Free Gouramis

When I was just a kid, I didn’t have my own money, so I couldn’t buy the fish that I wanted to keep. When the fish that my aunt bought for me died, I felt like I had such a huge problem because I didn’t have a pet anymore. I was foolish back then. I didn’t know how to really care for fish properly. That’s why the fish died. It’s a good thing, though, that I am resourceful – just like my dad!

I got a good idea from my dad that allowed me to take care of fish. Back then, he used to use a throw net to catch fish from the nearby river. One of the local fish that he usually caught were gourami, and whenever he comes home with his catch, I try to save the ones that are still alive. Voila! Free fish!

Even before, I thought that gouramis are really pretty. The ones that my dad usually catches are called the three-spotted gourami. Why? That’s because they have three black dots on their bodies – one near the tail fin, one near the center of their body, and the eyes are considered as the third. Usually, their bodies are silver and they have orange spots on their anal fins. Sometimes, they take on a blue sheen, and depending on their mood, they develop black stripes much like the ones on zebras!

In my opinion, gouramis are very hardy. Because I was just a kid then, I forgot to feed them for a long time, but they were still alive when I remembered! They’re usually not picky eaters. They can eat almost anything like algae, insects, and small fish. Now, I feed my gouramis floating pellets because they’re easier to take out if I overfeed them. Take note, too, that I don’t forget feeding them anymore.

They’re also good to take care of because they’re not really sensitive to water conditions – at least in my experience. Even if there’s little dissolved oxygen in the water, it’s not a problem because they can gulp air and use that to breathe.

If there’s just one gripe that I have with them, it’s that they are sometimes hard to mix with the fish that I like. They can’t be with very small fish because they might eat the ones that can fit in their mouths. They can’t be kept with other fish with ornate fins because, in my experience, they tend to attack and tear those kinds of fins apart! Like their relatives, the fighting fish, the males also tend to fight with each other, so it’s best to keep just one male in the tank. When they mature, they can reach up to six inches, so they would do well in a 30-gallon tank.

On the other hand, they can be kept with other fish that are fast swimmers. Right now, I have them mixed with mature zebra danios, platies, and corydoras. So far, so good, but the platies might soon give birth. There. I’ll just worry about it if I do see that the platies get pregnant.

I don’t want to brag but the pictures in this post all came from my aquarium. Apologies for the poor photo quality because I’m not using a digicam – just my cell phone camera. By the way, the gouramis in the pictures are also free! Some kids caught them when our street got flooded. I saw them in a small plastic container near my aunt and uncle’s store. I saw it and said to my uncle, “Tito, I’ll get these gouramis, ok?!?” The kids gave him the gouramis, so technically, he was the rightful owner. Luckily, he said that I can have them, so that’s another batch of free fish for me! Yipee!!!