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v FISH INFORMATION.

� Pearl Gourami

� Silver Dollar

� Tiger Barb

v FISH PICTURES...........

v EXTRAS...........................

Fish Information

PEARL GOURAMI

Distribution: These fish are found in Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, South East Asia.

Temperament: Very Peaceful. Recommended for all community aquariums. Occasionally you can get one who?s mildly aggressive, which are usually males.

Sexing: Sexually mature males have red orange throat and longer pointed dorsal fin. Females has shorter, rounded dorsal fin and its throat does not turn red orange.

Breeding: Like any anabantoid Pearl Gouramis are oviparous(makes bubble nests and puts it?s eggs in it). Click here for more information bout breeding Pearl Gouramis.

SILVER DOLLAR

Distribution: These fish are found in Guyana, Orinoco, Western Amazon, and the Paraguay Basin

Temperament: Silver Dollar are considered to be docile but I believe that some care should be taken when choosing tankmates. They are active and playful so some fin nipping may take place. They are also schooling so at least keep 6 together to make them happy. Avoid less shy fish and fish that has long finnage.

Feeding: Since these fish are herbivores, these fish will generally eat mainly vegetable food stuffs and vegetable flake food. Avoid including live plants in your community aquarium or these fish might eat them.

Sexing: The male has a longer anal fin which has a red tinge in front of it.

TIGER BARB

Distribution: These fish are found in Indonesia, Sumatra, Borneo, and possibly Thailand

Temperament: These fish are lively and make a good community fish for other fast moving fish. They can get a bit nippy at times so it is a good idea to get several so that they would bother each other instead of other tank inhabitants. Avoid keeping this fish with any small, docile or long finned fish. They also like to school so at least keep 8 or more Tiger Barbs together.

Sexing: Female is heavier especially during the spawning season. The males are more brightly colored and are smaller. During spawning they will develop a very red nose.

Fish Breeding

BREEDING PEARL GOURAMI

Pearl Gouramis are very easy to breed. It is recommended for first time breeders of egg laying freshwater fish.

Before breeding you need to first determine the sex of the fish. Once you have a pair the fish are pretty much capable of handling things on their own.

In breeding Pearl Gouramis you need to condition them by feeding them high quality flake food for about a week. The female after a week, would swell with eggs. After conditioning. You need to isolate them in a breeding tank, usually 10-20 gallon rectangular tank with no gravel. I usually add live floating plants where the male would place his bubble nest.

The male takes in air at the surface and will spit out bubbles at the floating plants. After getting pleased with his nest he will position the female under it and wrap himself around her squeezing out the eggs and fertilizing them. He will pause between sessions to gather up the eggs and place them in the nest. Once the female has run out of eggs the male will begin to chase her away from the bubble nest, this time you need to take her out of the tank for her safety. The male will guard the nest gathering up any eggs that have strayed and returning them to the nest and replacing bubbles as needed. Don?t feed the male at this time, because he wont eat, don?t worry about him starving because he will only be with the nest for a week.

After 24 to 48 hours the eggs would hatch and soon the fry would be free swimming. Remove the male if he could not keep up with his fry and that they leave the nest as soon as he puts them back to into it.

3 to 4 days after the eggs have hatched, the fry has already absorbed their yolk sac and you need to feed them. I use fine flake food. Also change water regularly, maybe � of the tanks water, and avoid overfeeding to avoid the uneaten food chance to grow fungus.