Pearl gourami (Trichopodus leerii)
In the wild, the pearl gorami lives in water that has stopped moving, so it is very calm and has little oxygen. So it could live in these conditions, it made a new breathing organ called the Labyrinth. This organ lets it breathe air when it needs to on the surface.
The pearl gorami is a beginner-friendly fish (hardy, easy to feed and care for), but it should be kept in at least a 200-liter (50-gallon) aquarium.
Origin:Thailand and Indonesia
Temperature: 23 to 29°C or 73 to 84°F ; pH: 6 to 7.5; Hardness: 5 to 16°dGH
Aquarium Size: 200 L / 44 imp gal / 53 US gal
Diet
The Pearl Gourami eats everything, but it mostly eats insects. It will eat flakes or granules as its main food. To avoid problems, it’s best to change the way it gets power. So, you can give them live or frozen prey twice or three times a week (cyclops, artemia, daphnia, or even bloodworms).
Behaviour
One of the calmest gouramis and an excellent group fish. They like to be under surface plants and will spend most of their time in this area. Males are territorial with each other, and when they want to breed, they can be pretty rough on the females, so make sure there are enough places for them to hide. Do not put the pearl gourami in a tank with very active or aggressive fish, or it will become shy.
Sexual difference
Males are much more colorful as they get older than females. Around the throat, males get a beautiful orange or red color. The dorsal and anal fins are also bigger than normal. Females are blander and plumper.
Breeding
How to make Gourami babies
The best thing to do is set up a small 45-liter (12-gallon) aquarium with substrate (preferably dark). It needs to be planted well so that the plants can be a safe place for the fry that will grow up there.
The male Pearl Gourami will make a nest out of bubbles that will float to the top of the water. Once this nest is done, the female will come and lay between 200 and 300 eggs in it. This may seem like a lot, but don’t worry. Many of the eggs won’t get fertilized, and many of the young fish won’t grow up.
When the female is full of eggs, the male will build a large bubble nest among the floating plants. It can be up to 10 inches in diameter.
After the female has laid eggs, she should be taken out of the breeding tank. In fact, the male who takes care of the nest will get angry with it and try to catch it. It will look out for the eggs and make sure none of them fall out of the bubble nest.
The male then takes care of the nest until the eggs hatch, which usually happens between 20 and 30 hours later. In another 4–5 days, the fry will be able to swim on their own. At that time, the male should also be taken away.
For the first week, you should feed them infusoria, artemia fry, or liquid fry food. After that, they are big enough to eat brine shrimp fry, microworms, and powdered flake. The fry grow very slowly, and water changes must be done carefully for the first 3 months or so because they are very sensitive to changes in water temperature.