the female once she has "barred up" Horizontal bars are a sign of stress, vertical bars are a sign of willingness to spawn. I perfer the male to make a bubblenest before releasing her but it doesn't always happen that way. I leave them together for 2 days in all but the most extreme cases. I also use half a flower pot drilled for her to hide in.
Once the spawn has occured, I remove her a place her in a floating box or 1 gallon jar with melafix to heal. I do not feed either parent in the spawn tank.
The male gets removed 1 day after the fry have entered freeswimming stage. From here on out is a constant watch. Microworms are introduce at the freeswimming stage along with vinegar eels and daphnia monia. a week later the microworms are no longer added and bbs is introduced. Daphnia pulex and manga replace the daphnia monia. By week 4 I add first bites to start weaning them off live foods. I feed 3 times a day by the way. THis post is a bit messy but wasn't expecting to type this out this morn. lol


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Labyrinth fish are some of the most well suited fish for planted aquaria in my opinion. In the past I've kept Sparkling Gourami, Bettas, Spiketail Paradise Fish, and hope to keep many other types in the future. 

I'm so fond of Labyrinth fish because they're peaceful and are generally unobtrusive. In a tank with heavy surface vegitation or thick bunches of stemplants these little guys just kind of appear and disappear in harmony with the tank. I'm fond of their slowness and grace as well. For the most part I like my planted tanks to be a respite where I can get lost in a slower pace. Lots of fast moving schoolers doesn't really do that for me. 

Another of my favorite characteristics is the ease of keeping. Most of these little guys couldn't be happier in a tank without filtration but chock full of plants. I'm more thanhappy to oblige them, it's less work on my part! When given a tank where they feel comfortable my Labyrinths have spawned but the fry tend to get eaten by the other fish. One of these days I'll have a dedicated breeding setup for them. 

Regards,
Phil


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## owengibson (Apr 21, 2005)

Ive had a male Colisa lalia, "coral dwarf gourami or what-ever", for about a year and I think hes the greatest. He does sometime give a little chase and nipping, but I think that may just be because my male guppy has a huge orange tail 

He has built a few nests, but unfortunately I haven't been able to find any nice girls for him yet 

I love bettas too.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Interesting....

I only have two of the average Wal-Mart Betta's at present, but I'm always looking for interesting things when opportunity knocks.

Phil, how are the Sparkling Gourami's personality wise? I've considered them for my 30 gallon tank, but it has shrimp, so I'm not sure if they'd have an expensive shrimp dinner, or not.

Here's a pic of my latest "average" Betta that was calling to me when I walked by in the store last weekend.


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## bensaf (Jun 20, 2005)

Well I'm a big Gourami fan and keep Pearls, Thick Lipped and Dwarves in my planted set up.

Agree totally with Phil they are very well suited to the planted tank for the reason he mentioned. Unlike something like Angels which just kind of sit there blocking the view  they "interact" much more with the plants. Nver get tired of the seeing a Pearl emrge from a thicket and the dissapear somewhere else  

Useful too, they'll eat some algae and dwarves are handy for controlling hydra.

I've recently added some female Bettas which I enjoy. They are almost cat like in their movements, the way they'll swirl around plant roots. The great range of color varieties means they are easy to co-ordinate with the plants, no color clashes !!


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

JanS said:


> Phil, how are the Sparkling Gourami's personality wise? I've considered them for my 30 gallon tank, but it has shrimp, so I'm not sure if they'd have an expensive shrimp dinner, or not.


I kept _Trichopsis pumils_ (or is it pumila?), aka sparkling gourami, dwarf croaking gourami, Shrimp Assassin in my 30 gallon for a few years. They aren't aggressive really, but don't hesitate to push back when pushed. One of them would regularly spar with the larger male borellii. Some of them will eat flake food, and some won't. One of them got no flake or any other type of food for several months. After he was removed, the shrimp population noticeably increased.

I like the fish a lot, but they are definitely efficient hunters.


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## kimbm04r (Apr 22, 2005)

The only labyrinth fish I have are Betta Splendens. I, like Simpte, breed them also. I currently have several females (Pineapple, Black/Orange, Yellow Pastel and Red, lost all my males to a problem with my barracks system). I also have 7 (I believe one of them decided to turn into a male on me [-o< hopefully I will be able to continue the line with him) that I raised from a spawn of pineapples (still have mom).

I just ordered 4 pairs from Xmanbettas in Thailand and expect them to arrive sometime this week. They are Royal Blue OHM XVP63, Mask Melano XVP106, White Platinum XVP134 and also a Red pair that I don't have the ID for. They can be seen below or on his website at xmanbettas.com. I have been notified that the Blue male has blown his fins during shipment and he has offered to replace him for me but I am going to wait to decide until I see him. I can't wait to get these guys and get my breeding program up and running again.

My barracks system is based on the Newby Betta Wall System but I have modified it. It is built so it turns a corner in the fish room and is designed so one side of it can house my breeding stock and the other side can house the juvies as they grow out and are removed from the spawning tanks. The breeding stock side can hold up to 24 fish and the juvie side can hold up to 85 fish for a total of 109 fish. I am currently modifying the individual rows to help eliminate the problems I have been experiencing with leaks. I hope to have it fully functional within the next few days. Currently I have one row up and running as it has been modified and it is working out much better. The fish seem to be really happy to be back in the system. My next upgrade I have in mind for the barracks will be a modified sump system.


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## Aaron (Feb 12, 2004)

Betta splendens is the fish that hooked me into this hobby some 20 years ago and it has come full circle in a way. Although I do not have a single Betta splendens, I have for the last year and a half, I have been really focussing on the genus as a whole. I currently keep 10 different species of Bettas with the intent of breeding them. (Notice I said "intent" ) This genus has an amazing variety in regards to form, color and behavior, which is widely unknown to the general hobbyist. Many, unfortunately do not belong in the planted aquarium due to water chemistry requirements. 

Not exactly Anabantoids but I have a colony of Scarlet Badis (Dario dario) and they are IMO the quintessential inhabitant for the nano tank. A tiny fish with huge personality. They have spawned at least once, but no survivors. Unlike Badis, these guys scatter their eggs all over instead of putting them in a plaque inside a cave.


I am also toying with the idea of stocking my 125 with some Pearl Gouramis.(T. leeri) I have always admired that fish, but passed it up for "newer" and "rarer" fish.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Aaron, how are the Badis temperament wise? Someone had some up for bids at AB and I was getting a twitchy bidding finger, but I don't know the first thing about them so I let it go. They are beautiful indeed.


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## Aaron (Feb 12, 2004)

Jan, they are pretty tame fish. Males will chase the females and square off with other males but it does not amount to any harm. I have kept these fish on several different occasions and each time they just withered away. I learned my lesson and will never put these fish in a community of bigger and more assertive fish (Green Neons fall in this category!) Despite their audacious nature, Dario dario are slow and deliberate feeders and can be out competed by a lot of fish, even the small ones.

Right now, I have seven (4 males and 3 females) in believe it or not, a 10"cube. They've been in there for about 2 months and they are doing fine. This current housing arrangement is for quarantine and I have been meaning to move them into a 3'x1'x1' tank that houses a mixed school of Boraras maculata and brigittae. If things don't work, I will be sure to put them in a tank all to themselves.

Here is one of the males. Too bad his face is out of focus.









In keeping with the thread topic, here is shot of my male Betta sp. Palangkunbun. I'm kinda sad to see him cavorting around the tank as he was watching over a film cannister full of eggs a couple days ago. I think he ate them. Stupid fish...


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

I really like this genus and have also kept quite a few, including _Betta splendens_, chocolate gouramis, scarlet badis, sparkling gourami, pearl gourami (_T. leeri_), snakeskin gourami, moonlight gourami, blue and gold forms of the blue gourami, wild-type kissing gourami, giant gourami, honey gourami (_C. chuna_, and dwarf gourami (_C. lalia_). The huge variety is due to the fact that I have kept them since the beginning... my first fish was a blue gourami (ironically, it was also my longest lived at 7 years... 2nd was a 6 year old silver angelfish and third was a 5 year old pearl gourami!).

I recently decided to started keeping them after keeping mostly tetras, corydoras, and neotropical cichlids for several years. They certainly have a charm and grace which I really like in a planted tank, which I don't find in most dwarf cichlids. Here are some photos of current and past fish:

Scarlet Badis:









Betta splendens:









Chocolate gourami:









I currently keep a single Betta splendens and a mated pair of pearl gouramis. I would really want to try Betta imbellis and/or smargdina though!

Carlos


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## bensaf (Jun 20, 2005)

Carlos, 

Beautiful Chocolate. I've always fancied some. Are they really as timid and fragile as people say ? Did you have any difficulty with them or any specific feeding requirements ? 

Thanks, 
Bernard.


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

After the first trying couple of weeks (in which I lost one chocolate gourami), the gouramis (a group of 5) did very well with no special needs other than clean water, relatively small and calm tank mates (cardinal tetras, pencilfish), and a good diet. Fortunately for me, mine readily ate high quality flake food! About once to twice a week, I would feed them (along with all the tetras) BBS brine shrimp. 

My water was also quite hard (Chicago tap). GH 14, KH 11 or so!

And no, mine were not timid at all.  They are a bit mean to each other, but not as mean as I've heard from others. Perhaps the dense plantings and length of the 20g long helped.

Carlos


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