Brown spiketail paradisefish

Pseudosphromenus dayi

Also known as Brown spike-tailed paradisefish, Day's paradisefish, Red-tailed spiketail gourami, Macropodus dayi

FreshwaterFish

Brown spiketail paradisefish (Pseudosphromenus dayi) — Beta Mahatvaraj · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 68–82°F (20–28°C)
pH: 6.0–7.5
Adult size: 2.6 in (6.5 cm)
Minimum tank: 12 gal (45 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Easy
Breeding: Easy
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Coastal river drainages of the Western Ghats in Kerala, southern India, in slow, shaded, plant-choked waters.
Family: Osphronemidae

Overview

House a pair in a 45 litre tank at 20 to 28 C with soft, slightly acidic water around pH 6.0 to 7.5. Offer small live and frozen foods like daphnia, cyclops, and grindal worm, with frozen bloodworm as a treat. Peaceful but shy, it does best in a quiet planted tank with few or no boisterous tankmates. Dim lighting and floating cover bring out its color and confidence.

In the wild

Lives in soft, often tea-colored streams and backwaters shaded by forest and packed with vegetation. The water is warm and low in oxygen, so it breathes air at the surface using its labyrinth organ. It spends most of its time near cover such as roots, leaf litter, and plant thickets. Populations were once wrongly reported from Vietnam, but the species is native to India.

Good to know

Pseudosphromenus dayi sits in the family Osphronemidae and is the browner, redder-finned relative of Pseudosphromenus cupanus. The two look similar and were mixed up in the trade for decades. Males of this species show more red in the tail and longer fin extensions.