Moonlight Gourami

The Moonlight Gourami is an elegant labyrinth fish with a silvery, faintly green body that shimmers like moonlight and long threadlike pelvic fins used to sense its surroundings. Native to sluggish, densely vegetated lowland waters of the Mekong basin, it prefers still ponds, swamps and flooded fields. It is a peaceful, somewhat shy species best kept in a calm community with gentle tankmates and abundant floating plants that diffuse the light and offer security. As an air-breather it must reach the surface, so keep the tank covered with a warm, humid air layer above the water. Water should be soft to moderately hard, slightly acidic to neutral (pH 6.0-7.5) and warm at 25-28 C. Feed an omnivorous mix of flakes, small pellets, frozen brine shrimp, bloodworm and some plant matter. Males build bubble nests among floating vegetation.