Lightly Medicated | Sparkling Gourami (Trichopsis pumila)

What “Lightly Medicated” means

This is the same animal as our non-quarantined listing, held briefly in our systems and given one short prophylactic course — a light treatment for ich and for internal and external worms — then observed eating in front of us before it goes home.

A light course knocks the parasite load down. It does not guarantee full removal, and we will not pretend otherwise. Ich is only killed in its free-swimming stage, and a short treatment window can miss cysts entirely; worm burdens can survive a single dose. Clearing an animal takes the full quarantine window — 40 to 90 days depending on the species — which is exactly what the Quarantined listing is for. This tier buys you a lower parasite load and a fish we have watched eat, not a cleared animal.

We condition the fish on our end. Every animal we medicate is brought back onto prepared food on our own systems and is eating before it leaves — in practice it is rare for a lightly medicated fish to ship out and arrive sick. Do the same at your end: get it eating in your aquarium before you count it settled.

When it ships

Plan on 3–5 days on our systems for the treatment course, and it does not leave until it is eating. If the animal is not already in our systems we source it first — allow up to two weeks for it to reach us before that clock starts. From the day you order, plan on roughly two and a half weeks in total.

The guarantees

• Shipped orders: 24-hour live guarantee from confirmed delivery.
• In-store pickup: 7-day live guarantee — bring a water sample from your aquarium so we can test it before your livestock goes home with you.

Want the full program — treated, observed, confirmed eating, and covered for 28 days on pickup? That is the Quarantined listing. Run your own quarantine and just want the fish this week? The non-quarantined listing is cheaper still. The whole ladder is explained in Quarantined vs Non-Quarantined.

Sparkling Gouramis (Trichopsis pumila) are a labyrinth fish — they possess a specialized accessory breathing organ that allows them to gulp air directly from the surface, and they use it constantly enough that you’ll notice the surface trips even in a well-oxygenated tank. They evolved this adaptation in the seasonally oxygen-depleted rice paddies, swamps, and sluggish ditches of Southeast Asia, where dissolved oxygen can drop low enough that gill breathing alone won’t sustain a fish through the dry season.

They’re also one of the very few aquarium fish that produce an audible sound — a soft croaking or clicking noise made during territorial displays and courtship, generated by modified pectoral fin muscles vibrating the swimbladder. It’s faint enough that you need a quiet room to catch it, but it’s genuinely there, and once you know what to listen for you’ll hear it regularly. The sound is most prominent when males are posturing at each other or displaying to a female.

Small, peaceful, and content in a quiet corner of a planted tank, they’re a particularly good pick for a calm nano community that doesn’t need another fast-swimming schooling fish. They pair naturally, and a bubble nest built under a broad leaf or at the water surface is a reliable sign that the male is in good condition and ready to breed.

Scientific name: Trichopsis pumila
Origin: Southeast Asia — rice paddies, swamps, slow streams, and shallow ponds across Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos
Water parameters: Temp 75–82°F · pH 6.0–7.5 · GH 4–15 (soft to moderately hard)
Tank requirements: 5 gal minimum; planted nano tank or calm community; must have access to surface air
Diet: Omnivore — micro-pellets, small crushed flake, frozen daphnia and baby brine shrimp
Compatibility: Peaceful; best with similarly small, non-aggressive species; males may display at each other but rarely cause serious injury
Husbandry note: Never fully seal a labyrinth fish tank without an air gap at the surface — they must breathe atmospheric air and will drown if unable to reach the surface. A tight lid with a small gap is fine; a completely sealed enclosure is not.