The fish comes in two colorations.
Marble kissing gourami.
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.
They are practically the only fish capable of freeing an aquarium of hydra.
Macropodus opercularis moonlight gourami lrg.
This gourami is one of many varieties of the three spot gourami.
This name was given to the fish because they make natural mouth movements during courtship games during aggression as well as during feeding.
Today virtually all specimens sold in the united states are commercially bred in florida.
Trichogaster microlepis moonlight gourami med.
Helostoma temminckii marble metallic paradise gourami lrg.
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 gourami is especially liked by aquarists.
Their fins are usually light green.
The wild brown greenish coloration and the ornamental pinkish pearl coloration.
Kissing gourami helostoma temminckii isn t a very bright colored fish but it has a very interesting behavior.
The kissing motion when carried out between two fish is actually a fighting motion where the weaker fish should give in.
The cultivated varieties lack such points and they are the marble gurami light blue with a darker variegation and the golden one.
They can grow up to 12 inches in size so they need a large aquarium minimum 75 gallons.
Among the representatives of this subspecies there are fish of yellow pink as well as a greenish hue.
When they do this it means that one is trying to establish dominance over the other.
It is commonly cultivated in the southern indochina region as a food fish.
The kissing gourami can get quite large often 10 12 inches in length.
For observers it looks like kissing.
As the kissing gourami grows to a large size a large tank of at least 70 80gal.
The kissing gourami gets its name from the way it will kiss other gouramis and other fish in your tank.
They stand in front of each other and swim slowly for some period of time and then for a short time their mouths meet.
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.
The kissing gourami is capable of growing up to 30cm 12 in length.
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.
So why was this kind named as kissing gourami.
Kissing balloon mutations have also been produced as well helostoma.
They are not kissing but they are in fact acting aggressive and having a showdown.
