Breeding Kissing Gouramis: Mastering Nest Building, Spawning, and Fry Care

The kissing gourami, also known as the kissing fish or peach blossom fish, is an ornamental fish native to Southeast Asia, named for the way two fish often touch mouth to mouth. This behavior is mostly regarded as a fight or a display of territory and has no direct connection to breeding. The kissing gourami is a labyrinth fish and builds a bubble nest to breed, in a manner similar to bettas and related species.

Male and female kissing gouramis show little obvious difference in appearance, making them hard to tell apart at ordinary times. During the breeding season, the female's belly becomes noticeably swollen and rounded, while the male is relatively slender and elongated, which can serve as a reference when selecting parent fish. Generally, robust adult fish in good vitality are chosen and paired off, then moved alone into a breeding tank.

The breeding tank should be kept in a quiet environment, with the water temperature maintained at around 26 to 28 degrees Celsius, and a few duckweed plants or aquatic plants can be placed on the surface for the male to attach his bubble nest to. After coming into breeding condition, the male continually blows bubbles that gather on the water surface into a foam nest, then chases the female to complete spawning and fertilization. Once spawning is finished, the female should be removed promptly to prevent her from eating the eggs, while the male stays by the nest to guard it.

The eggs hatch in the bubble nest after about one or two days, and once the fry can swim level the male should be moved out, so that he does not become overly depleted or disturb the young fish. Newly hatched fry are extremely small, so they can first be fed fine foods such as infusoria and egg yolk water, then switched to small live foods once they are a little bigger. During breeding, care should also be taken to keep water quality stable and avoid large water changes that wash apart the bubble nest, which is the key to raising the survival rate of the fry.