NEWS106
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This historic photo by Hans-Joachim Richter
has influenced theaquarist’sconceptionof
Pa-
rosphromenus deissneri
for many decades. In
reality it is either
P. tweediei
or
P. rubrimontis
,
both first scientificallydescribed in2005,or a
close relativeof those species.
numberofsmaller islandsbelongingto Indo-
nesia–are isolated fromoneanother.Expe-
riencehas shown that theParosateach site
differ somewhat in appearancebecauseof
thisgeographical isolation.Inmanycasesthe
differences are limited todetails of colora-
tion. It is amatter of opinionwhether these
colordifferencesareseenastheexternalma-
nifestationof different speciesorwhether a
species ispermittedacertain rangeofvaria-
tion inhabitus.
Thephantom
Thebest-known–at leastas faras thename
is concerned - Paro species is
P. deissneri
,
whichwasdescribedback in1859byPieter
Bleeker and is also the type species of the
genus. In 1974 leading aquaristWalter Fo-
ersch fromMunichpublishedhismanyyears
ofexperiencewithaParothathebelievedto
be
P.deissneri
atthetime.Histrail-blazingob-
servations firstmade theParohobbymore
widelypossible,andthankstohisphotosand
thoseofHans-JoachimRichter
P.deissneri
was
elevated to thepositionof thedream fishof
all labyrinthfish fans.Butwenowknow that
thespeciesbeingmaintainedbackthenwas
either
P. tweediei
or
P. rubrimontis
,both first
scientificallydescribed in2005 (or avery si-
milar species, as the fishes imported back
thencan’tbe identifiedwithcertainty retro-
spectively,theyoriginated fromAyerHitam).
The"real"
P.deissneri
isanotquitesocolorful
species and has a prolonged, lanceolate,
pointed tail. The species
Parosphromenus
deissneri
isn’t at present available in the
hobby, although practically all the licorice
gouramis that turnup in the tradeare labe-
led "
Parosphromenusdeissneri
",because the
variousspeciescanbedeterminedonlywith
difficultywhen not in courtshipdress, and
non-specialists among aquarists, if familiar
with
Parosphromenus
atall,have thebeauti-
ful fishes from theFoerschandRichterpho-
tos in theirmind’s eyes.The species occurs
only on the island of Bangka, fromwhere
thereareatpresentnocommercial imports.
Acclimatizedmale
Parosphromenus
sp.“Ampah”.
Photo:MartinHallmann
TheParo fans involved inconservationbree-
dingwouldbe only too happy to take the
speciesunder theirwings.
Falsealarm
The majority of licorice gourami species
have a round caudal fin. InmidNovember
