Dwarf Gourami fish (Colisa Ialia)

Published by Tiffany on February 2, 2020February 2, 2020

The Dwarf Gourami fish belongs to the Colisa Ialia family and is native to Asia, and can be found in countries like Bangladesh and India. It can reach a length of 5cm (2 inches) and you should have a tank with a minimum length of 30cm (12 inches) if you plan to keep this fish. The aquarium should have a soft or medium water with a temperature between 20 and 26 degrees Celsius (68 to 79F). They prefer eating dried food, crustaceans, worms and insects.

A peaceful fish, the Dwarf Gourami can be kept in aquariums together with other types of fish. The best companions for them are the peaceful and smaller fish. They don’t live as well with fish that are more aggressive or bigger.

This is a great fish to own if you’re a beginner in this department. The aquarium where you keep this fish should have a couple of floating plants if possible. They should also have some rocks and roots in the aquarium, where they can stay. The aquarium should be large enough for the fish to swim in.

The place where you place the tank should have sufficient lighting, since the Dwarf Gourami enjoys when algae grows on glass.

This species enjoys swimming at the top of the tank, while breathing the air from the surface. That’s why you should insure that there is nothing at the top of the aquarium to block the fresh air from coming in. At least insure that there are ventilation holes, if there is something on top of the tank.

You can recognize the Dwarf Gourami male by its blue and green rows of dots, which are oblique and narrow. Their ventral fins are colored orange, while the breast and throat are a deep green-blue. The Dwarf Gourami female on the other hand is small, with dull colors and has more of a silver-grey look.

This species of fish can breed inside an aquarium. The first thing done by the male is nest building by using plants and courting the female. The nest will host the eggs next, where they will be fertilized by the male. The number of eggs released varies between 300 and 800.

Once this happens, you should remove the female from the tank, since the male is the one looking out for the eggs. The male should be removed as well, once the young will reach 2 or 3 days in age.