@@TheDave333 my favorite is the gold and opaline gourami. I have a male gold Gourami and female Opaline what happens if I add 4 redeye tetras and 1 single male zebra acara cichlid
I think I've made an important discovery as well! I do spend a lot of time watching the fish, filming and then reviewing the footage. So, I see things that other people don't.
@@TheDave333 akso, i am gonna make a frame/table for a 50 gallon fishtank, idk which type of fish to put in, i am thinking guppies and some mystery snails and cherry shrimp, but idk what would be best. What do you think?
It really depends on what you want to get out of the tank. I like you stocking list. All species breed easily, and all can be easily sold for store credit or cash to help pay for the hobby. I like breeding stuff, so your guppies, mystery snails, and cherry shrimp are perfect. All three like hard water, so it a perfect group. Use lots of plants to help keep the baby guppies and the baby shrimp safe from the adult guppies.
Thanks again. It's the only thing that makes sense. I believe I'm the first to notice it ? Which I find hard to believe because it seems so obvious to me.
If you still have the aquarium with loaches,you could get some stiphodon gobies,they are perfect in that type of aquarium,very underrated species and you could get some cool content with them.
You really do have some nice quality videos, and I think your theory is right. It's a lovely aquarium you have set up for them, and the black sand seems to make his coloring stand out more.
Wonderful capture and commentary. Have you been through the whole fry-rearing process with these gouramis before? I'd be so curious to see footage of the male "rescuing" wayward young and putting them back in the bubble nest like you describe.
Yes I have, but no video yet. I do have footage or a male betta doing the same thing, if you're interested. :-) th-cam.com/video/1nhSuRR-rfE/w-d-xo.html
We can admire their nice, elegant courtship in this captivating video. They even kiss each other 🐠💘🐠. Beautiful fish, plus you always find right music background for videos.
I've seen video of a honey gourami spitting sand at the surface, even though there's not a nest there, but he may have been starting one. The tank wasn't set up properly though. The more natural the tank setup, the more likely you are to see natural behaviors.
What a fascinating and thought provoking video! I hope I'm privileged enough to witness this with my own pair and he doesn't turn out to be "an incompetent male"! We don't need any more of those in the house! 😆😆😆
Interesting theory Dave. Alternatively, it could be a hormone overload. During the mid-seventies I did an experiment with some hormones (the urine from a pregnant woman) and had some interesting results. I had a male Discus in a tank on its own and, after I’d treated the tank with the urine, he started picking up debris a spitting it on a spawning slate. He did this repeatedly and guarded the slate like he was protecting eggs or young.
Great point Paul. Hormones do seem to be running the show. . . Did you add unadulterated urine to the Discus tank or was it prepared somehow? Asking for a friend. . . 😁
@@TheDave333 I got the information from Jorgan Scheel’s excelent book “Rivulins of the Old Word” (pp 23 - 24) published in 1968. Urine is added to the aquarium water at the rate of 0.5 - 1.0 cc per litre of aquarium water. The gonatropine hormones from the urine acts on the pituitary glands and after some time sexual hormones are produced…after 3 - 4 weeks spawning takes place… 🤓👍
@@TheDave333 don’t know what happened Dave, I posted a reply and it disappeared? See Jorgan Scheel’s excellent book “Rivulins of the old Word (pp 23 - 24). Urine is added at the rate of 0.5 - 1.0 cc per litre of aquarium water. The gonatropine hormones from the urine act on the pituitary glands and after some time sexual hormones are produced…after 3 - 4 weeks spawning takes place… Hope this helps your ‘friend’ 😉✌️
Hi Paul. Thank you so much for replying with that information. I absolutely love killifish, so that book would be a great addition to my collection. (I got my start in the aquarium hobby with Killifish.) TH-cam loses my comments / responses every now and then. There's been comments that I've replied to 2 or 3 times, and they just vanish. It's super annoying.
Great video! Labyrinth fish can show very interesting behaviour indeed. To prove your theory, an experimental setup would be interesting: multiple tanks with different kinds of sand and also tanks with a bare bottom.
Absolutely! I love labyrinth fish, and the pearl gourami is one of my favorites. Designing a good experiment would be tough, but still possible. . . I guess you'd be looking to see if sand spitting males were able to spawn more often than males who didn't spit sand. . .
Yes, Rift Lake cichlids in general are fascinating fish. Especially Julidochromis species, I've been looking for some J. Ornatus locally for a while, no luck yet. . .
Me too! Since I couldn't find any locally I put Blue Dream Shrimp in the tank that was meant for the Jullis. The shrimp love the hard water and are breeding like crazy! Do you have cichlids from Lake Tanganyika?
@@TheDave333 I have a tank set up for it right now but have a ton of Medaka rice fish juveniles in there I need to rehome first. I’m thinking about either Jullis or Calvus. Jullis have such cool behavior but I’m worried that overpopulation will make tank maintenance difficult
I’m also considering neolamprologus buescheri but although they aren’t as prolific as Jullis they are more aggressive so it wouldn’t solve the issue of constantly having to rehome fish
Hey, Dave, guess what. I watched an abc fish video yesterday, and it introduced me to the ember parrotfish, the mrigal carp, the uaru, the vimba, and the zeige! Also, it had a whale in it.
By my observation, there were two couples (at 6:07 you mention your two male pearl gouramis)-first couple had the larger male with a smaller female, and the second couple at 7:09 had a smaller male with a larger female. At 9:47, the larger female does a couple of sideways head shakes that looked like a hard “No!” 😆
Thanks for watching the video. Your observations seem accurate. I love watching them sort things out, and there's definitely quite a bit of subtle communication between these fish.
Really nice and informative video, but would be nice if you'd continue making your videos without music like you used to do more often at least in your narrated videos. The music takes away from the peaceful, informative, 2000s nature documentary vibe. For me personally an important factor to why I subscribed was the absence of music. The camerawork as well as the narration are as always top notch.
Hello and thanks for watching the video. I've made a note of your suggestion, and I will continue to make most of my videos without music. There are many others who probably feel the same way as you. . . On the other hand, I do like to mix things up a little once in a while so things don't get stale. . Stay with me and I'll always deliver the best quality that I can. 😁
Your theory is probably right. The male shows before female that he can provide good nursery for eggs. Similar to male pleco fanning empty nest when female is about to lay her eggs. He must convince her that he, and only he, is best father in the world. However second function you mentioned is right as well being a part of making perfect nest. Bringing some sand let the microflora setting in the bubbles. Developing fry's immunological system got right contact with environmental microorganisms.
Hi and thanks for watching the video. I had considered that, but wouldn't the infusoria just move away from the nest? I'm also thinking that there's probably lots of infusoria just naturally occurring in the wild, so creating your own supply would seem unnecessary.
@@TheDave333 the reason is I do (Democrat petfish politics 🔵) were my male gold and female Opaline are DEMOCRAT and the fish from the south are republican🚩🙂
Maybe he is scaring away predators that like to eat the eggs. Like diving beetles, or diving beatles: oh John oh George, here's the yellow submarine. Oh good,
Yes, brook trout are a type of Char, so some might say that they're not actually trout, but I was going with the common usage of the word trout rather than the technical term. Let's just say they're both in the same family. . . Salmonidae.
It's an old saying that reminds people that if you're interested in a certain lady, and she's not interested in you, move on because there are lots of other ladies who might feel differently. It's not meant to be taken literally.
Friend, first of all, this behavior, assuming it is natural and not an artifact of captivity conditions, would have to be investigated in the habitat in which it evolved, i.e., where this fish species is from, its natural habitat. Only there perhaps is the debris and whatever the males siphons up and spits into his bubble nest beneficial to any eggs that get deposited there. Then one would have to isolate half the nest, say, from deposition of the debris, with clear glass barriers possibly, and then see if survival of the fry from the two nest halves differed. Separately, to test any effect upon the observing female, one would compare the breeding success of the same male with its debris deposition behavior manipulated so that in one condition he did a lot of depositing and in a second none or at least less. Were the females induced to spawn only or more in the first condition? I realize this latter experiment would not be easy to arrange, but I'm laying out the requirements for rigorous testing of hypotheses.
Hello there. I thought about how to set up an experiment to see if my idea is correct as well. It would be difficult to arrange, but I don't think it could be done in the wild..... too many uncontrolled variables. Basically, you'd be looking to see if the males who spat sand were able to convince more females to spawn with them, instead of the males who couldn't spit sand. You could use a bare-bottomed tank vs. a tank with sand / detritus to see which males had more breeding success. Lots of variables to consider. . .
Firrrrst...!!! Cuz, if I hadn't been elbows deep in a painting project, I could've been, I would've been, and I deserve to be, absolutely & gloriously Firrrrst...!!!
@TheDave333 Rifles. Just camming 'em up. It's all Rattle Can work; shades, tones & patterns. Two steps down, below primary-colored finger paints and less delicious. I still lick alot of it, though. Confucius say: "Gotta take the bitter in life, as well as the sweet."
I think you're right, Dave. This is so dazzling.
Thanks for your support!
You deserve more reach! Your videos are of NatGeo quality
Thank you so much. 😁
Agreed 👍 ❤
The longer we observe the behaviour of our fishes the more we realise that there's so much about them that we just don't know.
So true, so true! Thanks for watching.
@@TheDave333 my favorite is the gold and opaline gourami. I have a male gold Gourami and female Opaline what happens if I add 4 redeye tetras and 1 single male zebra acara cichlid
Been looking for a youtuber who puts out contnet like this for a while.
Been a huge fan of fish for a while now, and you sir are a blessing!
Thank you so much, I'm happy that you found this channel. You're in for a treat! 😁😁😁
Oh snap. My boy Dave just made an everlasting contribution to aquatic science. It's your Dave Rave coming at you live from world Aquatica.
I think I've made an important discovery as well! I do spend a lot of time watching the fish, filming and then reviewing the footage. So, I see things that other people don't.
your videos are so peaceful, yet educational
Thank you 😁
@@TheDave333 you're welcome
@@TheDave333 akso, i am gonna make a frame/table for a 50 gallon fishtank, idk which type of fish to put in, i am thinking guppies and some mystery snails and cherry shrimp, but idk what would be best. What do you think?
It really depends on what you want to get out of the tank. I like you stocking list. All species breed easily, and all can be easily sold for store credit or cash to help pay for the hobby. I like breeding stuff, so your guppies, mystery snails, and cherry shrimp are perfect. All three like hard water, so it a perfect group. Use lots of plants to help keep the baby guppies and the baby shrimp safe from the adult guppies.
@@TheDave333 what if the fish overpopulate, where would i sell them?
Beautiful footage again, Dave. And your narrating improved a lot.
My absolute favorite fish, those Diamond gourami's, as we call then in Dutch.
Many thanks! I appreciate the kind words.
Great Channel 👍 Your passion for fish behavior is awesome. Thank you
Thanks, it's a labor of love.
Good job, Dave! You rock at fishkeeping! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thanks 👍 You rock!
I love this so much 🤗 Dave, your videos are the best!!!
Thanks so much! 🤗
I believe your theory is correct. It seems to make sense to me. Utterly amazing!
Thanks again. It's the only thing that makes sense. I believe I'm the first to notice it ? Which I find hard to believe because it seems so obvious to me.
It's definitely a great observation. Thanks for sharing 😊
Thanks for watching!
NEW DAVE VIDEO. RAHHH 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Yay! 😁
Very nicely filmed
Thank you very much!
I am more a cichlid guy but you make magnificant video's!
Thank you
Thanks, I appreciate that!
Great theory. Will watch my honey gouramis to see if they do the same. Another banger from Dave
Thank you so much!
It's also possible that he's "testing" his nest for structural integrity.
Hey, great idea I hadn't thought of that! 😁
If you still have the aquarium with loaches,you could get some stiphodon gobies,they are perfect in that type of aquarium,very underrated species and you could get some cool content with them.
I love stiphodon gobies, but I've never kept any. They're on my to-do-list!
You really do have some nice quality videos, and I think your theory is right. It's a lovely aquarium you have set up for them, and the black sand seems to make his coloring stand out more.
Thank you so much. They're such beautiful fish, the dark sand and dim light really does bring out their colors.
I think your theory is right on but im no expert. Makes complete sense to me. Thanks for sharing
You're very welcome. Thanks for watching the video and taking the time to leave a comment. 😁
Wonderful capture and commentary. Have you been through the whole fry-rearing process with these gouramis before? I'd be so curious to see footage of the male "rescuing" wayward young and putting them back in the bubble nest like you describe.
Yes I have, but no video yet. I do have footage or a male betta doing the same thing, if you're interested. :-)
th-cam.com/video/1nhSuRR-rfE/w-d-xo.html
he dave,
is there a chance u make a video about crayfish or crawfish? :)
Yes, there is! I have some footage of wild crayfish, but none in tanks at the moment.
We can admire their nice, elegant courtship in this captivating video. They even kiss each other 🐠💘🐠.
Beautiful fish, plus you always find right music background for videos.
Many many thanks 😁
It's definitely an interesting behavior but it's hard to say. It would help to see similar videos of other gourami species.
I've seen video of a honey gourami spitting sand at the surface, even though there's not a nest there, but he may have been starting one. The tank wasn't set up properly though. The more natural the tank setup, the more likely you are to see natural behaviors.
really nice video again my friend
Thank you! Cheers!
This music would go greatly with sharks.
I agree 100%
What a fascinating and thought provoking video! I hope I'm privileged enough to witness this with my own pair and he doesn't turn out to be "an incompetent male"! We don't need any more of those in the house! 😆😆😆
Ha Ha ! Best of luck with your pair. 😁
Interesting theory Dave. Alternatively, it could be a hormone overload. During the mid-seventies I did an experiment with some hormones (the urine from a pregnant woman) and had some interesting results. I had a male Discus in a tank on its own and, after I’d treated the tank with the urine, he started picking up debris a spitting it on a spawning slate. He did this repeatedly and guarded the slate like he was protecting eggs or young.
Great point Paul. Hormones do seem to be running the show. . . Did you add unadulterated urine to the Discus tank or was it prepared somehow? Asking for a friend. . . 😁
@@TheDave333 I got the information from Jorgan Scheel’s excelent book “Rivulins of the Old Word” (pp 23 - 24) published in 1968. Urine is added to the aquarium water at the rate of 0.5 - 1.0 cc per litre of aquarium water. The gonatropine hormones from the urine acts on the pituitary glands and after some time sexual hormones are produced…after 3 - 4 weeks spawning takes place… 🤓👍
@@TheDave333 don’t know what happened Dave, I posted a reply and it disappeared? See Jorgan Scheel’s excellent book “Rivulins of the old Word (pp 23 - 24). Urine is added at the rate of 0.5 - 1.0 cc per litre of aquarium water. The gonatropine hormones from the urine act on the pituitary glands and after some time sexual hormones are produced…after 3 - 4 weeks spawning takes place…
Hope this helps your ‘friend’ 😉✌️
Hi Paul. Thank you so much for replying with that information. I absolutely love killifish, so that book would be a great addition to my collection. (I got my start in the aquarium hobby with Killifish.)
TH-cam loses my comments / responses every now and then. There's been comments that I've replied to 2 or 3 times, and they just vanish. It's super annoying.
@@TheDave333 the book is a great addition to anybody’s collection - even allowing for the fact that TFH published it it he late 1960s..
This is really nice btw can I use the hillstream loach footage for TH-cam shorts?
No
Cna you make a video about some colony fish like small colourful fish
At some point, yes. Probably celestial pearl danios, or Neon tetras.
Great video! Labyrinth fish can show very interesting behaviour indeed. To prove your theory, an experimental setup would be interesting: multiple tanks with different kinds of sand and also tanks with a bare bottom.
Absolutely! I love labyrinth fish, and the pearl gourami is one of my favorites. Designing a good experiment would be tough, but still possible. . . I guess you'd be looking to see if sand spitting males were able to spawn more often than males who didn't spit sand. . .
@@TheDave333 Yes, it would cost a lot of effort. In any case, the result would be interesting. Let us know when you'll send out the paper ;)
Ha ha, my college days are over. . . But I might go back and bring this idea up to some of my professors. I might get co-authorship of a paper.
how big is your pear gourami tank?
20 gallon long / 76 liters
My guess is he's performing the "changing of the guard".
Maybe?
👍👍👍
😁😁😁
What fun!
And it's a completely original idea!
❤❤❤❤❤
🤗🤗🤗
Silver drummer/Kyphosus sydneyanus, parore/girella tricuspidata, red moki/cheilodactylus spectabillis
So many fish
Would you recommend 75 gallons for a small group? I’ve only ever kept a single pearl in the past
Yes, a 75G would be perfect.
@@TheDave333 Thank you! Wonderful footage as always 💚
Hey Dave do you like lake tanganiyakan fish?
Yes, Rift Lake cichlids in general are fascinating fish. Especially Julidochromis species, I've been looking for some J. Ornatus locally for a while, no luck yet. . .
@@TheDave333 Yea Jullis are really cool. Hope you find some so we can get some videos about them lol
Me too! Since I couldn't find any locally I put Blue Dream Shrimp in the tank that was meant for the Jullis. The shrimp love the hard water and are breeding like crazy! Do you have cichlids from Lake Tanganyika?
@@TheDave333 I have a tank set up for it right now but have a ton of Medaka rice fish juveniles in there I need to rehome first. I’m thinking about either Jullis or Calvus. Jullis have such cool behavior but I’m worried that overpopulation will make tank maintenance difficult
I’m also considering neolamprologus buescheri but although they aren’t as prolific as Jullis they are more aggressive so it wouldn’t solve the issue of constantly having to rehome fish
What do you usually feed them?
Small carnivore pellets and frozen bloodworms.
Hey, Dave, guess what. I watched an abc fish video yesterday, and it introduced me to the ember parrotfish, the mrigal carp, the uaru, the vimba, and the zeige! Also, it had a whale in it.
Nice! That's quite a variety. 😁
By my observation, there were two couples (at 6:07 you mention your two male pearl gouramis)-first couple had the larger male with a smaller female, and the second couple at 7:09 had a smaller male with a larger female. At 9:47, the larger female does a couple of sideways head shakes that looked like a hard “No!” 😆
Thanks for watching the video. Your observations seem accurate. I love watching them sort things out, and there's definitely quite a bit of subtle communication between these fish.
Once I get to 1,000, I want to setup a huge aquarium with all pearl gouramis
That would be beautiful! Add a big school of Harlequin rasboras too! I subbed to help you on your way to 1K !!!
@@TheDave333 thanks so much
Happy to help!
@@TheDave333What a nice pairing idea!
Thanks!
Really nice and informative video, but would be nice if you'd continue making your videos without music like you used to do more often at least in your narrated videos. The music takes away from the peaceful, informative, 2000s nature documentary vibe. For me personally an important factor to why I subscribed was the absence of music. The camerawork as well as the narration are as always top notch.
Hello and thanks for watching the video. I've made a note of your suggestion, and I will continue to make most of my videos without music. There are many others who probably feel the same way as you. . . On the other hand, I do like to mix things up a little once in a while so things don't get stale. . Stay with me and I'll always deliver the best quality that I can. 😁
Your theory is probably right. The male shows before female that he can provide good nursery for eggs. Similar to male pleco fanning empty nest when female is about to lay her eggs. He must convince her that he, and only he, is best father in the world.
However second function you mentioned is right as well being a part of making perfect nest. Bringing some sand let the microflora setting in the bubbles. Developing fry's immunological system got right contact with environmental microorganisms.
Thanks for watching the video. You're right, there's probably more than one reason for this behavior. I love learning new things. 😁
Is the male more likely to do this while the female is watching? If so, that seems like strong evidence that he is doing it to show off.
Yes, that does seem to be the case. 😁
Dave
Dave's not here . . .
@@TheDave333 aww man
sounds very similar to some bird if it does. I only know betta doesn't do that.
Birds have some complex mating rituals. I didn't see my betta doing this either.
It's seeding the nest with infusoria in order to provide the fry with it's first meals.
Hi and thanks for watching the video. I had considered that, but wouldn't the infusoria just move away from the nest? I'm also thinking that there's probably lots of infusoria just naturally occurring in the wild, so creating your own supply would seem unnecessary.
@@TheDave333 if there a male gold Gourami and female Opaline Gourami as a pair 4 redeye tetras and 1 single male zebra acara will they get along
Sounds like trouble to me. . . but a lot depends on personalities, tank size, etc.
@@TheDave333 the reason is I do (Democrat petfish politics 🔵) were my male gold and female Opaline are DEMOCRAT and the fish from the south are republican🚩🙂
@@TheDave333 oh and I never breed the southern fish I keep him single 😆😆😆😆😆😆
Do you think it was funny when I asked you why you said "There's a lot of fish in the sea" when these are freshwater fish?
Not really . . . I get a lot of questions from my viewers. :-)
Maybe he is scaring away predators that like to eat the eggs. Like diving beetles, or diving beatles: oh John oh George, here's the yellow submarine. Oh good,
Maybe he's worried about the Taxman. . .
My favorite trout is the rainbow trout. How about you?
Brook trout. I think they're prettier.
@@TheDave333 The brook trout is a part of the char family. Just like mantis shrimp are stomatapods. What's the big idea?!
Yes, brook trout are a type of Char, so some might say that they're not actually trout, but I was going with the common usage of the word trout rather than the technical term. Let's just say they're both in the same family. . . Salmonidae.
Dave, why did you say "There's a lot of fish in the sea" when these are freshwater fish?
😳😳😳
It's an old saying that reminds people that if you're interested in a certain lady, and she's not interested in you, move on because there are lots of other ladies who might feel differently. It's not meant to be taken literally.
@@TheDave333 Good to know!
chat. they kissed.
One theory could be the strength of bubbles. The bubbles which survive the "blast" will be the egg "Holder".
What a great idea! I hadn't thought of that. So, it's sort of a stress test.
I’d say it’s a bit of both
Friend, first of all, this behavior, assuming it is natural and not an artifact of captivity conditions, would have to be investigated in the habitat in which it evolved, i.e., where this fish species is from, its natural habitat. Only there perhaps is the debris and whatever the males siphons up and spits into his bubble nest beneficial to any eggs that get deposited there. Then one would have to isolate half the nest, say, from deposition of the debris, with clear glass barriers possibly, and then see if survival of the fry from the two nest halves differed. Separately, to test any effect upon the observing female, one would compare the breeding success of the same male with its debris deposition behavior manipulated so that in one condition he did a lot of depositing and in a second none or at least less. Were the females induced to spawn only or more in the first condition? I realize this latter experiment would not be easy to arrange, but I'm laying out the requirements for rigorous testing of hypotheses.
Hello there. I thought about how to set up an experiment to see if my idea is correct as well. It would be difficult to arrange, but I don't think it could be done in the wild..... too many uncontrolled variables. Basically, you'd be looking to see if the males who spat sand were able to convince more females to spawn with them, instead of the males who couldn't spit sand. You could use a bare-bottomed tank vs. a tank with sand / detritus to see which males had more breeding success. Lots of variables to consider. . .
Great explanation of instincual drives. Sadly, human females are not as advanced with concern for their offspring.
Some are , and some are not. Environment plays a big role in human behavior.
@@TheDave333 Indeed! Unfortunately, much of our environment has gone to the ghouls.
I can't argue with that!
Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave Dave
You should binge watch a bunch of my videos! 🤗
@@TheDave333 already have, twice, been waiting for this one a while. Your content is very good keep it up.
Awesome! 😁😁😁😁😁😁 Thanks so much!
Firrrrst...!!!
Cuz, if I hadn't been elbows deep in a painting project, I could've been, I would've been, and I deserve to be, absolutely & gloriously Firrrrst...!!!
Hi Nick! 😁 Painting a room, a canvas, or are we still finger painting?
@TheDave333
Rifles. Just camming 'em up. It's all Rattle Can work; shades, tones & patterns.
Two steps down, below primary-colored finger paints and less delicious. I still lick alot of it, though.
Confucius say: "Gotta take the bitter in life, as well as the sweet."
I see, but you won't see me. . . I have a pretty sweet ghillie suit.
chat. they kissed.
It's love for sure!