Marble Kissing Gourami

The kissing gourami gets its name from the way it will kiss other gouramis and other fish in your tank.

Marble kissing gourami. Macropodus opercularis moonlight gourami lrg. The kissing gourami has been a popular fish for many years mainly due to its kissing motion produced by the mouth. Its colored in a light bluish tone that s topped with a darker marble like patterning and thus it is also known as the marbled gourami. Like all the osphromenids the blue gouramis have a labyrinth organ which serves to breathe air allowing them to live in muddy and little oxygenated waters.

When they do this it means that one is trying to establish dominance over the other. Today virtually all specimens sold in the united states are commercially bred in florida. So why was this kind named as kissing gourami. This name was given to the fish because they make natural mouth movements during courtship games during aggression as well as during feeding.

The kissing gourami is capable of growing up to 30cm 12 in length. They can grow up to 12 inches in size so they need a large aquarium minimum 75 gallons. Kissing gourami helostoma temminckii isn t a very bright colored fish but it has a very interesting behavior. Among the representatives of this subspecies there are fish of yellow pink as well as a greenish hue.

Kissing gourami is especially liked by aquarists. The popular kissing gourami commonly called a kisser originates from the indonesian island of java and is also found in borneo cambodia malaysia thailand and vietnam. For observers it looks like kissing. The fish comes in two colorations.

Trichogaster microlepis moonlight gourami med. They are practically the only fish capable of freeing an aquarium of hydra. Helostoma temminckii marble metallic paradise gourami lrg. The kissing motion when carried out between two fish is actually a fighting motion where the weaker fish should give in.

Helostoma temminckii marble marble kissing gourami reg. The pattern is dynamic and variable making this pretty fish an appealing addition to a community aquarium. Kissing balloon mutations have also been produced as well helostoma. Their fins are usually light green.

The kissing motion is also a method of grazing on algae from objects. The cultivated varieties lack such points and they are the marble gurami light blue with a darker variegation and the golden one. As the kissing gourami grows to a large size a large tank of at least 70 80gal. It is commonly cultivated in the southern indochina region as a food fish.

They stand in front of each other and swim slowly for some period of time and then for a short time their mouths meet. The wild brown greenish coloration and the ornamental pinkish pearl coloration. This gourami is one of many varieties of the three spot gourami.