Facts about Paradise Fish

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Paradise fish are very beautiful fish, therefore many fish keepers raise them in home aquariums or ponds. However, there are still some questions which need answers in order to keep these fish healthier and happier. All questions shown below have been compiled from the past statistics of what people wanted to know. If you feel that your question isn’t answered yet on this website, feel free to use the contact us form. Also here are an other pages devoted to the Paradise fish:

• aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=paradise
• aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=paradisefish

Paradise fish care

When I kept this species I focused on stable water conditions such as pH and temperature. dGH (water hardness) varied between 4 and 20. In fact it was higher than 15 nearly always. These fish’s origin is Asia, thus a planted tank is a necessity. What is very important is a space given to each specimen. Never keep 2 or more specimens if you cannot give them at least 40 litres per fish. When I kept 2 specimens in a 42 litres tank, one was dominant and the second one was always hiding! Never put them into an aquarium where’s the water flow too fast!

Juveniles are playful and peaceful toward others of the same species, but as they grow up, aggression increases. On the other hand, in any planted aquarium where they don’t see each other, they don’t fight. For this reason also put some driftwood into the aquarium; driftwood divides territories.

For proper care of Paradise fish you should feed them live or frozen food. Lovers of Guppies won’t agree and may be angry, however giving small Guppies to Paradise fish helps them to live longer. I used mainly granules, dried food, frozen bloodworms and their lifespan was something between 2 and 3 years.

There are other things to know about care of Paradise fish, but in order to divide this article into separate parts (to answer various questions and to divide them by paragraphs), let’s answer other questions below. Naturally, all are directly related to the care of this specie.

Sexing the Paradise fish

Sexing is quite easy as the female is less coloured than the male. Moreover, females are smaller than males. As usual, females are also rounder because of eggs in their bodies. So if you have two specimens, one is smaller, fins are shorter, and colours are not so intensive, it doesn’t automatically that it’s a male! Always focus on the size of belly. As I already wrote above, when I kept two Paradise fish in a small tank, the first one was so dominant that the second one looked like a female (everything was OK except belly – it was flat). But he wasn’t a female, of course. In fact, he never had bigger belly than the second one’s belly was.

Bear in mind that if a bubble nest is built, it too doesn’t mean that the male is building the nest to breed. Actually even when a single specimen (male) is kept in the aquarium, he can feel so comfortable that he starts building a bubble nest.

Breeding the Paradise fish

Breeding is very easy! Put one male and one female (she has to be full of eggs, check her belly’s size) into aquarium of 80-100 litres and let them breed. There are no specific conditions that they require in my experience. Except having no companion in the tank. However, I have some tips which you may follow to speed up the breeding process.

• A well-planted aquarium is beneficial
• A temperature of 25-26°C should trigger the breeding process
• pH of about 7-7,5 helps the fry to survive
• Always measure dKH and make sure that this variable’s value is at least 4! Lower values cause the fry to die
• From all breedings of my fish, each happened during the night! I am not saying that it is a must, but these fish really tend to spawn 1-2 hours before the day begins.
• Light doesn’t help them to breed; Instead, a subdued lighting is more useful for breeding purposes.
• Water flow must be slow! Otherwise it’s going to destroy the nest!

The breeding process is quite easy... The male builds a bubble nest and then he tries to attract the female. Once he succeeded, his body turns to something like the U letter as he is trying to push all eggs from the female. He stops breathing and you can see oxygen getting out of his gills. When he’s done, he falls down to the bottom for about 1-2 seconds and immediately after this he starts swimming (usually he swims to the surface to breathe some air). After this he starts to take care of eggs. Remember that this process isn’t always successful. Sometimes they repeat it 3-4 times until they’re finally done.

After a day or two (usually up to 48 hours), the eggs hatch. If the female had too many eggs in her body, it is possible that the eggs will hatch in 24-72 hours (some eggs may be released 24 hours after the first spawn, or so... you got the idea). The fry needs food of good quality, also they REQUIRE pH of 7+. 6.5 is enough, but in my experience more newborns survived in a higher-pH water. Feed them Artemia Salina and crushed dried food.

Snails aren’t welcome in such a tank because they love eggs.

Raising baby Paradise fish

The first days are described above. When newborns accept crushed granules, they start to grow. Well... One day the labyrinth organ starts to develop. This time is critical because you can lose even 80% of newborns. There is nothing you can do, so only feed them and keep the water stable.

Even though crushed granules are OK, don’t forget to give them live food. Artemia Salina is always a very good choice.

When babies are 3 cm long, sell or give them.

Paradise fish habitat and tank set-up

As it is already mentioned above, Paradise fish come from Asia. Planted aquariums are the best option. pH in tanks with adult specimens should vary between 6 and 7.5. For juveniles it’s better to keep pH at about 7. Oxygen level in the water isn’t important as these fish can breathe air from surface. Keep KH at 4 at least. KH of 2 or 3 is acceptable, but when you’re breeding them for commercial purposes, or just for fun, such values of KH don’t do any good to the fry.

Height of the aquarium should be at least 30cm. In fact Paradise fish don’t necessarily need high fish tanks.

If you keep them in ponds, don’t forget to use a de-icer during the Winter. However, I’d rather move them from ponds to home aquariums during any cold season.

How much should I feed my Paradise fish?

Don’t feel bad when they stay without food for a day or two. For example, if you’re feeding them live Guppies, then put 10-15 small Guppies into the tank once a week and watch how fast they’re eaten.

I fed my Paradise fish once a day as they also had enough Ramshorn snails around them. The amount of food depends on number of fish in the tank. For instance... 10 small Sera granules are enough for 1 fish per day. Bear in mind that I am talking about adult specimens. Juveniles usually need food two times a day. The smaller, the more often. But giving them a chance to choose between Ramshorn snails, live food and granules is usually enough. These fish aren’t really demanding.

Do Paradise fish eat Mystery snails?

Yes. But only when snails are small enough. Later they (fishes) just let them be. Paradise fish are also known to eat Ramshorn snails, and I can only agree.

Can I keep Paradise fish in fish bowls?

Only if bowls is big enough. 60-70 litres at least. In addition, create corners or some other points which help fishes to orientate. Any fish in a small bowl without any corner or similar point that’s needed for proper orientation sooner or later becomes sick and dies.

How long will Paradise fish live?

3 years is usually maximum. If kept properly, they can sometimes live longer, but it is not too often. Actually await something between 2 and 3 years.

Are Paradise fish aggressive and what to do if they’re?

Yes, Paradise fish may be aggressive, but only when kept in small aquariums, or if there are too many specimens in the tank. I solved this problem by adding more plants into the aquarium. Once they didn’t see each other, everything was OK. Plus when I moved them to a bigger tank, they didn’t care about each other in general.

Usually only males are aggressive toward other males, but they will not fight until one or another dies. This can happen only in really small aquariums.

Paradise fish need territories. Always think about it when purchasing this species.

Related question:

• Can you keep many Paradise fish males together?
  Yes, but this depends on more factors. Are you going to keep them together in a pond? If yes, then it will be OK. Just add some plants into the pond. In aquariums they need at least 40 litres per male. Otherwise they’ll be too aggressive.

How to enhance colours of Paradise fish?

Happy and healthy fish are coloured the way they have to be. If you want to enhance it anyway, feed them food which contains carrot. It is too hard in my experience since these fish won’t eat carrot if it was put into the tank. So... Give carrot to Ramshorn snails and then move such snails to the aquarium where are Paradise fish.

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Facts about Paradise Fish

has been viewed times since June 30, 2009.