Kissing Gourami
Kissing gourami engaging in a lip-lock dueling
Kissing Gourami (Helostoma temminckii) belongs to the labyrinth fish family which can be found exist in two different variants, one is the original type, the grayish wild form normally found similar like their cousins in natural habitat and the other is the pink-colored hybrid which is obtained by selective breeding. Just like the climbing perch, kissing gourami also originates from the swampy areas and rivers of South East Asian countries and those hybrid forms which are pinkish in color is actually obtained by carefully selecting those having some pinkish color and then line-bred the fish in a closed loop in order to retain the desired coloration that is needed. For example, cross-breeding effort carried out between the wild fish from Thailand having some coloration against those found in Borneo and Kalimantan region will result in offspring retaining the desired trait and then the fish is again line-bred among themselves so that color becomes more profound in the next generation. It is a laborious process but we are lucky to have the hybrid form which is much more presentable than the grayish one. Today the fish is widely adopted around the world and kept in home aquariums as pets purely because of their one highly-engaging, funny and entertaining behavior, which is nonetheless “Kissing” and that is how the fish gets its name.
General Behavior
This behavior is actually exhibited most of the time by the male fish and believe it or not they are not actually kissing at all. The act is some sort like a tug-of-war game claiming territorial superiority and most of the time, pushing and shoving each other using their lips do not result in any injury. If one of them feels that it will lose, it will start to retreat and will not continue further with it. The other fish might start to chase after the one retreating but after some time, both of them will lose interest towards each other. In Thailand, the labyrinth fish is as popular as Siamese betta fighting fish but for the kissing gourami, they are specifically bred in ponds as food fish served as restaurant delicacy. These fish if properly cared for and bred in large ponds can actually get very big reaching almost 1 foot in length with the proper diet. They consumed just about anything in the wild, with the young fish feeding mainly on water fleas while the bigger fish can sometimes eat the other smaller ones and devour freshwater shrimps. In home aquariums, kissing gourami will devour anything that you feed to them from lettuce, peas and even worms. They do not have any preference and thus food is your least concern.
Health and Breeding
Keeping them healthy is more towards proving good and clean water quality. Being a large fish, they can produce quite a lot of waste and thus polluting their own environment that they live in. Sometimes, water which is too dirty will cause algae bloom and in this condition, it will give opportunity for parasites and other disease to develop and spread to the fish. Fortunately, kissing gourami rarely falls sick and if they do, the first thing that you should check is your water quality. Breeding the fish can be quite laborious because first you must make sure that you have a male and female breeding pair. Females generally have a broader and thicker body mass while for the males, you will need to take them out from the water, flip them upside down and gently press on the edge close to the anal fin. If it is male, you can see milt discharging close to the genital zone and from here, you can confirm that you have a mating pair.
To promote breeding, make sure that you have tank size as large as possible whereby 50 gallon is the preferred capacity. Introduce some floating plants so that their eggs are protected from the attention of their very own greedy parents. Sometimes dried hays can be used because not only does the hays offer protection but because in time, they will develop into infusorians which in turn becomes nutritious foods for the offspring. The male kissing gourami, unlike other labyrinth fish does not produce a good bubble nest but instead build a random messy nest. In fact, the way these fish mates and discharges the eggs and milt will occur in a random fashion and once this is done, your task as an aquarium owner should immediately remove and transfer the parents to another tank. A healthy breeding pair can produce close to 10000 eggs but rarely all of them survive to become adult but don’t worry because young kissing gourami will often have high survival rate. Your utmost concern is only about getting enough foods to feed all the small mouths and once they reach a certain size, it about getting enough space to put all of them in!
Other types of gourami but in different classification: Giant Gourami
General Behavior
This behavior is actually exhibited most of the time by the male fish and believe it or not they are not actually kissing at all. The act is some sort like a tug-of-war game claiming territorial superiority and most of the time, pushing and shoving each other using their lips do not result in any injury. If one of them feels that it will lose, it will start to retreat and will not continue further with it. The other fish might start to chase after the one retreating but after some time, both of them will lose interest towards each other. In Thailand, the labyrinth fish is as popular as Siamese betta fighting fish but for the kissing gourami, they are specifically bred in ponds as food fish served as restaurant delicacy. These fish if properly cared for and bred in large ponds can actually get very big reaching almost 1 foot in length with the proper diet. They consumed just about anything in the wild, with the young fish feeding mainly on water fleas while the bigger fish can sometimes eat the other smaller ones and devour freshwater shrimps. In home aquariums, kissing gourami will devour anything that you feed to them from lettuce, peas and even worms. They do not have any preference and thus food is your least concern.
Health and Breeding
Keeping them healthy is more towards proving good and clean water quality. Being a large fish, they can produce quite a lot of waste and thus polluting their own environment that they live in. Sometimes, water which is too dirty will cause algae bloom and in this condition, it will give opportunity for parasites and other disease to develop and spread to the fish. Fortunately, kissing gourami rarely falls sick and if they do, the first thing that you should check is your water quality. Breeding the fish can be quite laborious because first you must make sure that you have a male and female breeding pair. Females generally have a broader and thicker body mass while for the males, you will need to take them out from the water, flip them upside down and gently press on the edge close to the anal fin. If it is male, you can see milt discharging close to the genital zone and from here, you can confirm that you have a mating pair.
To promote breeding, make sure that you have tank size as large as possible whereby 50 gallon is the preferred capacity. Introduce some floating plants so that their eggs are protected from the attention of their very own greedy parents. Sometimes dried hays can be used because not only does the hays offer protection but because in time, they will develop into infusorians which in turn becomes nutritious foods for the offspring. The male kissing gourami, unlike other labyrinth fish does not produce a good bubble nest but instead build a random messy nest. In fact, the way these fish mates and discharges the eggs and milt will occur in a random fashion and once this is done, your task as an aquarium owner should immediately remove and transfer the parents to another tank. A healthy breeding pair can produce close to 10000 eggs but rarely all of them survive to become adult but don’t worry because young kissing gourami will often have high survival rate. Your utmost concern is only about getting enough foods to feed all the small mouths and once they reach a certain size, it about getting enough space to put all of them in!
Other types of gourami but in different classification: Giant Gourami