1 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Less aggressive than the standard paradise fish but still territorial.
415 species in our list are a good match.
Less aggressive than the standard paradise fish but still territorial. Best as a single male.
Flakes, pellets, live and frozen foods.
Tap a food to see what it is.
Males are larger than females and have extended soft rays in the dorsal, anal and tail fins.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Bubble-nester · Moderate
Bubble-nester. The male builds the nest in floating plants; the female is usually tolerated, may help defend the nest, and the pair can stay together. Adults do not usually eat the fry.
Condition a pair and place together in a spawning tank.
60 L tank with floating plants and caves.
Warm live-food conditioning.
Several hundred floating eggs per spawn; the fry stay in the nest until the yolk is used up, then need infusoria-sized food for a few days before Artemia nauplii.
Newly hatched brine shrimp after the yolk is used.
Not a selected form: the black paradise fish is a wild species from the hill streams, paddies and ditches of central Vietnam, described by Schreitmüller in 1936 and named after P. Specht, the aquarist who received the first fish. It lacks the bright bars of the common paradise fish and was long called M. concolor.
German aquarium writer Wilhelm Schreitmüller described this dark paradise fish in 1936 from aquarium specimens. It was long known as Macropodus concolor.
First described by Wilhelm Schreitmüller in 1936.
16 facts checked with sources
Valid name. Older books call it Macropodus concolor; that name is permanently invalid (ICZN Opinion 2145, 2006). Wrong-name warning: fish sold as 'spechti' or 'black paradise fish' are often M. erythropterus, which has red in the dorsal, anal and tail fins (Seriously Fish). IUCN Red List: Data Deficient (assessed 28 July 2010, per FishBase).
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Macropodus species · FishBase: Macropodus spechti summaryLegacy has no family field; sourced value recorded.
FishBase: Macropodus spechti summary · Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Macropodus speciesBoth SL. Seriously Fish 8.0 cm SL is the larger well-sourced figure and is used; FishBase 5.8 cm SL (preserved specimens, Freyhof & Herder 2002). Legacy 10 cm is above both.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechti · FishBase: Macropodus spechti summarySeriously Fish (preferred) 20-30; FishBase 20-26. Legacy 18-27 is too cool at the bottom for this tropical Vietnamese species.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechti · FishBase: Macropodus spechti summaryLegacy matches Seriously Fish.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechti · FishBase: Macropodus spechti summaryLegacy has no hardness; Seriously Fish range recorded.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechti80 x 30 cm base x 30 cm height = 72,000 cm³ = 72 L (Seriously Fish lists ~72 litres) for one pair. Legacy 80 L.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechtiNo minimum group size given; a pair or a group both work. Legacy 1 is not a source figure.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechtiLegacy 's' (semi-aggressive) and 'best as a single male' are stricter than the source.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechtiNo source names an aquarium swimming level.
FishBase: Macropodus spechti summarySeriously Fish rates it Easy.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechtiLegacy has no range field. The original type locality 'Dutch Indies' is an error.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechti · FishBase: Macropodus spechti summaryLegacy (longer fins on males) agrees. Body colour difference not described by the source.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechtiLegacy lists 'leaving the female with the male' as a mistake; Seriously Fish says the female is normally tolerated.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechtiLegacy 200-500 eggs is consistent with 'several hundred'. Seriously Fish gives no hatch time for this species.
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechtiMajor correction: legacy says it is 'a black-bodied paradise fish selected from Macropodus opercularis lines'. It was first named as a variety of M. opercularis (M. opercularis var. spechti) but is a separate wild species. 'Less aggressive than the standard paradise fish' fits Seriously Fish ('relatively peaceful unless breeding').
Seriously Fish: Macropodus spechti · Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Macropodus species