The chocolate gourami (Sphaerichthys osphromenoides) still belongs to the legendary ornamental fish species. Although the species is common in the wild and other fish of the same habitat (e.g. harlequin barbs) do not cause significant problems in the aquarium, it is a gamble whether chocolate gouramis will do well there. Possibly this is related to the fact that there are several, very similar species and that they have different sensitivities – at least this is what some observations and field collections indicate.
Additionally, all chocolate gouramis are extremely susceptible to infectious diseases of all kinds and tolerate medications poorly – an unfavorable combination!
We currently have chocolate gouramis in stock from Jambi Province on Sumatra. Many specimens from this population stand out with an attractively marked anal fin. Another peculiarity of these fish is that there are often specimens with Piebald markings. This refers to animals in which pigmentless (i.e. white), irregular spots appear. At first sight this seems frightening, because bacterial infections and also other diseases look quite similar. However, treatment is not necessary, and may even be harmful. We observe this phenomenon with the animals of Jambi from time to time, first we noticed it in 2007. We bred these fish once as a test, the photo of the breeding female is from this time.
For our customers: the fish have code 455803 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
