NEWS103
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in the hobby. I am, of course, referring to
Betta splendens
, the fighter or Siamese
fighting fish.
Also puzzling for some is the question of
the
paradise
fish’s
identity
and
classification. Firstly, the blue, green,
albino and ‘red’ or wild-type paradise fish
are all one and the same:
Macropodus
opercularis
, while the black paradise fish
has sometimes been referred to as
another colour variety of
M. opercularis
.
More frequently, though, it’sbeen referred
toas
M.concolor
or
M.opercularis
concolor.
Today, according to the online fish
database FishBase (
,
neither of these two scientific names is
valid.While retaining the common name,
black paradise fish, the species is now
listed as
M. spechti
, as a result of a review
carriedoutbyFreyhof andHerder in2002.
In this review, they also elevated the
earlier subspecies,
M.spechti spechti
,to full
species level, regarding it as being the
same species as theblackparadise fish.
At a higher level of classification, the
paradise fish and its closest relatives, i.e.
the bettas (
Betta
spp), croaking gouramis
(
Trichopsis
spp), liquorice gouramis
(
Parosphromenus
spp), ornate paradise
fish (
Malpulutta kretseri
) and the spiketail
and Day’s paradise fishes (
Pseudosphro-
menus
spp) have been traditionally
classified as belonging to the subfamily
Macropodinae of the family Belontiidae,
which has also included the combtails
(
Belontia
spp ) of the subfamily Belon -
tiinae and the gouramis of the genera
Colisa
,
Parasphaerichthys
,
Sphaerichthys
and
Trichogaster
of the subfamily
Trichogastrinae.
Today, though, the classification is very
different and is not to everyone’s liking.
Among other changes, the former
Colisa
species, such as the dwarf gourami (
C.
lalia
) arenow all regarded as
Trichogaster
,
while the ever-popular blue/three-
spot/golden gourami is no longer
Trichogaster trichopterus
, but
Trichopodus
trichopterus
. Further, these species, along
with theparadise fishes,no longerbelong
to the family Belontiidae, but to the
Osphronemidae,which includes thegiant
gourami,
Osphronemus goramy
and its
nearest relatives.
Summarising the changes, the Osphro-
nemidae now contains four subfamilies:
theOsphroneminae (containing thegiant
gouramis,
Osphronemus
), the Luciocepha-
linae
(the
gouramis:
Trichopodus
,
Trichogaster
,
Ctenops
,
Sphaerichthys
,
Parasphaerichthys
, and the pikeheads,
Luciocephalus
), the Belontiinae (the
combtails, i.e.
Belontia
) and the
Macropodusinae,
containing
Betta
,
Macropodus
,
Malpulutta
,
Parosphromenus
,
Pseudosphromenus
and
Trichopsis
. For its
part, the kissing gourami (
Helostoma
temminkii
) retains its family, the
Helostomatidae, while the climbing
gouramis or perches (
Anabas
spp), the
bush fish (
Ctenopoma
spp), the dwarf
bush fish (
Microctenopoma
spp) and the
kurpers (
Sandelia
spp) all remain within
the family Anabantidae. The more
distantly related snakeheads,
Channa
and
Maleof theBlackParadisefish,
Macropodus spechti.
Courtingmaleof the cultivatedParadisefish form ‘Super Red’.
