This may be well known but I was surprised!
I have a pair of pearl gourami in my 40B, they are some of my very favorite fish. I have a lot of floating plants and the male used to make bubble nests all the time. However, I got a vampire pleco back in October and since then I've seen no bubble nests. Although the pleco has always seemed very gentle, I wondered if adding him to the tank messed up territories or something so that the male gourami didn't feel like making bubble nests anymore.
Anyway, this winter I kept that tank at about 74 degrees to save electricity and also it has cories and killifish which appreciate lower temps. However, this latest heatwave came on and since I don't have AC, my house has been about at 95 degrees for almost a week :irked: I've got a fan on the tank to help keep it cool but the water temperature has risen to 83 most afternoons.
Well, apparently this was what the gourami was waiting for! I noticed on Saturday that the male looked FABULOUS - really bright orange and a lot of iridescence in his spots, even his fin rays are brightly colored. He was also acting really amorous with the female, who appears to be swollen with eggs. And he's making bubble nests again!
I'm not going to keep this tank in the 80s on purpose, but it was good to know that all that happened last October was the drop in temp. And also good to know that if I ever want to try and get him all "spawny" I apparently have to raise temp. .
I have a pair of pearl gourami in my 40B, they are some of my very favorite fish. I have a lot of floating plants and the male used to make bubble nests all the time. However, I got a vampire pleco back in October and since then I've seen no bubble nests. Although the pleco has always seemed very gentle, I wondered if adding him to the tank messed up territories or something so that the male gourami didn't feel like making bubble nests anymore.
Anyway, this winter I kept that tank at about 74 degrees to save electricity and also it has cories and killifish which appreciate lower temps. However, this latest heatwave came on and since I don't have AC, my house has been about at 95 degrees for almost a week :irked: I've got a fan on the tank to help keep it cool but the water temperature has risen to 83 most afternoons.
Well, apparently this was what the gourami was waiting for! I noticed on Saturday that the male looked FABULOUS - really bright orange and a lot of iridescence in his spots, even his fin rays are brightly colored. He was also acting really amorous with the female, who appears to be swollen with eggs. And he's making bubble nests again!
I'm not going to keep this tank in the 80s on purpose, but it was good to know that all that happened last October was the drop in temp. And also good to know that if I ever want to try and get him all "spawny" I apparently have to raise temp. .