Chocolate Samurai Gourami Fish

Samurai Chocolate Gourami
Sphaerichthys vaillanti

Size: max up to 3"
pH: 4.9 – 6.5
Temp: 75 -86F
KH: 2-4
Origin: Borneo

Food: New Life Spectrum "Community or Finicky Formula"and Blood worms

A treasure chest find for you serious Gourami collectors.  This is another peaceful omnivore that has spectacular markings!  Samurai Chocolates do best when housed in at least a 10 - 20 gallon tank that is well-established, thickly planted, with peat extract, driftwood, and good healthy bacteria.  Infrequent water changes of no more than 20% every 2 weeks will help with your success!   They do best if kept in colonies NOT PAIRS and are compatible with other shy, peaceful fish as tank mates such as rasboras and corys.  Stocking tip example; you could keep about 6 or 7 of these in a 20 gallon tank just fine.  When they intend to breed the female will pick the male of HER choice and they will pair off and guard a large part of a pool or aquarium, but since they are not aggressive fish, no harm will be done to other fish, perhaps the other Samurais have “sex respect”.

These fish are NOT as hard to keep as regular Chocolate Gouramis, and actually, if you’ve failed with the Chocos, you’ll do fine with these, just follow our advice herein. 

The Samurai Chocolate gourami is originally from the Kalimantan River in Borneo.  Its native water is very soft and acidic with a pH as low as 4.9.  They live along the moving parts of the river.  Visibility there is usually poor owing to the fact that the water is amber in color from the rotting leaves surrounding their habitat, so consider this when trying to reproduce a tank for this fish.  It should not be overly lit and we would suggest using a lot of driftwood for refuge for these fish.  Water must be filtered with peat to maintain the acidity required.  They may be acclimated to higher pH levels but if you keep them in the low 6’s they will do fine.  Key is a quiet tank with low light and don’t fuss with them too much or you’ll stress them out and get them sick with fungal infections.  They will generally hang out near the mid section or lower parts of the tank, close to the driftwood.   

Sexing is not easy but the female in this species is usually a tad more colorful!  The girl may have vertical red and green bars where the boys are usually more plain with gray or brown tints.  The colors of both sexes become more intense during spawning, but perhaps the colors are more vibrant for the female because she is the guarder of the territory where the male will just hang out and mouthbrood the eggs.  (Good Daddy)  This process takes about 14 days and the male will not eat during this time so it is so important that you have your fish on a good diet, and no flake foods! 

Size at shipping: about 1.5"+

Limited Availability.  We also reserve the right to screen who this fish is sold to.  If you know nothing about Samurai Chocolate Gouramis or are unwilling to accommodate these animals to give these prized animals a good home, we will not sell them to you.
Male pictured below.  Female pictured Top Left