Another word from the U.S.: Robert Goldstein

I’ve been in contact (or tried anyway) with several persons to confirm my impressions of Parosphromenus activity in the USA. I’m sorry to say I see less activity and interest than just a few years ago, but don’t know why this is so. Perhaps they need publicity by the commercial aquarium magazines. I’m currently keeping P. ornaticauda recently found on Aquabid, I think two young pairs but it’s too soon to be certain. I’ve also recently seen P. filamentosa available from the same commercial source in Portland, Oregon. I’ve written to the IBC wild bettas section about Parosphromenus but have received no reply from anyone. As far as I know, the only source is Aquabid, and the suppliers are a group of Indonesian collectors who ship from there to trans-shippers in the US and elsewhere. I spoke to one distributor in Miami (Marc Weiss) who told me there isn’t the demand, and it’s difficult to get small numbers or even a mixed shipment at an affordable price. He used to get boxes of a couple of hundred fish in one bag for a small sum, but can’t do that any more, as shipping is costly, and he can’t get anyone to ship him small numbers. But perhaps he hasn’t tried recently. In my opinion, some of the inactivity is the result of the disappearance of neighborhood aquarium stores, as large malls with high rent tenants displace small businesses in downtown areas of cities. Supermarkets have all but eliminated grocers and butchers, and surviving fish stores are putting their efforts in setting up and servicing marine aquarium displays at professional offices, which provides them a good living. I don’t see any new pet stores opening in this area unless they are chain stores selling dogs. Even bird stores have mostly disappeared. Despite this gloomy assessment, I think this is good for specialized aquarium societies. I know the American Killifish Association, while not growing, is holding at about 1,000 American members and the last convention was well attended (about 120 people). The auction may have set a record, with several pairs going for $100 or more, and the top bid was $350 for one pair of fish. The more an individual depends on a club, the better off that club will be, and that may prove true for the wild anabantoids. We did have a wild anabantoid society here about 10 years ago, and I don’t know why it failed.

I used to active with many anabantoids breeding when I worked on my two Betta books for Barron’s. I’m revising the smaller one now for publication next year, but it doesn’t cover licorice gouramies. I bred several wild bettas and licorice gouramies (among other anabantoids) but don’t recall the species, of which I had perhaps four at the time. As I recall, I didn’t find any one species of licorice more difficult than another, but I had lots of variability on which pairs (of any species) would successfully spawn. It seems more the conditions of the pair than the particular species. I do recall them being quite hardy. My previous spawns were in 10-gallon tanks, but about half produced bad eggs and I don’t recall raising more than a few fry at a time. My breeding tanks were probably too small.

Because licorice gouramies are often reported in deeper water at over one meter depth, I’ve got the four ornaticauda in a reasonably deep (not one meter!) tank of 29 gallons capacity with dead oak leaves, abundant twigs, and some floating plants. The water is tap (not soft) with coir extract (I soak coir for soil-breeding killifish) to darken the water, I’ve added snails for clean-up, gentle aeration (one air line), and feed only live daphnia and live baby brine shrimp. I’ll add live mosquito larvae and grindal worms when the fish are a bit larger, but not blackworms as I’ve had bettas and other fish choke on them. I’ve added sunken PVC tubes of various diameters and one floating ABS tube to the tank for spawning, although they are as likely to spawn under a dead leaf. Once I see fry in the tank, I’ll remove all four adults and set them in an identical tank, leaving the spawning tank to the fry. The 29 gallon size is more than sufficient to raise a brood and not worry about water quality.

I don’t know of other American breeders of licorice gouramies, but I know how to find them. When I have offspring, I’ll offer them on-line in trade for other licorice species. I’ve traded wild bettas, unusual killifish, and native American fishes that way, and often it’s the only way to get new fish. I’ll also watch Aquabid for more licorice opportunities. I don’t think I’ve seen any of the newly described species there or anywhere else. I’d be glad to talk with other serious licorice aficionados in the US by telephone (919-696-6791) or by email (rjga@aol.com). I’ll be in Manchester, England the last week of this month and try to locate a licorice addict there as well. – Robert Goldstein