Aquaculture can provide employment and facilitate a sustainable economy in rural areas through business development and production diversification. The breeding of giant gourami Osphronemus goramy exemplifies the socio-economic benefits of aquaculture for countryside. This autochthonous species highly is a praised fish by the local population (i.e. Indonesian cuisine) and is a valuable breaded taxon for the Indonesian economy. Since 2016, a Franco-Indonesian collaboration aims at identifying the strengths and the weaknesses of the current giant gourami production, through a large survey of fish farmers in three provinces: West Java (Bogor, Tasikmalaya), Central Java (Banyumas, Cilacap), and West Sumatra (Padang Pariaman, Lima Puluh Kota, Payakumbuh). Thanks to this survey, we aim at defining development strategies adapted to the alternative practices and contexts of Indonesian aquaculture. The survey is based on 152 closed questions focusing on socio-economic, biological, zootechnical, and environmental aspects. Although techniques related to reproduction and selection of fish strains are generally well controlled, fish farmers face similar problems regardless of the three studied provinces: high fish mortalities, especially during the larval and juvenile stages. These mortalities are due, on one hand, to biological reasons (i.e. predation) and, on the other hand, to an adverse environmental context (e.g., water quality problems in particular). Ultimately, this cooperation work should lead to a better understanding of the gourami aquaculture functioning and then to the development of appropriate solutions to overcome current problems. In particular, the development of re-circulated aquaculture systems and the study of fish performance according to the different strains are two promising ways for improving the gourami aquaculture.