Big Surprise!

A bit of background -

This is in my 125 litre tank in the lounge. There is a photo of it in post #5 here  There is an Eheim biopower filter which has a short spraybar - it can be seen on the right hand side of the tank photo. There is a clump of Salvinia between the spraybar and the side of the glass and my male honey gourami has adopted this gap as his own space (probably because of the lack of water flow behind the spraybar).

The male gourami has been getting a little "frisky" the last few days and chasing the females but I've not seen a bubble nest. This afternoon, I noticed he was chasing any fish that came within a foot of his space - including the females. When the female apisto behaves like this it means she is guarding eggs, then fry if the eggs make it that far. So I had another good look for a bubble nest - nothing. Knowing that a previous gourami didn't bother building a bubble nest (that one just attached the eggs to the heater cable) I had a look for eggs - still nothing.
That's when I saw them. Gourami fry    Free swimming gourami fry! No wonder he was going crazy chasing the other fish. They are definitely not newly hatched fry as the shape is wrong for that, and they are swimming horizontally not hanging vertically like newly hatched fry.
I have no idea how the eggs survived long enough to hatch, then the fry long enough to become free swimming. With fish like the male apisto taking an interest I didn't think any eggs would stand a chance. Maybe they survived because he didn't build a bubble nest which would have attracted attention. I can only assume he hid the eggs and fry in the Salvinia 


I've never been able to keep gourami fry alive beyond a week or so as they need warm humid air with no disturbance while they develop the labyrinth organ, so I don't expect these fry to survive much longer, especially now that they are free swimming and will quite likely get eaten 

Nice one Mommy   

I don't think my camera is up to things this small  Honey gourami fry are tiny. Tail included, they are maybe 2mm.

I've been trying to work out when the eggs were laid. I cleaned the tank on Friday last week, I suppose it's possible there were eggs in the Salvinia. I wouldn't have noticed them, I'm always more concerned about where the male endlers are when I'm taking water out (suicidal fish!). I've lost my notebook on eggs/fry - it must be somewhere in the drawers but I can't lay my hands on it and can't remember exactly how long it takes for the egs to hatch and become free swimming. I do remember that newly hatched fry have a sort of guitar shape about them, but these are black blobs with tails, they've lost their 'waist'.

Years ago, when I first got honey gouramis, I tried raising fry but gave up after a few attempts. They would grow well for a couple of weeks or so then just die. Once we had broadband, research told me the answer - until the labyrith organ develops, gourami and betta fry need the air above the water to be constantly warm and humid. With me lifting the lid to feed the fish the air gets too cold.


I may not be able to find the fry book, but I have found another old book - on 18 November 2000, I had
6 neon tetra
4 honey gourami (1m, 2 wild coloured females, 1 yellow female)
4 dwarf chain loach
3 platies (1m 2f)
5 guppies (2m, 3f)

all in a 60 litre tank.
Talk about overstocked  The CC makes it 140%. I would have been better with just the neons, loaches and 2 gouramis 

I'm glad you put the little square in - I don't think I'd have spotted them otherwise. They are tiny.

I'm also glad you survived and appreciate your efforts for the team!