The Climbing Perches (Anabas) are no popular aquarium fish at all. Scientists also do not work on them and so the systematics of the genus are quite unclear. Members of the genus can be found all over the tropical and subtropical areas of South and Southeast Asia. However, it often remains unclear wether the fish occur there naturally or if they have been introduced by men. For Anabas are, despite their small size (maximum length is around 20 cm, usually they do not become larger than 10 cm), popular food fish.
This popularity is founded at least in part by the hardiness of the fish. They belong to the labyrinth fish and so they have an accessory breathing organ that enables them to breathe air outside the water over a long time. Additionally they have very hard scales. Climbing Perches are able to wander over land in wet nights in order to find new habitats. “Walking” is done by spreading the opercles, which have – an unique feature of the genus Anabas – a strong serration on their lower border; these serrations are used like crampons. Along with twiggling movements of the body the fish “walk” quite quickly on land.
Currently, two species are commonly accepted, namely Anabas testudineus and A. cobojius, but several others are described. Some of them for sure are good, separate species. We now were able to import a very pretty Anabas species from Thailand which has an ivory base coloration, black tiger stripes and a golden hue all over the body. Anatomical details make it likely that the species name Anabas macrocephalus can be applied on them, a species described in 1854.
In the aquarium, these pretty Climbing Perches are very lively. They are a bit robust, but cannot be called aggressiv at all. Conspecifics, large barbs, small snakeheads, or gouramis of the genus Trichogaster are proper tankmates. The fish feed on any fishfood available, there should be only plenty of it. Plants are ignored.
For our customers: the fish have code 364203 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Lexicon: Anabas: ancient Greek, means “the climber”. testudineus: Latin, means “turtle-like”. cobojius: after a Bengal name for the species. macrocephalus: Latin, means “with big head”. Trichogaster: ancient Greek, means “filamentous belly”.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
| Angaben zum Tier | |
|---|---|
| Herkunft | Thailand |
| Verfügbare Größe in cm | 5-7 |
