Edit Helostoma temminkii
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Name
Scientific name
Helostoma temminkii
Described by
Authority Cuvier, Year 1829
Family
Helostomatidae
Summary
The kissing gourami, Helostoma temminkii, is an anabantoid from southern Indochina and the Malay Archipelago, and the sole member of its fa…
Size and aquarium
Maximum size
250mm, standard length
Tank size
Minimum length 150 cm, Minimum depth 45 cm
Water
Temperature and pH
Temperature 22–30°C, pH 6–8
Hardness
1–20dGH
Conductivity
Not recorded
Behaviour
Temperament
Not recorded
Social needs
A shoal or group
Community suitability
Not for a community
Where it lives
Countries
Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam
Supporting text
Etymology
Not written yet
Distribution
Described from the island of Java, Indonesia but currently accepted to occur throughout much of southern Indochina and the Malay Archipelago including Vietnam …
Habitat
This species exhibits a preference for slow-moving or standing waters including floodplain lakes, oxbows, backwaters and swamps, and is particularly associated…
Aquarium size
For long-term care an aquarium with base dimensions of at least 150 ∗ 45 cm60 ∗ 18 in is required.
Maintenance
Choice of décor is not as critical as water quality and the amount of open swimming-space provided, though it isn't a recommended addition to carefully arrange…
Water conditions
Not written yet
Diet
This species is a highly-specialised, microphagous filter-feeder and possesses very fine gill rakers as well as modified structures on the gill arches to aid i…
Behaviour and compatibility
Suitable only for the larger community set-up alongside other robust fishes. Since it isn't able to predate anything larger than a few mm in length groups of a…
Sexual dimorphism
Adult females are rounder-bellied than males when full of eggs but otherwise there are no confirmed external differences.
Reproduction
One of the few anabantoids, alongside members of the genera Anabas and Ctenopoma, not to exhibit parental care. In nature it spawns at the onset of the rainy s…
Notes
The pinkish-white form of this species is among the most widely-traded aquarium fishes in the world but does not occur naturally and is in fact a leucistic var…
References
References
8 on this profile