Chang Jiang

The giant Chinese bitterling, Acheilognathus macropterus, is a bitterling from China, the Korean peninsula, northern Vietnam and southeastern Russia. It has been introduced to Japan and is considered invasive there. Typical adults are 100 to 150 mm, and it appears in the trade only irregularly. Like all bitterlings it spawns in living unionid mussels, and its wide range suggests it may be a group of closely-related species.

The Chinese snakehead, Channa asiatica, is a snakehead native to central and southern China and northern Vietnam. One of several Channa lacking pelvic fins, it is told apart from them by vertical black bars on a brownish body and numerous white spots on the body and fins. It is best kept in a species tank. Pairs build no bubble nest, and both parents defend several thousand floating eggs and the fry.

The paradise fish, Macropodus opercularis, is a labyrinth fish from China south of the Yangtze, including Taiwan and Hainan, plus Vietnam and Laos. Imported to France in 1869, it was among the very first ornamental fish brought to Europe. Wild examples are uncommon in the hobby since it is farmed extensively, and xanthic, albino, red, blue and stripeless strains exist. Males are territorially aggressive, especially when breeding, and should not be housed together unless the aquarium is very large.

Rhinogobius giurinus is a goby found through much of China, plus Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and the Red and Pha river basins in Vietnam. It appears to exist in a number of forms that differ in colour pattern, morphology or both, and it is unclear whether all of them are conspecific. Newly-imported wild fish tend to be aggressive towards conspecifics, so unlike most Rhinogobius it is best kept in sexed pairs.

The northern snakehead, Channa argus, is a large snakehead native to eastern China, southeastern Russia and the Korean peninsula. Growing to 850 mm, it is largely unsuitable for the home aquarium given its size and natural behaviour. Introduced populations, first intended for aquaculture, are now established in Japan, the United States, central Asia and parts of eastern Europe.

Acrossocheilus monticola is a barred cyprinid that is apparently endemic to the upper Yangtze River basin in China. It alone in the genus has seven or eight dark vertical bars on each flank, each one to three scales wide. The type locality is a mountain stream flowing into the Ichang gorge, and wild fish feed on small benthic invertebrates and graze biofilm from rocks and other solid surfaces.

Garra orientalis is a cyprinid widely distributed in southern China, with records from the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) and Min Jiang watersheds. Earlier records from the Salween and upper Irrawaddy are now known to represent other species. It shares a forward-projecting, trilobed proboscis with G. salweenica and G. fuliginosa but lacks their dark blotch on the caudal peduncle. It tends to inhabit rocky, swiftly-flowing headwaters.