# A beginner's guide to the supposedly grumpy paradise fish



## Joshaeus

'ello all! I recently purchased a pair of paradise fish for my 29 gallon tank, and to celebrate this, I decided that I will write a guide on here for those who are considering owning these bigger, cooler-water cousins to the betta that are in genus_ Macropodus_. My sources are my own experience, the experiences of others as related on the_ AquaHobby_ website, and the articles and care sheets by Skeptical Aquarist, Seriously fish, and a website by the german Dr. Thomas Seehaus (here's the link: http://www.casa-di-lago.de/aqua_mia.html)

*The fish
*There are a number of species of Paradise fish, but the most common in the hobby are Macropodus Opercularis, M. Ocellatus, and M. Spechti. 

Macropodus opercularis is easily the best-known species - you've likely seen this one in shops (though not necessarily looking this good!):









Macropodus ocellatus lives further north, and can actually be seen swimming under ice in part of its range! It's also arguably the most stunning member of the genus:









Macropodus spechti, the black paradise fish, lives in central Vietnam and would thus likely prefer somewhat warmer temperatures than its brethren:









I'll just say now that none of the images are mine...

*Tank Setup
*As one would expect, paradise fish enjoy cooler temperatures than bettas do: black paradise fish will enjoy temperatures down to 65 degrees fahrenheit, the commons to 60, and Occies could probably spend the whole year in a koi pond! However, spechti and opercularis will also do fine in tropical tanks below 80 degrees (Ocellatus is a true temperate species and should not go in tanks with temperatures higher than the low seventies).

All paradise fish prefer to live in areas of dense, often overgrown vegitation in the wild, and this should be emulated in aquariums. Not only will it make the tank healthier (if the plants are live), but it will also make it look more natural, and the paradise fish will show better colors. Paradise fish often look washed-out in stores because they have no plant cover - in the wild, being fully colored-up in such a setting would make the animals an easy target for birds and excessively fanatical aquarists:-D.

Many people keep these fish in goldfish bowls: however, I cannot say that I am personally comfortable with this. Paradise fish grow fairly large: M. ocellatus, which is to my knowledge the smallest of the paradise fish in _Macropodus_, grows to about 3 inches *without* the tail, and the other species can easily hit 4 inches! For this reason, I personally believe that a 20 inch tank is the bare minimum for keeping a single male M. Ocellatus, and that the other species need 24 inch minimum tanks for a single male and nothing else. I will also say that I tried to keep paradise fish in a 5 gallon myself: however, they were consistently less active, and even with 40% water changes a week, the second of the paradise fish I tried to keep in a 5 gallon got ammonia burns at one point (the tank WAS cycled, by the way, and was planted and overfiltered) and died of an opportunistic illness.

*Feeding
*Not much to write here...paradise fish tend to eat just about anything. However, they prefer meaty foods and should thus be given a diet high in protein. Like all fish, they will show more color if given frozen or live foods regularly.

*Tankmates*
This is possibly the most controversial point of paradise fish keeping. Many believe that paradise fish, being closely related to bettas, should be kept one male to a tank. This frequently leads to the paradise harassing or destroying any tankmates they attempt to put with the fish. As it turns out, paradise fish, in spite of their close relationship to bettas (they share a subfamily, Macropodusinae, of the gourami family), need to be stocked quite differently, and to see why, we need to know a bit about their behavior.

In the wild, paradise fish are fairly territorial animals that have an optimum stocking density. To maintain this density, paradise fish have a number of in-grained behaviors - flaring, jaw-locking, turning on their side (in submissive paradise fish), and others - that they need to be able to express. In the absence of another paradise fish, the paradise fish is likely to express his instincts on his tankmates, who do not generally understand his body language and are often attacked viciously. If another paradise fish is kept, however, both can express their natural behaviors to each other, and non-Macropod tankmates large enough not to be swallowed will usually do fine.

So, how does one go about making a safe community tank with paradise fish? Firstly, a tank of at least 30" needs to be employed if you intend to keep a pair (you'll need a 29 gallon to keep a harem with tankmates, and a 4' tank to keep two males together). Then, you must have at least two - and preferably four or more - paradise fish. If you can only fit a pair, keep either two females or a male and a female, as two males will likely fight to the death unless they are in a 4' tank - they simply don't have the room to get away from each other in anything smaller.

Once you have at least 2 paradise fish, however, they are largely community safe. I wouldn't personally try to keep them with other anabantoids or guppies, but Dr. Thomas Seehaus, mentioned above, has even succeeded in keeping paradise fish with wild Betta splendens! Don't get the idea to keep domesticated bettas with paradise fish, though...males, at least, will likely pick fights with the paradise fish due to their increased aggression, and I've heard of at least one case where a paradise fish managed to produce offspring with a betta. The fry were ugly...

As for other tankmates, make sure that no aggressive (cichlid), fin-nipping (tiger barbs) or miniscule (neon tetra) fish are put in the tank. Once you have that down-pat, you should be fine! Unless the Macropods spawn...

*Spawning
*Paradise fish breed very similarly to bettas, so if you can breed bettas you should be able to breed paradise fish. The tank should be shallow, with floating plants and with temperatures in the mid to high 70's and still water. Put the male in first to let him build his bubblenest, and add a plump, gravid female in when he is done. Keep an eye on them in case he causes problems...the reason I advised a 30" tank was to allow the female to get away from the male, which she usually cannot do in breeding tanks.

After they spawn, the male will put the eggs in the bubblenest and lose all tolerance for the female; move her before she is pummeled. The male will then tend to the nest until the fry are free-swimming about five days later. Like bettas, he may start to eat the fry at this point, so he should be removed. The fry need infusoria at first, growing large enough to eat baby brine shrimp and microworms in a few days.

Note that paradise fish often manage to spawn in community tanks. You obviously don't want this happening...males really are aggressive when guarding a brood, and will likely take over half of a 30" tank as long as the fry are around. Try to remove the male and his nest to a seperate container if possible.

That is all. I hope this article is informative and useful!


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## PetMania

This is really cool. Thanks for sharing this


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## Joshaeus

Thankx!


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## MattsBettas

That was a good read, thank you. I have wanted some of these on and off for a long time.


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## Joshaeus

By the way, here is my paradise fish tank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feS_r2pe74k&feature=youtu.be


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## coltiger

These were one of my first fish I had after I started keeping fish. Truly a beautiful fish, a bit feisty lol I have not noticed them in pet stores around Alberta since I moved from Ontario. I was looking to add a few to my barb tank


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## JustinieBeanie

Thanks for the info! I've long admired the beautiful paradise fish, but its surly reputation put me off a bit. I have see Paradise fish color variations in albino, red, green, and blue, are they all color variations of M. Opercularis? I have also seen "Black Paradise Fish" that to my untrained eye looked more like M. Opercularis and didn't look much like the M. Spechti you posted, is it possible they were a hybrid between the two or just very dark M. Opercularis?
Edit: after re looking at that M. Ocellatus, and looking at other pictures of the species I believe the fish I saw for sale labelled as "Black Paradis Fish" were maybe M. Ocellatus mislabeled.


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## Joshaeus

Many paradise fish look quite pale in stores, so that may have had something to do with it - they tend to pale out under bright lights. Also significant, though, is that most of the 'black paradise fish' in the hobby are actually opercularis/spechti hybrids, supposedly made to improve the tail of the latter. As for the idea that the fish are ocellatus, I would be surprised if they were, since ocellatus are basically intolerant of tropical temperatures and age quickly if kept in them. In addition, ocellatus is more of a hobby fish, and is far more likely to show up on aquabid (for a rather high price) than it is to show up in a pet store.

As for the other variants: yes, the albino, red, blue, and green paradise fish are all variants of M. opercularis.


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## JustinieBeanie

Hmm maybe my original thought that they might be hybrids was correct. The ones labelled "black paradise fish" were for sale online, but not on aquabid, but I can't remember where I saw them! I think were rather expensive, compared to "regular" ones but maybe they weren't ocellatus, but I don't know if they were pure M. spechti either, they didnt look like the pics I've seen, they were possibly hybrids, or just dark Opercularis.


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## Joshaeus

Ocellatus have a round tail, and spechti are dark greyish-brown with smokey blue fins and red ventral fins. Purebred spechti do not have obvious eyespots on their gills. Neither species has stripes covering their whole body - spechti has no stripes whatsoever!

Dr. Seehaus has pictures of hybrid spechti/opercularis on his site's photo gallery. Looking at them may help you determine whether the fish you saw were hybrids.


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## Joshaeus

Today I added 4 variatus platies to the paradise fish tank. Boy, did that confuse the paradise fish! Both Bear and pearl, my paradise fish, charged the platies a few times. Fortunately, they have very quickly figured out that platies are NOT paradise fish, and now only glare at them briefly before resuming their business. It just goes to show that paradise fish are not the monsters they are often depicted to be...you just need to keep them right, and you can get a fairly normal community without an exceptional amount of intra-species violence.


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