370 HABITS OF GOURAMIS WHEN IN CHINA. 



China. They hke water that is clear, and a little muddy 

 at the bottom, with plenty of vegetation growing. The 

 temperature which suits this fish best is 24 to 26 Centi- 

 grade — i.e., 75 to 79 Farenheit, and the temperature in 

 winter must not get below 19 degrees — that is, 66 

 Farenheit. 



These fish are herbivorous, as the length of their in- 

 testines indicates. In their native place their favourite 

 food is plants which grow in the water of these countries, 

 and besides these the gourami eats cabbage, lettuce, 

 leaves of turnips, beet-root, maize, potatoes, arrowroot, 

 carrots, biscuits, manioc ; in fact, almost any vegetable 

 farinaceous substances. 



At the time of spawning the males and females 

 choose a convenient place to make their nest and de- 

 posit their eggs ; this nest is made of aquatic i^lants. 

 They are about 14 centimetres long, and is built by the 

 male and the female in about a week. The female de- 

 posits from 800 to 1,000 eggs ; during the hatching out 

 the parent fish attend upon the young ones. When 

 the fry are hatched out, they eat the vegetable portions 

 of the nest which are softened by maceration. Gouramis 

 begin to breed at three years old ; it is at this time 

 their flesh is best, and possesses an excellent taste. 



Having published a portrait of the Gourami in Land 

 and Water, October, 1880, I received a letter from my 

 friend Mr. Jamrach, 180, St. George's-street, East, 

 stating that he had two gouramis alive. The poor 

 things kept sailing around and around their new abode 

 as if looking for food. I tried them with a dozen different 

 sorts of food, but with no success. At last I hit off the 

 right food. When I placed it in the globe they rushed 

 at it and devoured it most greedily. 



Having fed voraciously they both wriggled up into the 



