Macropodus opercularis

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Macropodus opercularis is the Paradise Fish. Let's let the eminent Dr. William T. Innes enlighten us a bit. "If ancient lineage is the true basis for aristocracy, then the Paradise Fish is undoubtedly the Exalted Potentate of all tropical aquarium fishes". It was introduced into Paris in 1868 by Carbonnier. It came to the American hobby by Adolphus Busch of St. Louis in 1876. There are known instances of it living in temperature down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. They are common in the rice fields of China. It was first described by Linnaeus in 1758. It is an anabantid labyrinth fish but not a gourami. It breeds like a Betta. It is very hardy but can be a bit pugnacious. There are at least three varieties that I know of and are all exquisitely beautiful. In my mind, this is a fish that every aquarist should keep at one time or another.
Superb. Well then @HoldenOn looks like you should have a Paradise fish! And your cories should treat it like royalty!
 
But in all seriousness, the Paradise Fish is a cool fish. They're tough and hard to kill. They are easy to breed and they are sorta kinda pretty in their own way. They do great in ponds outside in the summer. Too late now but I want to get a 75 gallon heavy plastic stock tank for outside fish next summer. I just may put Paradise Fish in there and see how many I pull out in the fall. They kind of faded from the hobby for awhile but they're making a comeback. Better than Bettas is that you can keep more than one and you can keep them with the females. They do tend to be a little hard on each other but they stop short of killing each other. The fry are bigger than Betta fry and are easy to raise since they can take newly hatched brine shrimp right from the get go.
 
Lovely looking fish. If I had a bigger tank I’d be tempted again. I think any tank mates may need hiding places just in case. Though my only experience of them wasn’t ideal for anyone concerned so I shouldnt point a finger in their direction.
I got one to replace my Clown Loaches back in the 90s when I gave two back to LFS after discovering how big CLs grew when two died. He eventuallystarted terrorising my neons so they went back to the LFS and got him a girlfriend. Neither bothered the WCMMs or Zebras.
Beautiful fish but you got the impression he was likely to fly off the handle at any time. Eventually they went back to the LFS and everyone else went to my nephews tank due to a new job.

This was pre internet when info was thin on the ground and LFS seemed to use my tank as storage.
As I say, lovely looking fish.
 

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