# Snakeskin gouramis?



## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Hi all. This is my first post in several months ( been lurking tho ). I ran across a group of snakeskins at a lfs the other day for $3.95 each. They are between 6 and 8" long. Seemed like a good deal so I bought all four. This is a fish I've never kept before ( part of the attraction ), and I can't find much by searching the "net". I would like to try to get them to spawn. Maybe some of ya'll can head me in the right direction. I've spawned dwarf & blue gouramis as well as bettas and paradise fish in the past. I assume the drill will be somewhat similar. I'm thinking a 33 long aquarium, 6" of water, glass top with an eggcrate divider untill the male finishes the nest. 80 F. My water is soft acid so I think that's OK. What else? Any tips?
I can see why this fish is not very popular. A very dull grey unattractive color at the lfs, but after acclimating at home it has a very attractive pattern and is active and outgoing. I thing it would be a great dither fish for some of the larger, more peaceful cichlids, if nothing else. Mine are currently in a 135 gal. tank with some south american cichlids and are doing fine. 
Thanks for your time. ron v


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I was told to get at least a 4ft long tank. I put a pair of 10" snakeskins in a 55 gallon tank and the male killed the female. I think the divider is must. Everything else sounds like the advice I got. I was also told to expect 10,000 fry and told to raise them in a pond or kiddie pool.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

10" wow. How big do they get? Are mine old enough to spawn at 6-8"?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Snakeskins get around 10-11 inches long, but are mature at 4-5, so yours should be ready.
Snakes are kinda peculiar in that they don't eat eggs or fry. Ever. They won't eat their own or anyone else's fry, so it's easy to keep the fry & parents together in the same tank.
They also like water which is soft and slightly acid (pH~6.8 ) like yours, so that's covered. Feed well with good foods for conditioning and conduct water changes to simulate rainy season if nothing happens after a few weeks. Make sure the lights are on a good solid 11 hours per day.
They are ordinarily very peaceful, odd for gouramis, but at spawning time they get aggressive. If the female is not ready to mate, the male may kill her. Either partition them, give them a huge tank or even a pool, or keep them in separate tanks until the female is well-conditioned and fat with eggs. Any combination of these would be even better. The main thing is to make sure that the female is ripe before letting her anywhere near a nesting male.
By the way, they have LOTS of eggs.


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