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The sparkling gourami, sometimes known as the pygmy gourami is a beautiful little fish that reaches a maximum size of 1.5 inches. It is shaped more like a betta than like many of it's rounded gourami breathren. Sparkling gouramis are peaceful fish that can be kept in groups. They can be kept in a community setting but is best suited with peaceful fish of similar size and temperament, otherwise they will be timid and spend most of the time hiding. These fish do best with in a nice planted aquarium with some floating plants. Dark substrate and a little bright light beaming through the plants will show off the spectacular coloration of these fish.

Quick stats: Listed tank sizes are the minimum Size: 1.5 inches (4 cm) Tank: 10 Gallon minimum Strata: All Levels Temperature: 77°F to 82.4°F (25°-28° C) Hardness: 5-19 dH PH: 6.0 – 7.0
Classification: Classification: Order: Perciformes (perch-likes) Family: Osphronemidae (Gouramis) Genera: Actinopterygii Species: pumila

Common name:

Sparkling gourami, Pygmy gourami

Additional species photographs

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Distribution

Asia: Thailand and Laos to Indonesia

Somewhat elongated with strong Lateral compression. The upper and lower profiles are almost symmetrical The dorsal fin is thin and pointed.The anal fin starts in the front of the fish and the soft rayed end points extend to the beginning of the Caudal (tail) fin in males The males can be identified by his longer and more pointed dorsal and anal fins.

The sparkling gourami has a golden body speckled with flecks of iridescent red and fins that sport blue and green spots.

Provide a planted tank with shady places and plant covering. Some say they are sensitive to tempersature flucuations.

Naturally omnivorous, living on zooplankton and aquatic insects in the wild. In captivity they will accept tropical fish flakes, algae flakes, frozen foods and will relish the occasional live blackworm, or live brine shrimp.

Occurs in ditches, small ponds and peats. Naturally occurs in standing or stagnant water with dense floating plants and can withstand the occasional low oxygen level.

Males can become aggressive with other males during spawning. The male builds bubblenests at the water's surface. 100 – 170 eggs are produced per spawn and the male tends the nest guarding the eggs and young. The female should be removed after spawning. Wrigglers should be fed infusoria for the first 10 days and then the fry should be large enough to take baby brine shrimp or microworms. As with other gouramis the male should be removed when the fry are free swimming to avoid him eating them.

http://fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=12082
http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/stats/anabantid-stats/stats_anababtids2i.html
http://www.noclownsinacube.net/fish_chart1.html
http://www.That Pet Place/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+882+1562&pcatid=1562&siteid=21&
http://www.wetwebmedia.com (general search on sparkling gourami and what they had to say in faqs, etc.)
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/gourami/sparkling.php

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Please remember that the following comments are personal experiences and may or may not apply to your setup. Use them as guide to help better understand your fish, like us all individuals will behave differently under different circumstances.
From: Joe Date:1/01/20109 This is a cracking little fish, packing a lot of punch for its tiny size. I keep them with a shoal of B. brigittae, in a densely planted tank. Watching them cruising through the leaves like tiny U-boats, looking for little things to eat, then suddenly exploding into fantastic displays and mock, showy violence with each other has been a real joy. They do jump, and I have had one loss when one specimen managed to find the gap between the lid and the tank wall. From: Andrew Givens Date:10/22/2009 I found a single male in a local shop, bought it and it thrived in a 14x8x8" tank with algarde biofoam filter and 6watt arcadia original tropical lamp. 26c and pH7. This fish was a beauty and not timid with it's tankmates of 1Honey gourami, 2Splash tetra, 3Beckford's pencilfish: a truly peaceful tank!Planting was Java fern & Java moss on twigs upon sand substrate. Food mainly flake, some daphnia & artemia. From: Will Date:5/10/2009 This is one of my favorite species, very curious and easy to care for and they can be kept with peaceful larger fish. Their ideal aquarium setup is a dimly lit tank, densely planted with Java moss and water sprite, with little or no current. They are shy feeders and I have gone weeks without seeing them eat at times, but I have seen one my females steal food away from a pearl gourami on occasion.

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