This is 8 months update. The fish are called Sparkling or Pygmy gourami.
I contemplated about raising the Amano larvae. I just think it’s way too much trouble. It requires setting up a separate salt water tank, then worrying about feeding, temperature, lighting, salinity, ro/di water, and water changes for 6 weeks or so. I’ve done salt water tanks for two years in the past, so I'm not new to salt water… but if I succeed, I would be left with hundreds of Amanos to deal with. The larvae is a very good protein source for the growing gouramis.
I think there’s been some confusion with the shrimplets. Amanos have never successfully bred in this tank. All of the shrimplets are another shrimp species. The wild kind. They were labeled as feeder shrimp. I think they are closely related to cherry shrimp. Amanos release larvae, not fully grown shrimplets. And the larvae needs salt water to develop into shrimp. The wild kind releases fully grown tiny shrimplets when breeding.
The shrimp population has exploded. All of the little shrimplets are growing up. I think nearly all of the newborns are being eaten by the gouramis.
The gouramis are showing adult traits already. The big ones have become territorial and started to protect small areas of the tank. I think two have become a pair already. If they breed…oh the drama! Catching other gouramis is gonna be crazy. Also, what am I gonna do with a new generation of gouramis!? The original 4 gouramis are doing fine in the other tank. They are very territorial.
The plant growth has accelerated. I think it’s b/c the temperature reached 28°C, or 83°F once in a while in the tank.
