Chocolate gouramis
| Chocolate gouramis | ||||||||||||
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Chocolate gourami ( Sphaerichthys osphromenoides ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Sphaerichthys | ||||||||||||
| Canestrini , 1860 |
The chocolate gouramis ( Sphaerichthys (= round fish)) are a genus of small labyrinth fish . Of the four species in the genus, the type species, Sphaerichthys osphromenoides, occurs in the south of the Malay Peninsula , on Sumatra and Borneo , the other three species are endemic to Borneo .
features
Chocolate gouramis reach a body length of 4 to 6 cm, are high-backed, rounded to slightly elongated, strongly flattened on the sides and chocolate-brown, red-brown or green-brown in color. Your dorsal fin is supported by 7 to 13 hard and 7 to 10 soft rays, the anal fin has 7 to 11 hard and 16 to 22 soft rays. The pelvic fins have one hard and five soft rays. The second fin ray of the pelvic fins is elongated like a thread.
Chocolate gouramis feed primarily on insects and are mouthbrooders . They occur in peaty micro bodies of water and swamps. The water in their habitat is always very soft and has a low pH value.
species
There are four types described:
- Pointed-mouthed chocolate gourami ( Sphaerichthys acrostoma Vierke , 1979)
- Chocolate gourami ( Sphaerichthys osphromenoides Canestrini , 1860)
- Sphaerichthys selatanensis Vierke , 1979
- Vaillants Chocolate Gourami ( Sphaerichthys vaillanti Pellegrin , 1930)
literature
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
- Hans A. Baensch , Rüdiger Riehl : Aquariums Atlas, Volume 1 . Mergus Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-88244-101-1 .
Web links
- Sphaerichthys on Fishbase.org (English)