Paradise fish (Macropodus opercularis) sometimes referred to as “macropodus” is one of the recommended fish suitable for beginners as it rarely pose problem when it comes to general care and breeding. The fish is known to originate from the murky waters around the area close to ditches and streams located in China and Vietnam. Ever since its discovery, the species has been domesticated and brought to every parts of the world by avid hobbyist.The paradise fish is highly popular due to its colorful body which can adopt either green, orange and neon blue depending on the variety and mix as well as the condition in which they are exposed to. The fin can extend up to very long sometimes stretching to almost half of overall body length. In terms of size, an adult male paradise fish can reach almost 7 to 8cm excluding the fin while for the female, they are slighter shorter which is about 2 cm less. In order to ensure that your pet thrive in home aquarium tank, the water should be controlled around 23 to 25degC with water quality maintained clean at all times. Generally newly introduced fish can take time to adapt but somehow for paradise fish they seem adjust and respond well to changes even when the water temperature goes out from the normal range, and they are still fine.
The aquarium setup should have the tank size as large as possible minimum at least 30 gallon and inside the confinement; there should be established population of live plants. For the bottom bed, you can consider using fine sands or gravels measuring up to maximum 3mm and anything larger than that would not be suitable as foods will get trapped in between the gaps easily leaving you fish unable to reach for it. In order to bring out the fine coloration, the setup should be well-lit with metal halide lighting system but care must be taken in order not to overheat the tank and create extreme condition that will increase water temperature.
For those who have interest to successfully rare and breed the fish, my recommendation is to get at least 50 gallons of aquarium size if you intend to keep at least 4 to 5 of them so that aggressive behavior shown among its own species will be less. Nowadays even hobbyist go to the extent of getting unique aquarium such as a hanging fish tank so that the beauty of the design complements the color and vibrant appearance of your pets. If for any reason, one of the fish gets bullied by the other due to inferior size or any other reasons then the victim should be separated from the rest or it will suffer malnutrition due to inability to compete for foods. My own experience keeping the fish, has one actually ended up given to a friend and another died because both were heavily attacked by the others.
In terms of dietary requirement, you pet will accept any dried flake foods or even fish pellets and occasional feeding of live foods such as worms, will give extra nutritional value to ensure proper growth and development of bright coloration. One word of advice when keeping this fish is that they are known as jumpers meaning that if they get startled or engage in a fight, they might jump out from the tank so be prepared to get an aquarium with a proper hood.
