How to Feed Your Croaking Gourami Fry

Croaking Gourami grow to reach 2.5 inches. This small fish shares its native habitat with the Betta in Southeast Asia. This interesting little fish is also known as the talking Gourami due to the clicking sound makes as it swims. While breeding the Croaking Gourami may be difficult, feeding the fry (newly hatched Gourami babies) doesn̵7;t have to be. Commercially prepared fry foods and homemade fry food recipes are easy to make and even easier to feed to the young Croaking Gourami.

  1. Size of the Food

    • Feed foods that are specifically designed to be ingested by fry to ensure your fry gets the nutrition it needs to grow. Gourami fry are so small they can hardly been seen. Therefore, Gourami fry food must be small enough to be ingested by the fry. Fish supply stores often carry a selection of fry foods to choose from that come in a variety of flavors and forms.

    Flake and Liquid Fry Food

    • Feed commercially prepared fry foods (flakes and liquid) according to the manufacturer̵7;s directions as overfeeding can damage the water quality. Green water is a solution made from mixing regular tap water with a few pieces of algae from the Gourami tank and allowing the mixture to set (cultivate) for a day or two. Once the water has produced a clear, green hue, it can then be fed to the fry using an eyedropper. The protozoa (one celled organism) created by the algae are what the fry actually feed on.

    Frozen Fry Food

    • Feed frozen baby brine shrimp along with or after feeding liquid fry food for a day or two. This allows your fry to grow large enough to feed on the brine hatchlings. The easiest way to prepare frozen brine is by putting 2 tablespoons frozen brine to 1 tablespoon course salt in a bottle of room temperature water and allowing the brine to become active. When this occurs, you can see the brine̵7;s eggshells on the surface of the water and the live brine hatchlings near the bottom of the bottle. Pour out the water over a small, mesh net to catch the brine, rinse thoroughly and then feed them to the fry.

    When and How Much

    • Feed your Gourami fry small amounts of any type of fry food at least daily. Because fry are housed in tanks with half water and no filtration system to prevent them from being sucked up by the filter, small feedings are necessary to reduce polluting the tank with excessive food waste build up. Yet, you do want to make sure they are eating and stay full. When your fry reach 1/2 inch, you can introduce them to your community tank. At this point, your fry should be able to continue feeding on brine and other adult Gourami food.