NEWS108
4
hesreachedGermanyagain,afterapparently
dying out completely during the Second
WorldWar.Itwasthe InternationaleGemein-
schaftfürLabyrinthfische (= InternationalLa-
byrinthfishAssociation,IGL)thatmanagedto
establishanaquariumstrain,asthepettrade
continuedtoshowno interest inthesefishes.
Unfortunately Chinese Paradisefishes are
verypale in color outside thebreeding sea-
sonanddon't lookattractive.Thesefirstfishes
fora long timewere importedonprivate in-
itiative. In1984 I obtained someof the first
captive-bredspecimens.Thegorgeouscolor
photosofHansJoachimRichterhadaroused
myenthusiasmand Ihadbeenaparadisefish
fan since the1970swhen apair of Paradis-
efishesspawned inoneofmyveryfirstaqua-
ria.
Unfortunately,however,theChineseParadis-
efishprovedextremelydelicate.Ibelievethat
thereareonlya few fish speciesas suscepti-
bleto fishtuberculosisas
Macropodusocella-
tus
.Fish tuberculosis is causedby aubiqui-
tousbacterium that caneven cause skin le-
sions inhumansunderparticularlyunfavor-
ableconditions - and is,by theway,theonly
noteworthydiseaseofornamental fishesthat
canbetransmittedtoMan.It isn'tknownwhy
ChineseParadisefisheswere so susceptible
to the pathogen back then. Although no-
bodywasever infectedby them,whowants
tokeepfishesthatsooneror laterdiecovered
innastyulcers?These fisheswereonceagain
indangerofdyingout inthehobby.Butthen
- and again nobody knows quite why - at
some stage an aquarium strain of these
lovely fishesbecameestablished that virtu-
allynever fell victim to tuberculosis. So this
firstrecent importedstrainoftheChinesePa-
radisefish reinforced the old saying: never
giveup!
Splendid fishes -outdoorsaswell
Withamaximum total lengthof eight cen-
timeters,theChineseParadisefish isasmall
fish.Malesalwaysgrow larger than females.
Sexual maturity is attained at an age of
around four months, when the fishes are
between three and five centimeters long.
The Chinese Paradisefish is a typical bub-
blenestbuilder.Themale,resplendent inhis
finest colors, constructs a relatively com-
pactbubblenest.Butmating is initiatedby
the female, who becomes a very light
cream color, almost white,when ready to
spawn.Outside thespawningperiodmales
and females cannot be distinguished on
thebasis of color. Paradisefishes produce
transparent floating eggs.Mating is laby-
rinthfish-typical,with themaleclasping the
female inaU-shaped embrace, initiallyap-
proaching her from beneath. Once the
malehasembraced the female,he turnsher
ontoherback,and thepair release theeggs
and spermwhilequivering.
Theyoung,whichbegintohatchafter just24
hours,areverysmall.Oncetheybecomefree-
swimming,whichbeginsafter48hours (in la-
byrinthfishes there isalwaysadegreeof va-
riationfromearlyto late developers)theyre-
quire some10-12daysbefore theyareable
to take
Artemianauplii.
Until then they re-
quiremicroscopicallysmall live foods.
ChineseParadisefishes are subtropical.The
species distribution includes largeparts of
ChinaandKorea,andtheyhavealsobeen in-
troduced andbecomeestablished inJapan.
These fishes are sometimes found in areas
where the thermometer candrop to -20 °C
inwinter. Hence some populations of Chi-
neseParadisefisharewinterhardy inEurope
and can be maintained year-round in the
gardenpond.Onesuchpopulationhas lived
for many years in an ornamental pond in
front of the premises of the wholesaler
Aqua-Global inBerlin.Because
Macropodus
ocellatus
doesn't usually live formore than
threeyears,the fishesmustalsobebreeding
successfully there. In severe winters very
largenumbersdie,even in thewild.Because
the Chinese Paradisefish cannot breathe
using its labyrinthunder ice, ithas to relyon
Maleof thenewwild-caught straindescribed in the text. Inaddition to the redeye, theblue spot at the
baseof thedorsal fin isparticularly striking. All photos:FrankSchäfer
Lexicon
ChineseParadisefish
Macropodusmeans "large fin"
opercularismeans "witha (special)
operculum; thename refers to the
spoton thegill-cover (operculum)
ocellatusmeans ”havinganeye-spot”
chinensismeans ”fromChina”
Literatur
:
Cantor,T. E. (1842):General featuresofChu-
san,with remarkson the floraand faunaof
that island.AnnalsandMagazineofNatural
History (NewSeries) v.9 (nos58,59,60):265-
278,361-370,481-493.
Paepke,H.-J. (1994):DieParadiesfische.Die
neueBrehm-Bücherei Bd.616,WestarpWis-
senschaften,Magdeburg
