Thick lipped gourami

Also called Colisa labiosus or Colisa labiosa is part of the Osphronemidae family and its a little smaller then its relative Colisa fasciata, reaching 10 centimeters in length, but females tends to be smaller. Their natural biotope is located in India and Burma (in the Irawadi River close to Rangoon). It was imported for the first time in the year 1904 in just one specimen; only later in 1911 more of this species was imported.  This fish is a crossbred between dwarf gourami and the Indian gourami.

Their mouth is small but they have a noticeable knob on the top derived from a thickening of the skin of the upper jaw, which is visible especially in males who have reached sexual maturity. The basic color is bright green, on this background color, irregular, oblique, reddish stripes appear across which are more intense of the in the back of the body. Their lower side of the body area will turn purple with gray-white drawings especially when they get agitated.  The fins are also very colorful. All this color patterns are more subdued when it comes to females; the males are more eye-candy.

To keep this fish you will need an aquarium of at least 50 liters, with lots of floating plants that have roots, the female will use this plants as hideouts from the males, because they tend to become rough sometimes. The water specifications don’t really matter but the water temperature must be between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius. They can also breathe atmospheric air due to their labyrinth organ like most guramies have. The thick lipped gouramis are peaceful fish, getting along with most tropical community, not pretentious when it comes to food. Don’t keep them with fast fish that have a habit for nipping fins; their ventral fins are very delicate.

When spawning the male will construct a bubble nest, made from atmospheric air combined with a mouthy secretion. The nest won’t be to big having from 5 up to 8 centimeters. When the female is ready it will kick the male’s abdomen, letting him know she’s ready. The male will show all his colors and will embrace the female till the releasing and fertilization of the eggs will take place. This cycle will be repeated a couple of time till the female releases all her eggs. After this the male will push all the eggs into the nest and build another la layer of bubbles. The eggs will hatch after 24 hours and after another 3 days will swim freely and they’ll need to feed. After 3-4 week you will need to start water changes, first in small amounts then larger.