As far as i am concerned, there were only 4 layouts in the last 15 years that i pay special attention to my fish choice: "Congo" in 2017 where i use Congo Tetra, "Faith" in 2018 where i used Pearl Guroumi, "Pure" in 2020 where i used Altum Angel and this year 2022 i used Samurai Gourami in "Samurai". The rest of my layous, i just dropped by a fish shop few weeks before final photo and take whatever they have in stock. Guilty as charged.
Using Samurai Gourami this year, is both a wonderful and terrible decision. It is a superb choice because i managed to create a good habitat for them, pretty close to their natural habitat and i can see that they are really happy in my tank. It was a really wonderful experience seeing them in my tank and i learned a lot about creating something for fish, not just a nice aquascape.
But this fish has given me quite some headaches:
1) they dont swim in group (schooling) by nature. Samurai Gourami is a pretty territorial species, they protect their turf aggressively when there are other fish getting close. So you can see the same fish always at the same spot in the aquarium, especially those bigger and more dominant ones, they have their specific territories. So to get them to school is a pain in my backside. Fortunately, most fish can be trained and in the video enclosed, you will see how i trained my Samurai to school for the final photo. Detail info in the video description.
2) they are pretty expensive and what's making the matter worse was that you will need a lot of them to have about 50% turning up for the photo. So if you have 50, be prepared to only have 20-30 in the photo.
3) only female fish is attractive. This has made buying this fish especially challenging (and even more costly) as most aquarium shops will not allow you to choose only the females ones. You either buy in pairs or you just have to take whatever they have. So i was forced to buy even more than what i need as half of them are the dull looking male fish that i just segregate them in other tank after i bought them.
4) while most of the above "problems" can be resolved one way or another, there was one "unsolvable" issue when using Samurai Gourami as your main fish - regardless male or female, they all look about the same in final photo. So the effort of buying more female fish went in vain. The female fish look beautiful in close up photo but once in the final photo, i just could not get the color out. Believe me, i tried. "Samurai" was shot in 4 days (4 sessions) over thousands of shots and different setting, none could give the female fish good coloration. This has remain as THE heart-breaking memory for this layout. Can you imagine such beautiful female fish in close up but look so "male" in the final photo? Anyone who knows the tricks in getting the color of female Samurai in final photo, please share 🙏. I want real experience, trust me i have tried all the "theories"
In short. It is a wonderful experience. I will continue to pursue underwater habitats in my future layouts eventhough the contest might not agrees. Absolutely no regret on my part as the joy (and agonies) i experienced in creating "Samurai" was something magical and memorable. 2023 anyone?
First of all, i need to make them gather. So everytime before i feed them, i will knock on the tank glass. After a while, when they heard the knocking sound, they will know its the meal time and will swim towards the fixed spot. After that, i have to use a stick to bring them down to bottom/mid level as i prefer my fish to swim at lower position. This is a critical step as the movement of the stick has to be perfect. Too fast, your fish will be scared and scaterred away. Too slow, those that reach bottom faster will swim away. So you need to practice and find the right rythm. After you gather them at the mid/lower spot, just increate the movement of the stick to make them swim away in a big group, pull out the stick and release the shutter. Easy enough? I only took 1500 photos
The male vs female ratio in my tank is about 1: 8. Some lucky guys in there!!
This is how they fight. I saw them do this on daily basis.
Author Josh Sim / Malaysia
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