If you are looking for an aquarium fish with an unusual appearance and a calm disposition, take a closer look at the chocolate gourami. This small fish looks like a real chocolate candy with accents — its body is chocolate brown in color, with light, almost golden stripes running down its sides.
Despite its attractiveness, this fish requires some experience. It is quite sensitive to water quality and prefers to live in a calm, even slightly “overgrown” environment. However, in the right conditions, chocolate gouramis will prove to be shy but very interesting inhabitants.
If you are ready to create a small tropical corner with a stable environment for them, they will delight you with their grace for many years. Let's figure out what they need for this.
The chocolate gourami is a beautiful and unpretentious fish that is perfect for both beginners and experienced aquarium enthusiasts. It behaves calmly with other inhabitants, but can be a little territorial, especially during the breeding season. For the fish to feel good, you need an aquarium with a volume of 60-80 liters with plants, shelters, and soft soil. Stable, clean water with moderate filtration and a temperature of around 24–27°C is important. They can be fed a variety of foods — dry, frozen, and live. With proper care, gouramis live a long time, delighting with their bright colors and active behavior.
Biotope
The chocolate gourami is a beautiful, unusual fish for your aquarium. In nature, it inhabits the southern part of the Malacca Peninsula, the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Gouramis breathe atmospheric air through a gill labyrinth.
These fish inhabit a wide variety of water bodies, from crystal clear to brown, opaque waters. The water bodies are densely overgrown and very soft. They are quite unpretentious and quickly adapt to changes in their environment.
— Dmitry Sudakov, Moscow, has been involved in aquarium keeping for 12 years
Fish characteristics
The chocolate gourami has a rather unusual and attractive appearance for aquarists. The body length of an adult reaches 5-6 cm. The body is oval, elongated and compressed from the sides. The front part of the body is pointed. The anal and caudal fins are elongated.
Body color varies from chocolate brown to reddish brown, often with a greenish tint. Each scale has a dark border. There are 4-5 transverse light yellow, white, or gold stripes on the body. A narrow yellow border adorns the anal fin. Overall, the coloration is muted, not bright.
The male has a straight lower jaw profile and a more pointed head than the female. The female's lower jaw is rounded due to its stretchy skin, which is necessary for incubating eggs. However, the familiar differences in bright coloration and pointed elongated unpaired fins should not be relied upon to determine the sex of these gouramis.
Contents
Gouramis are quite unpretentious in their maintenance. It is enough to follow the recommendations for temperature and hardness.
Optimal parameters for keeping chocolate gouramis:
- The water level in the aquarium is up to 20 cm;
- Aquarium with a stable environment;
- Low lighting;
- Water temperature 24-30 °C;
- Water hardness from 3 to 10 dGH;
- Addition of peat extract to the soil and frequent water changes;
- Aquarium covered on top, warm air above the aquarium;
- Floating plants, thickets of shade-loving plants at the bottom;
- Acidic water reaction pH 5-7;
- The salt content (nitrogen, phosphorus) is minimal;
- Live food.
Alexandra Shabanova
St. Petersburg, more than 7 years of experience in aquarium keeping
The minimum volume of the aquarium should be 50 liters. A soft substrate should be placed on the bottom, thick clusters of rooting and floating shade-loving plants should be added, as well as numerous shelters in the form of driftwood or decorative items. You can use any decorations or grottos to your liking. Do not forget that the fish must have space to move around, so do not overdo it with decorations.
— Alexandra Shabanova St. Petersburg, more than 7 years of experience in aquarium keeping
To simulate the aquatic conditions characteristic of the natural habitat, you can use a filter with peat-based filter material (lowers the pH value) and tree leaves to cover the bottom of the aquarium. As they decompose, they saturate the water with humic acids and other chemicals, as well as coloring it light brown. The leaves are pre-dried and then soaked until they sink.
If the aquarium is not equipped with a special lid, a cover glass must be placed over the water surface to keep the air inside warm and humid.
The aquarium must be cleaned regularly. Clean the substrate of debris weekly and replace the water with clean, settled water (no more than 15%).
It is recommended to feed chocolate gouramis with the following foods:
for feeding young fish
Feed the fish once a day. Do not overfeed, as food residues will accumulate in the substrate and quickly pollute the aquarium.
In nature, chocolate gouramis feed on various small insects, worms, and larvae. Therefore, do not be surprised if the fish in your aquarium begin to refuse dry or granular food. There is no need to worry about this either. In most cases, they gradually get used to it and begin to eat it.
Breeding
The chocolate gourami has a unique breeding strategy for labyrinth fish. It is quite easy to obtain offspring in captivity, the main thing is to create the ideal conditions for this.
Under favorable conditions, spawning can begin at any time of the year. During the mating season, the females' coloration intensifies, acquiring a rich chocolate color, and golden hues appear in the light stripes. Courtship begins on the initiative of the alpha male if the fish are kept in a group.
The spawning process can take several hours. Immediately after spawning, she collects the eggs and places them in her mouth, as male individuals of related species do, and hides in a safe shelter. The eggs are yellowish, fairly large (1.2-1.5 mm in diameter), and heavier than water. After 7-10 days, the fry appear, rarely exceeding 30 in number.
Fry are 5-6 mm long, dark, and easily visible. They stay and feed among plants near the surface. After they appear, it is necessary to transfer the young to another aquarium to increase their chances of survival.
Compatibility
Chocolate gouramis are peaceful fish. They are not aggressive, so it is quite easy to find suitable neighbors for them. There are no intraspecific conflicts either. Aggressive behavior is only possible during the mating season, when males begin to divide territory and the attention of females. Gouramis can be kept either separately or in schools.
The following fish species are compatible:
They can also be kept with:
Do not place chocolate gouramis with:
and other predatory, aggressive fish species
It is not advisable to keep gouramis with active species such as Sumatran barbs or swordtails. They often injure the fins and whiskers of gouramis. When choosing neighbors for chocolate gouramis, keep in mind that they should be just as peaceful and calm.
Chocolate gouramis can be actively used to combat small snails (coils or fizzy), which can very quickly fill the aquarium and damage live plants.
More care tips:
Advice for owners
The chocolate gourami can live alone or in a school. It does not suffer from the absence of neighbors, just as it does not suffer from their presence. However, when adding a fish to an aquarium, it is important to understand that it belongs to a peaceful species and will not be able to fight off a predator. Therefore, be careful when choosing neighbors.
In terms of health, gouramis get sick much less often than other species. Health problems can be caused by improper feeding, temperature fluctuations, or unsuitable water conditions. Tuberculosis and obesity are the main signs of decreased activity in gouramis. Gouramis are also susceptible to dropsy, or oxygen deprivation.
They often suffer from diseases caused by parasites – hexamitiasis, chilodonellosis, and ichthyosporiasis. When affected by these diseases, gouramis become restless, constantly rubbing against objects and spinning around. The fish lose weight, become shiny and rough at the same time, their color darkens atypically, and their eyes are affected. The main requirement for their treatment is immediate intervention, otherwise mass fish mortality occurs.
In general, keeping gouramis is not particularly difficult for aquarium owners. They are perfect for both beginners and experienced aquarists. The fish are quite active and interesting to watch.
Video review of the chocolate gourami
The chocolate gourami is a truly special and beautiful fish that can become the highlight of your aquarium. Its unusual coloration and interesting behavior bring a lot of joy to observant aquarists.
However, it is important to remember that this fish is quite delicate and demanding. It needs clean, soft, and slightly acidic water, plenty of hiding places, and peaceful neighbors. This is not a pet that you can just throw into the first aquarium you find.
If you are willing to pay attention to preparing the right conditions and ensuring stability in the aquarium, the chocolate gourami will be your worthy reward. You will have the opportunity to observe an amazing creature whose modest beauty and peaceful disposition will make the underwater world truly alive and harmonious.
