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Paradise Fish
Macropodus opercularis
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Photo by André Karwath aka Aka, edited by Muhammad · CC BY-SA 2.5
Passport
- Family
- Large Gouramis
- Grows to
- 8 cm (3.1")
- Lives
- 8–10 years
- Temperament
- Semi aggressive
- Care
- Beginner
- Swims
- Near the surface
- Keep
- One is fine
- Water
- 10–22 °C (50–72 °F)
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Care requirements
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On record for Paradise Fish: adult size, lifespan, minimum tank, temperature, ph, hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level, tank length.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- Minimum tank 76 L / 20.0 US gal
- pH 6–8
- Hardness 5–20 dGH
- Diet insectivore
- Tank length 80 cm minimum
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
Paradise fish were among the first tropical fish kept in Europe, arriving in the nineteenth century well before the equipment existed to heat a tank properly. They managed anyway, because they don't need heating — they come from cool subtropical East Asia and will live in an unheated room.
They're spectacular. Alternating vertical bars of red and blue-green over the body, fins drawn out into long trailing points, and a display between two males that is one of the great sights in freshwater fishkeeping.
They're also seriously aggressive. Males fight each other viciously, and they'll harass almost any tank mate. This is a fish to build a tank around rather than add to one.
Tank setup
Keep one male. Two will fight, and they don't stop at posturing — paradise fish inflict real damage on each other.
Give them a cool tank and leave the heater out. They're comfortable well below tropical temperatures and do better for it, which makes them one of the few genuinely good unheated options.
Put a lid on without sealing it. They gulp air from just above the waterline, and a cold draught there does the labyrinth organ real damage.
Plant heavily and break every sightline you can. Dense growth is what gives anything else in the tank a chance.
Choose tank mates that are fast, robust and not long-finned, or keep them alone.
Feeding
Paradise fish are aggressive, unfussy carnivores that will eat anything they can catch or fit in.
Feed a quality flake or pellet with plenty of frozen and live food — bloodworm, daphnia, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae. They relish live food and hunt it properly.
They'll eat very small tank mates and shrimp. Treat that as certain rather than possible.
Avoid: keeping them with anything small enough to swallow, and avoid a purely dried diet.
Filtration and flow
Long fins and still-water origins mean they have no use for a current. Run the filter softly and let the top settle.
Ordinary filtration is ample. They're extremely tolerant of poor water — they survive in ditches and paddies — though that's no argument for neglecting the tank.
Cool water holds more oxygen, which suits an air-breathing fish that also uses its gills.
With plants
Paradise fish are safe with plants and won't damage them.
Plant as densely as you can. This is the main tool you have for managing their temperament, and the tank needs refuges in every corner.
Floating plants give shade and a foundation for a bubble nest.
Health
They're exceptionally hardy and almost never ill. Cold tolerance, air breathing and a robust constitution make them close to indestructible.
The medical problems in a paradise fish tank belong to the other fish. Check fins and flanks across the whole tank regularly.
Cold dry air is the one real vulnerability. Keep the tank covered.
Breeding
Males build big bubble nests and are ferocious about defending them.
The male wraps around the female under the nest, gathers the falling eggs and spits them into the bubbles, then drives her off with genuine violence — she has to be removed immediately or she will be killed.
He guards the nest and the fry alone and does it well. Fry need infusoria and then baby brine shrimp, and the tank must stay covered so the air above stays warm while the labyrinth organ develops.
Tank mates
Avoid6
- Least Killifish Paradise Fish grows to 8 cm against Least Killifish at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Scarlet Badis Paradise Fish grows to 8 cm against Scarlet Badis at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Common Goldfish Paradise Fish is not safe with Common Goldfish: common goldfish and large gouramis are a bad pairing.
- Discus Paradise Fish is not safe with Discus: discus and large gouramis are a bad pairing.
- Fancy Goldfish Paradise Fish is not safe with Fancy Goldfish: fancy goldfish and large gouramis are a bad pairing.
Only with care58
- Convict Cichlid Convict Cichlid is noticeably larger than Paradise Fish and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Jewel Cichlid Jewel Cichlid is noticeably larger than Paradise Fish and may bully it or outcompete it at feeding time.
- Kribensis Paradise Fish is semi-aggressive and Kribensis is peaceful.
- Panda Garra Paradise Fish is semi-aggressive and Panda Garra is peaceful.
- Amano Shrimp Paradise Fish is a risk to Amano Shrimp: large gouramis and shrimp and yabbies are a pairing to watch.
No conflict is recorded with the other 43 species in the database, so nothing to flag. 1 species is not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.