Giant gouramis
| Giant gouramis | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.png)
Osphronemus goramy |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the subfamily | ||||||||||||
| Osphroneminae | ||||||||||||
| Bleeker , 1859 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Osphronemus | ||||||||||||
| Lacépède , 1801 |
The giant gouramis ( Osphronemus ), simply Gouramis or Speiseguramis called, are the species with the greatest representatives of the labyrinth fish (Anabantoidei) and belong to the family of Osphronemidae .
species
There are four types :
- Osphronemus exodon ( Roberts , 1994), becomes up to 60 centimeters long and lives exclusively in the Mekong river basin .
- Osphronemus goramy ( Lacepède , 1801), grows up to 70 centimeters long and lives on Sumatra , Borneo , Java , the Malay Peninsula , Thailand and in Indochina , in the Mekong river basin.
- Osphronemus laticlavius ( Roberts , 1992), becomes up to 50 centimeters long and lives in Malaysia and Indonesia , especially Kalimantan and Sabah .
- Osphronemus septemfasciatus ( Roberts , 1992) grows up to 50 centimeters long and lives on Borneo.
description
Adult animals are characterized by a more or less pronounced hump on the forehead and a bulging lip area. Young animals, on the other hand, have a pointed head shape because they still lack the distinctive features of the old animals. There is a golden or yellow cultivated form of Osphronemus goramy .
Reproduction
Giant gouramis build a foam nest between aquatic plants , which is reinforced with plant parts. About 3000 to 4000 oval eggs with a diameter of 2.5 to 2.9 millimeters are placed in it. The nest is guarded by the male until the fry hatch after 35 to 40 hours and leave it after 10 to 14 days.
use
Giant gouramis are important food fish in South Asia, Australia , Central and South America and are bred in ponds. Since they can also breathe air as labyrinth fish, there is no need to pay close attention to the water quality. For a tropical fish they grow slowly and only reach the required size for marketing after 18 months. They are considered very tasty and fetch a high price.
Giant gouramis are also attractive residents of large show aquariums in zoological gardens and are often shown there.
nomenclature
The form of the name Osphromenus (instead of Osphronemus ) can still be found in older literature and, today valid, e.g. B. in the related genus Parosphromenus . An explanation can be found in the article Labyrinth Organ .
literature
- Jörg Töpfer: Osphronemus. In: Claus Schaefer, Torsten Schröer (Hrsg.): The large lexicon of aquaristics. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-7497-9 , p. 727 f.
Web links
- Osphronemus on Fishbase.org (English)
- Experience report about Osphronemus goramy at the Cologne Zoo
- Brief report on Osphronemus exodon
- Giant gouramis in the hippocampus image archive