Some extracts from Sophie's Diary 2007.

Dear readers I'm Sophie my first contact with les the author, was when I sent him an e-mail regarding bringing on my first batch of Dwarf Gourami fry. Below is a series of exchanges giving advice on both sides of the wire. Through mutual agreement we decided that perhaps the first time breeder can learn something from these exchanges below, the text has been edited to remove irrelevant chit chat. Date: 26 June 2007 Sophie I was wondering if you could help me? I am currently the proud carer of approximately 200 dwarf gourami fry (five weeks old). They're growing well with both tank, and water parameters good, they are feeding well on newly hatched brine shrimps. The question is at what age should I start to give them other foods? I am concerned they will not get everything they need apart from newly hatched brine shrimps, any advice would be most appreciated. Reply Let me congratulate you; firstly it depends much on the size of the fry. See the fry on my website photo, well believe it or not I have a good few that are ¾" long and others that are not even ½" long, they were all hatched on the same day, nonetheless these young Gouramis are well passed the brine shrimp stage and should be eating adult food stuffs exclusively. Ideally you should grade them by size then seperate the larger ones by putting them into another suitable tank. There's a case also to be said about harrassment, and bullying by the larger fish. Separate them by sizes even if you use a tank divider, which I do. This will help the smaller fish reach more food and gives them more confidence in becoming less stressful.

Date: 27 June 2007 Sophie I happened to notice today that the largest fry are starting to go red on their fins (its funny the kick you get when you notice changes like that). You mentioned the high mortality rate with the fry of the dwarf gourami, they're so tiny at birth, I suppose it's as much a reflection on their breeding habits, loads of young equals a higher death rate! I'll be happy with any I rear onto adulthood, as this is my first time at breeding them. Date: 20 July 2007 Sophie I'm now passed the eight week mark but I've had a large number of casualties (50-70) at the six week stage. I'm doing 50% water changes utilising treated tap water on a daily basis, also they're fed exclusively on high quality dry flakes (unpowdered). Many are developing their adult colours, and there appears to be more females than males with about 40:60 ratio males to females. The tiny runts (funny they don't seem to get any bigger) all hang about in the planted area. I mix small crumbled flake with tank water and then use a syringe to feed them directly into the plant area, that way they don't have to run the gauntlet with the big boys it works well. In this hobby I've came to accept the good and bad without being indifferent! Finally I realise that I've a long way to go yet, but getting 150 odd Gourami fry passed the 8½ week mark can't be bad for a first timer? Reply You sure have excelled in the numbers department, but you must be concerned about the high death-rate amongst the rapidly growing gouramis! I think we should stop calling them fry as they're half way to becoming adults. You're correct on the runts I always noted that a very small number just never seemed to get any bigger, they eat but the don't develop into adults (strange but true). I also use a plastic syringe for feeding my tiny fry brine shrimps as you have more contol, directing the shrimps to where the fry are gathered, that way most of them get eaten and not wasted when sinking to the bottom of the tank.   Thanks for sending photographs of your breeding tank, they will perhaps illustrate the dangers of overstocking to the beginner. An example of an overstocked tank.

Date: 27 July 2007 Sophie Apologies for not replying sooner, I've been busy this week with the delivery and the setting-up of a brand new 48"x24"x36" tank it arrived Sunday past. A lot of the young adults are charging around in an old smaller volume (home made) 48"x12"x15" tank. Even in the new four footer tank they still need three filters working and daily water changes although it's not as big an issue now. So since re-housing 60 odd of the young gouramis into the new tank, I've still got roughly 90 gouramis in the old (home made tank). I'm so pleased to inform you that I've not had any further deaths since, and I think it's a great achievement in bringing 150 of them on to near adults, especially this being my first attempt at breeding the dwarf gourami. I put in a good bit of time and effort and accepted the ups and downs with a never say die attitude, in the end it was all a worthwhile experience, I will enjoy and care for them till it's time for me to bid them farewell. Date: 7 August 2007 Sophie I have two local tropical fish stockists, one of which is about thee largest in the UK, they want my entire amount of fish from me! So relocating them is no longer an issue, but since I purchase from both stores I've decided to be fair and give them half each. I agree Les that highlighting the overstocking issue will be a good pointer for the beginer, as I consider myself a careful and thoughtful fishkeeper yet I fell into the overstocking trap. For those that don't fall into the trap they must also consider the time I spent on water changes, then I had six air-pumps and filters to maintain, two high wattage heaters all costing money to run, also it's not everyone that can put their hands on a four foot tank just like that! Best Regards Sophie. So readers The above is a classic example of starting to breed tropical fish without thinking it through. Sophie was highly successful on the breeding and rearing part, ironically perhaps too successful! She just didn't have a large enough tank at hand to relocate all her young adult gouramis. Another thing to take note is the amount of time and effort, not counting the expense that she put into the whole project. My advice as I said at the begining, if you don't have the time and patience, plus the essential equipment forget it.