The honey gourami (''Trichogaster chuna'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

gourami Gouramis, or gouramies , are a group of fresh water, freshwater Anabantiformes, anabantiform fish that comprise the family (biology), family Osphronemidae. The fish are native to Asia—from the Indian Subcontinent to Southeast Asia and northeas ...

native to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Distribution and habitat

The honey gourami is typically found in rivers and lakes in its native range of India and Bangladesh. It inhabits areas of thick vegetation in soft and poorly mineralised waters. This fish prefers the top and middle levels of the water.

Appearance and anatomy

They have orange-colored bodies. This species can reach a length of TL.

Male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

specimens of this fish, typical of many

s, are generally more colourful than their

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

counterparts. They exhibit bright orange colouring around the throat region, which at

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

time becomes much brighter and is used to

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

the female. The undersides of the males become black when breeding. Males also exhibit somewhat of an orange tinge in their fins, with the exception of the caudal fin. The male also has longer fins, with a pointed dorsal fin and extended anal fin rays.

In the aquarium

The honey gourami is generally considered to be a non-aggressive community fish, ideal for small aquaria (minimum of ). However like other gouramis, male honey gouramis can be aggressive towards each other. For this reason they are best kept apart, unless the tank is large enough for the males to establish territories. A tank that includes this fish should be planted and decorated to provide adequate cover. Providing cover is necessary as this species, like the similarly sized

dwarf gourami The dwarf gourami (''Trichogaster lalius'') is a species of gourami native to South Asia. Distribution and habitat The dwarf gourami is native to Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. However, it has also been widely distributed outside of its native ...

, can be rather timid, and aggressive tankmates are best avoided. Good tankmates include non-fin nipping

tetra Tetra is the common name of many small freshwater characiform fishes. Tetras come from Africa, Central America, and South America, belonging to the biological families Characidae, Alestidae (the "African tetras"), Lepidarchidae, Lebiasi ...

s, non-fin nipping barbs, corydoras, platys and other gouramis. Although it is not advised for new keepers to keep honey gouramis with other gouramis, same species or not. Water temperature should be maintained at around . Water chemistry is not important, but extremes should be avoided.

Breeding

The honey gourami is a

bubble nest Bubble nests, also called foam nests, are created by some fish and frog species as floating masses of bubbles blown with an oral secretion, saliva bubbles, and occasionally aquatic plants. Fish that build and guard bubble nests are known as aph ...

builder that uses plants to help bind together the bubbles. The water level should be reduced to 8 in during

spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

, and the temperature should be approximately and with a pH of around 7. It is always advised to keep your Gouramis in a separate tank to facilitate breeding. Make sure that the tank is covered. When ready to spawn, you will find the male building a small bubble nest in one end of your tank. It displays its color to grab the attention of its partner. After the female approaches the male, it marks the start of the spawning process, which sees the male wrapping itself around the female. As they roll over each other, the eggs are expelled and fertilized at the same time. Since the eggs slowly sink to the bottom of the tank, the male gathers them to put them into the nest. Unlike most other species, wherein the female takes on the dominant parenting role, here the male Honey Gourami assumes the guardian role at an early stage. The male continues guarding the nest, and rebuilds and repairs it if needed, while the female leaves the area. The eggs hatch after two days and the fry become free swimming three days later (Ter Morshuizen 2007). When they commence free swimming the fry should be fed

infusoria Infusoria is a word used to describe various freshwater microorganisms, including ciliates, copepods, Euglena, euglenoids, planktonic crustaceans, protozoa, unicellular algae and small invertebrates. Some authors (e.g., Otto Bütschli, Bütschli) ...

, 10 days later

brine shrimp ''Artemia'' is a genus of aquatic crustaceans also known as brine shrimp or ''Sea-Monkeys, sea monkeys''. It is the only genus in the Family (biology), family Artemiidae. The first historical record of the existence of ''Artemia'' dates back to t ...

, and 3 weeks later finely ground flakes.

Freeze-dried Freeze drying, also known as lyophilization or cryodesiccation, is a low temperature dehydration process that involves freezing the product and lowering pressure, thereby removing the ice by sublimation. This is in contrast to dehydration by m ...

tablets may also be fed to older fry.

References

External links

Honey gourami pageHoney dwarf gourami fact sheet

gourami-fish.com/honey-species/
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1230573 honey gourami Fish of Bangladesh Freshwater fish of India honey gourami honey gourami