How Do Blue Gouramis Breed? Methods and Key Technical Points Explained
Blue gourami, also known as the three-spot gourami, blue three-spot, snakeskin gourami, and three-spot Belontia, is a common tropical ornamental fish. So how does it breed?
1. How the blue gourami breeds
The blue gourami reproduces by laying eggs. The blue gourami reaches sexual maturity at 4-5 months of age. After maturing, the male begins to chase the female; the female swims to beneath the bubble nest, and the male bends his body to embrace the female. After several embraces and rolls, the process of spawning and releasing sperm is completed.
2. Related introduction to the blue gourami
1. Morphology
The blue gourami has an oval-shaped body that is laterally compressed and can reach 10-15 cm in length. The eyes are relatively large, the dorsal fin is short and high, and the pelvic fins are long filaments reaching the caudal fin. The fin base runs from below the chest to the base of the caudal fin. The caudal peduncle is very short, and the caudal fin is forked. The blue gourami is blue-gray all over, with a dark blue round spot in the middle of the trunk and another at the caudal peduncle, forming three spots equally spaced with the black pupil. The fins are pale yellow with small dots.
2. Food
The blue gourami is an omnivorous fish and accepts many kinds of live food such as mosquito larvae, tubifex worms, water earthworms, and water fleas. It also eats artificial food and even eats live small fry. It will also consume shrimp and crab eggs and grains, but it does not chase small fish it cannot swallow. Still, the blue gourami likes food floating on the water surface the most.
3. Living temperature
The blue gourami likes to inhabit natural waters that are not very flowing or completely still, and it has no special requirements for water quality. It needs a relatively high water temperature, but its ability to tolerate low temperatures is fairly strong. Sometimes it can even survive occasionally in low-temperature places (14°C), and the lower lethal limit is 11.5°C. Generally, the most suitable water temperature for keeping this fish is 23-26°C.
In addition, the blue gourami is a fish that likes quiet, so it is best not to keep it mixed with fish that are very active.