Hi guys, I just came home from Pets at Home with 2 Paradise fish, 1 Male 1 Female (I think) I know very little about them other than they can be aggressive.

Can anyone tell me anything about them, mainly how to sex? behaviours? compatability and breeding???

thanks all

Stu

Paradise fish

I kept Paradise fish in a community tank for a while and they were great until they started to mature. Unfortunately, I didn't realise at the time that 2 males should never be kept together. They became extremely aggressive, not only towards each other but towards my other fish. I've since been led to believe that they are best kept in a species only tank and after seeing their behaviour, I can understand why.
The male has longer, pointed dorsal fins and a more extended caudal fin.
The one thing I did enjoy watching was the male displaying for the female. He would spread his Caudal fin right out and his colouring became a lot darker and more intense. I did manage to capture this photo of one pair spawning but unfortunately the photo quality isn't brilliant.
Hope that helps!

sorry.....caudal fin??? is that his rear most fin??? what I would call tail fin??

Sorry Stu, so used to calling it caudal fin because of work! It is the tail fin I was referring to.

No worries, I thought it was but wasnt 100% im hoping I have a male and female, certainl the guy in the shop seemed to know what he was talking about and is a good friend of mine and he thinks he caught a male/female........

any triggers to get them breeding?? I have only really had livebearers before

We had plenty of plants and bogwood in the tank so the female had places to hide when he became a little feisty. We also had floating plants which the male built his bubblenest under. It did take a few attempts before they spawned as they were still quite young. The male built his nest but chased the female away quite a few times before they spawned.
Unfortunately, we had no fry because my better half accidentally destroyed the bubble nest trying to catch another fish in the tank!

lol I will get myself some floaters then and see what happens.

thanks for your advice, very much appreciated

Your welcome and good luck!