Moonlight Fish Tank Views

General Goods

It thrives in a heavily planted aquarium. Preferable vegetation are the sturdy Java fern and Vallisneria. The moonlight gourami are social and peaceful fish that are suitable for community tanks. However, large specimens, particularly males, may attack others of the same or closely-related species.[2] On the other hand, the moonlight gourami could be a shy and timid fish that regularly hides behind vegetation and gets bullied by more aggressive tank mates. The moonlight gourami is also a top or middle tank-level dweller. Minimum tank size requirement is 20 gallons.

Breeding of this fish is easy. The moonlight gourami should be provided with a separate breeding tank because other fish consider eggs and small babies (fry) as food. An ideal breeding tank has very soft water that has been reduced to a depth of about six inches; floating plants can also be present to give the fish a feeling of security.[2] The pH should be slightly acidic and the temperature should be raised to at least 80°F over a period of several days to trigger spawning. Dark gravel, plenty of floating plants to assist in bubble nest building, as well as feeding of live foods to the breeding pair will increase the chances for successful reproduction. After spawning, the aquarists often provide the female a thicket of fine-leaved plants to hide if the male becomes aggressive; however, the moonlight gourami will not harm the female as other species of labyrinth fish might.[2]

After spending a considerable amount of time online doing all sorts of research on moonlights, I realized that if I wanted a moonlight, I wanted it to act as real moonlight, not just bluish light on my tank at night time. Over the years I like many others set up cheap-o moonlights with 15W blue party bulbs you can get at you local convenience store. I kept that setup for about 2 weeks about 2 years ago. My fish acted restless during that time and seeing it was the only thing that had changed, I went back to what it was like originally, just pitch black at night.

Typically one aquarium moonlight can cover a two by two foot area, but larger sets of lunar lights are being used in newer lighting fixtures. Many products claim that the lunar lights help promote spawning and they probably do to some extent, but most aquarists simply enjoy viewing their tank at night. Different nocturnal creatures like copepods, starfish, shrimp, crabs and snails start to come out when the lights are off and can now be observed.