Setting up Malaysian Biotope(with pictures!)

[SchizotypalVamp]

Only nine hours later, the gouramis are in! I wish I could see them, but between the fact that they are the color of the water when trying to fade in and the amount of leaf litter, I saw one poking its head out. I hope they don't decide that the leaf litter is where they are going to spend their days.

 

[Lupin]

Aww..I know the feeling, Marisa.lol My licorice hid under the leaf litter most of the time.

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

I saw another two hanging out by the filter, it appears that they like it under there, lol. Hopefully the fact that they are the only fish in there will make them not hide all the time.

 

[toodleypops]

soo how does it feel to be a Number one hit on google haha
anyway congrats and post some pics when/if ya can
hopefully your gouramis will get a little more personable

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

They are fascinating fish. When threatened they school together, but usually they stay in separate territories. The dominant males will also group to frighten off other fish. I saw 3-4 today. They are setting up territories. One has claimed the front, the other underneath the filter, and one has claimed the back wall by the leaf and driftwood. No more red gills! This is not my compy, so pics will have to wait until Monday.

 

[jpappy789]

OMG noooo! I was looking forward to licorice gourami pics!

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

lol, then I'll post some up later today. I can't get pics of them in the tank right now, but i have a bunch from before, as well as drip acclimation time.

 

[jpappy789]

YES! I can't wait, these are one of my favorite fish to just stare at...so pretty!

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

So, um, today is totally the night from two days ago. Sorry!

The licorice gouramis have been settling in. They are becoming less shy and are dressed in battle colors instead of leaf colors. I saw two facing off this morning. One was about to face off against me before he realized I was a human. For now I intend to do small water changes drip acclimating R/O water to the tank. I still don't want to scare them with the flash, as it will be around a week before they settle in fully. No more red gills, though!

So now we have licorice gourami pics! Note that these guys change color in a whim. If they don't want to be seen and/or are farther down on the hierachy they are the brown leaf color, but the dominant males generally are in battle colors.

In the quarantine tank within the first week or two. Notice the size comparison to the ADFs(who were only in there temporarily). They don't get much bigger. I mistakenly identified them as Parosphromenus anjunganensis in this time(the commonly sold licorice gourami is Parosphromenus deissneri, though many are mistakenly blanketed under this name, like mine!)








This is a three gallon tank, btw. They got 25-50% daily water changes.

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

Part 2

In my tank, a month or so later.

Leaf colors-least dominant male, I believe
View attachment licorice gourami 2.bmp

My only female:
View attachment licorice gourami 3.bmp

Battle colors. This picture confirmed they are actually Parosphromenus harveyi


The extra fish is a sparkling gourami. I had two in the tank and they basically got along with the licorice gouramis, besides some hieraching, though the licorice gs became more shy after their introduction.

Oh, I forgot to mention, a while back I had added two more indian almond leaves, and to the cube I added a chunk of java moss. We'll see how well it does...
I may put in another baby crypt later.