Alfred's licorice gourami

Care at a glance

Overview

Alfred's licorice gourami is a tiny, shy blackwater fish best kept as a single pair, which is the usual way with this genus, in a calm species tank of about 20 liters. It swims in the lower and middle water among roots and leaf litter and spends its time near a chosen cave. Tankmates should be kept to a minimum and picked with care, at most a few very small, gentle fish such as Boraras, since anything bolder outcompetes it at feeding time. It is a micropredator that wants small live and frozen foods: newly hatched brine shrimp, microworm, daphnia, and mosquito larvae. Frozen and dried foods are often refused, so live cultures make keeping it far easier.

In the wild

This species lives only in peat swamp remnants of eastern Johor in Peninsular Malaysia, where the water is dark with tannins, extremely soft, and strongly acidic. Recreate that in a dimly lit tank with driftwood, a deep bed of leaf litter, and a few small caves. Keep the water very soft with negligible hardness, the pH between 4.5 and 6.0, and the temperature from 22 to 27 degrees Celsius. An air-driven sponge filter and gentle flow suit it.

Good to know

Parosphromenus alfredi belongs to the labyrinth fish family Osphronemidae and was described by Kottelat and Ng in 2005. It reaches about 3.2 centimeters and, like other licorice gouramis, breathes air at the surface through a labyrinth organ. Breeding is hard: a pair spawns inside a small cave, the male guards the eggs, and the fry are tiny and light-sensitive, needing very soft, acidic water to develop. It is assessed as critically endangered as its swamps are cleared.

Did you know

Courting males hang in a near vertical, head-down pose inside their cave, fins spread wide, while the drab female turns pale and yellowish. The whole display plays out in water almost too dark to see into.

Common questions

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