The Leeri is a rather peaceful fish to keep and might be very shy in the beginning. It's best not to keep it together with hyperactive or aggressive fishes.
They can get a little larger then 10cm and are not very picky about water conditions, as long as its clean they will like it. Its best to keep them around a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius or higher, especially for breeding a higher temperature is advisable.
Also when it comes to food they are not that picky, frozen, dried or fresh they are high likely to take it all.
Males and females are
quite easy to distinguish.
Males have longer anal fins with "hairy" edges. The Latin word Trichogaster
refers to those. Around breeding time the males will get a bright orange/red
belly, showing that they are ready to mate.
The males also have a larger dorsal (or top-) fin, which can reach twice the
size of the female one.
Example of a pearl Gourami female
Same as most Betta
species the Leeri's are bubble nest builders. Therefore it's best to breed
with them in a separate or specialized tank, where no other inhabitants can
disturb the nest, since the nest will be quite delicate and easy to break
down.
Breeding Leeri's is quite similar to breeding Betta Splendens. It's best to
use a bare tank (without gravel etc) with some floating plants in there. The
tank size should be 40-60l and only halfway filled.
As a support for the bubble nest you can use quite a few materials such as
almond leaves, a piece of Styrofoam or half of plastic cup. The male will
build his nest under that material and therefore it will break less easy.
The water temperature should be 26-29 degrees Celsius. Its important to have
no current in the water so it's best to use no filter or bubblers. A small
sponge filter might work as long as you make sure it's not moving the water
surface too much.
When the pair is
spawning the male will wrap himself around the female's body and "squeeze"
hundreds of tiny floating eggs out of her. The eggs will float into the
bubble nest by themselves.
After the spawning is done you can chose to either remove both parents or
remove only the female and let the father take care of the nest.
Other then with Betta Splendens the fry won't fall out of the nest, they
will keep floating to the nest because of a little bit of oil in the yolk
sack.
The young fry will need infusoria for the first few days to survive. After
they grew a bit you can feed them freshly hatched baby brine shrimps (artemia).
Microworms are not practical since the fry will always be right under the
water surface.
When they are big enough you can give them red mosquito larva's, dry food
etc.
This article is far from complete, any additions are welcome.