Edit Parosphromenus deissneri

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Name

Scientific name

Parosphromenus deissneri

Described by

Authority Bleeker, Year 1859, Bracketed

Family

Osphronemidae

Common names

Deissner's Liquorice Gourami

Photograph credits

All 1 credited

Summary

Deissner's liquorice gourami, Parosphromenus deissneri, is endemic to the island of Bangka in Indonesia, mostly in its northern and eastern…

Size and aquarium

Maximum size

40mm, standard length

Aquarium size

Minimum length 40 cm, Minimum depth 20 cm

Water

Water conditions

Temperature 22–28°C, pH 3–6.5

Hardness

1–4dGH

Conductivity

Not recorded

Behaviour

Temperament

Species tank only

Community suitability

Not for a community

Where it lives

Countries, regions, rivers and lakes

Indonesia, Bangka, Belitung, Baturussa

Writing

Etymology

Parosphromenus: from the Latin para, meaning 'beside', and the old generic name Osphromenus. deissneri: name for Mr. Deissner, who discovered the species.

Distribution

Endemic to the island of Bangka in Bangka-Belitung province, Indonesia. It is known from a number of localities, mostly in the northern and eastern portions of…

Habitat

Has been collected among vegetation in jungle swamps and streams containing slowly-moving, tea-coloured water. In unaltered habitats the dense canopy of branch…

Aquarium size

An aquarium with base dimensions of 40 ∗ 20 cm or equivalent is sufficient for a pair.

Maintenance

Can be maintained in a fully-decorated aquarium although many breeders prefer not to use a substrate for ease of maintenance. Driftwood roots and branches can …

Water conditions

Not written yet

Diet

This species is chiefly a micropredator feeding on tiny aquatic invertebrates, therefore in the aquarium it must be offered a variety of small live foods such …

Behaviour and compatibility

Not recommended for the general community aquarium. Its care requirements, disposition, and especially conservation status dictate that it should be maintained…

Sexual dimorphism

In males the dorsal, anal and caudal fins have a thin whitish to bluish margin with a black subdistal band bordered internally by a series of bluish oval-shape…

Reproduction

Normally spawns in small caves or among leaf litter and forms temporary pair bonds with the male solely responsible for egg and brood-care. Parosphromenus spp.…

Notes

P. deissneri was the only recognised member of the genus for almost a century following its description in 1859. As a result its name has and continues to be w…

P. deissneri was the only recognised member of the genus for almost a century following its description in 1859.

As a result its name has and continues to be widely misapplied in both aquarium and ichthyological literature although it's probably always been very rare in the hobby, while a number of fishes previously identified under the name from other parts of Southeast Asia have already been described to science.

A redescription was published by Kottelat and Ng (1998)[3], and they took the unusual step of requesting the assignation of a neotype. This was necessary because during their investigations the authors discovered the existence of two Parosphromenus species on Bangka Island, and Bleeker's original description was based on a single female specimen which was in very poor condition therefore could not confidently be assigned to either taxon.

In addition, Parosphromenus spp. are typically identified by male colour pattern, with females tricky to tell apart.

The original type locality of P. deissneri is 'Baturussak' and there is a river named the 'Baturussa' which drains Bangka's eastern coast from which fresh Parosphromenus material had been obtained, therefore the authors concluded that eastern populations were most likely to represent Bleeker's P. deissneri.

Those from the south and west of the island differed in caudal-fin shape and were described as new species P. bintan, so named since it also occurs further north on Bintan Island, Riau Islands province, Indonesia.

P. deissneri can be told apart from all congeners by following combination of characters: pale subdistal bands in the unpaired fins of males comprising a series of oval spots located on the fin membranes with dark rays between; median caudal-fin ray not branched and in adult male prolonged into a filament; 12-13 spinous and 6 soft dorsal-fin rays; 12-13 spinous and 8-11 soft anal-fin rays; 11-13 pectoral-fin rays.

Aquarists often refer to Parosphromenus spp. collectively as 'liquorice/licorice gouramis' or 'paros'.

The genus occurs in southern (peninsular) Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra (Indonesia, including the islands of Bintan, Bangka and the Riau Archipelago), and Borneo (Malaysia and Indonesia). All members are small-growing inhabitants of freshwater swamps and associated streams, and the grouping was considered to be monotypic, containing only P. deissneri (Bleeker, 1859), for almost a century. Additional taxa have been described on a sporadic basis since the 1950s and there currently exist 20 recognised members with more likely to follow.

Despite the generic name the results of phylogenetic analyses by Rüber et al. (2006) suggest that Parosphromenus is most closely-related to Betta or Trichopsis in an evolutionary sense. All three of these are sometimes included in the putative subfamily Macropodusinae alongside Macropodus, Pseudosphromenus and Malpulutta.

Like others in the suborder Anabantoidei this species possesses an accessory breathing organ known as the labyrinth, which permits the fish to breathe atmospheric air to a certain extent. Comprising paired suprabranchial organs formed via expansion of the epibranchial (upper) section of the first gill arch and housed in a chamber above the gills, it contains many highly-vascularised, folded flaps of skin which function as a large respiratory surface. Its structure varies in complexity between species, tending to be more developed in those inhabiting harsher environments. While some labyrinth fishes can be observed taking regular gulps of air from the surface others, including Parosphromenus spp., do so less often.

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References

8 on this profile

Name

Scientific name

Described by

Family

Common names

Photograph credits

Summary

Size and aquarium

Maximum size

Aquarium size

Water

Water conditions

Hardness

Conductivity

Behaviour

Temperament

Social needs

Community suitability

Where it lives

Countries, regions, rivers and lakes

Writing

Etymology

Distribution

Habitat

Aquarium size

Maintenance

Water conditions

Diet

Behaviour and compatibility

Sexual dimorphism

Reproduction

Notes

References

References