A Detailed Guide to Kissing Gourami Breeding Methods, Easy for Beginners Too

The kissing gourami, also called the kissing fish, kiss fish, or peach blossom fish, is native to Thailand, Indonesia, and Sumatra. It is a common ornamental fish and counts as one of the small ornamental fish species. It gets its name because two fish appear to kiss each other, and it is loved by many fish keepers, symbolizing lasting love. Let's take a look below at the breeding methods for kissing gourami!

Breeding Time for Kissing Gourami

Kissing gourami reach sexual maturity at 15 months old. Under artificial rearing conditions, kissing gourami have no fixed breeding season and can breed multiple times a year. When planning to breed the fish, you can place the parent fish into a breeding tank at a male-to-female ratio of 1:1, add some distilled water at the same time to stimulate the parent fish into estrus, and feed heavily to promote breeding.

Male and Female Identification of Kissing Gourami

Male and female kissing gourami are not easy to distinguish. Juveniles are almost impossible to sex. In adults, the male's anal fin is generally wide and long, and the body appears somewhat slender, while the female's anal fin is narrow, the body is broad and thick, and the abdomen is slightly bulging. After the female reaches sexual maturity, the abdomen swells because it is full of eggs, which is very obvious when viewed from the top of the tank downward. Kissing gourami are egg-laying fish with external fertilization, and generally parent fish with a body length of over 20 cm should be used.

Breeding Environment for Kissing Gourami

For breeding kissing gourami, use a relatively large aquarium of 80×40×40 cm or more, with 5-7 day old water, a water temperature between 25-27°C, a pH of 6.8-7.4, and a hardness of 9-11, and place a layer of floating aquatic plants on the water surface in the tank. The male keeps swimming around the female, and when the right position is reached, he wraps around the female's body in a "U" shape and squeezes and embraces her. After the female lays eggs, the male immediately releases sperm. Each time the female can lay 500-10,000 eggs, averaging 3000. Kissing gourami eggs are floating eggs that drift on the upper layer of the water like oil, and the floating aquatic plants can keep them from being accidentally swallowed by the parent fish.

Hatching Methods for Kissing Gourami

After the kissing gourami finish laying eggs, the parent fish can be removed and the eggs hatched artificially. The larvae hatch in 20-24 hours. After 2-3 days, when the larvae can swim, they must be fed plenty of infusoria, otherwise they will starve to death. After another 2-3 days, feed small red worms for 3-4 days, and then they can be fed larger worms. At 15-20 days, the rapidly growing larvae should be divided into two or three tanks for rearing to ensure a higher survival rate. Sometimes a single brood of larvae can yield more than 9000 survivors. They reach sexual maturity at around one year, and their lifespan can reach 6-7 years.