There are many species of Anabantid or Labyrinth fish to be seen in the aquarium trade, but there are many more that are rarely seen or even heard of except by specialist hobbyists. Many of these - for example the various Betta species to be found in SE Asian peat swamps - are in habitats which are highly threatened by pollution or conversion to palm oil plantations, so some sort of conservation programme would seem neccesary. Even the wild form of the Siamese Fighting fish, Betta splendens, is considered Vulnerable. Most of these species are small, so even a tiny facility could house a breeding population, and many are highly colourful as well. Are there any collections which exhibit any of these tiny jewels?
There are 3 small species on display in the Monsoon Forest at Chester: Betta hendra (below), Betta pallefina and a Parosphromenus species. New Betta by gentle lemur posted 4 Sep 2017 at 4:13 PM However, these species are not very well suited to display in public aquaria. They are mostly small, quite sensitive and secretive. They can be quite aggressive to each other too. The same would apply to the smaller African anabantids, chocolate guoramis, the lovely pygmy talking gourami (Trichopsis pumilus) and even the very attractive dwarf gourami (Trichogaster lalius) which can be very shy in a planted tank, although they can be seen in many pet shops. The medium-sized species are better, Chester has a lot of pearl gouramis (Trichopodus leerii) showing well at the moment and I still remember seeing the larger talking gourami (T. vittata) there many years ago. Other Trichopodus species are fine, as of course are the huge Osphronemus and the bigger African species particularly Ctenopoma acutirostre. But I am surprised that you rarely see paradise fishes or the Asian climbing perch on show. I should add that Chester have been keeping some larger delicate species off-show, notably the Brunei beauty (Betta macrostoma) and pikeheads - but I am not sure if they still have them. I would love to see such fishes on show, but I won't hold my breath.
