CLIMBING PERCH

ORIGIN

Anabas testedineus or better known as climbing perch is found in the ponds, drains, paddy fields, lakes, estuaries, riverbanks with small drains and even reports of their origin in slightly brackish waters are present all over the internet. Generally referred and very famous for being a costly delicacy in the Bengali cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, it is consumed in great numbers in whole of South Asian region including Laos, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh to name a few.

"Tel koi", "koi-kumro", "Alu koi maacher jhol" are some of the best dishes in the Bengali cuisine with climbing perch. 

They are not very commonly found in the aquarium trade because of their oh-not-so beautiful patterns or shape; although for me they rather look ferocious than beautiful.

SIZE

I have had a climbing perch stocked in a glass bottle which easily was around 7 to 8 inches way back in 1998-99 where it survived for around 1.5 years.

Known to grow for around 10 inches I have seen such massive species in the local fish markets in my place. They somewhat represent an olive green to brownish kind of body colour with very sharp fins.

As with most of the fishes, here also females are a slightly more rounded shaped than the males. 

When buying the fish to be eaten, the bigger the better for the taste.

Few farms raised varieties are also reared in India and Bangladesh where they're pumped up using artificial food and medicines.

FEEDING HABIT

They generally feed on crustaceans, small fishes, insects and even algae. In captivity, they can be fed with artificial food like pellets and dried worms. They are aggressive feeders reported to have intraspecies bullying of sorts for food.

In the wild they are found to travel quite a distance in search of food or when their present aqua-home gets too much of competition from other perches or fishes alike, or even when the food quality has deteriorated.

Being a labyrinth fish they can easily survive around 9 to 10 hours without water if the moisture on their skin is maintained and so it becomes quite easy for them to forage out of their area to search for food.

HEALTH

A minimum tank temperature of 8-35 degrees centigrade won't cause them any problem, anything below 8 degrees might interfere with their general metabolism and movement and can cause shock.

Care should be taken to do a WC every month which would easily suffice their basic requirements. 

The tank setup should be done with driftwood and sandy substrate as this would mimic their natural environment. 

Care should be taken to maintain a ph balanced environment for them.

TANKMATES

Its generally experienced by some people referring them as a very peaceful species, but to my horror, I have seen my perch killing many dwarf gouramis, swallowing whole many smaller sizes creatures and fish and on many occasions jumping out of the water trying to catch insects flying around near the glass container where I have kept it.

I personally feel with my years of experience with other fishes that, provided ample hiding and foraging spots in the tank might keep them away from bullying other tankmates.

BREEDING

With the rainy season around the corner now in India, this species is at its peak mating season. Generally, the females can lay around 25000 to 30000 eggs at single mating rituals which are fertilized by the males. A kind of hug and dance moves as seen with most species of labyrinth fishes like other gouramis is present. The females on a single attempt can lay around 150 to 200 eggs which float on the top of the bubble nest which is made with water bubbles and debris. 

The babies hatch within 36 hours and start to swim freely and are assisted by their parents for the first few days of their birth.

DISEASES 

As with the one that I had kept long back, it suffered a malignant fin rot probably due to excessive bad water quality as I wasn't able to provide it with any aeration or filtration. 

Climbing perch are notoriously famous for getting infected with gill flukes and other intestinal problems if somewhat good water quality is not maintained. 

The bazaar bought species which we bring for consumption has had rarely any external disease manifestations probably because of the good and clean local water quality in my place, although water pollution is slowly becoming a threat here too.

CONCLUSION

Climbing perch are not a species to be kept in the tank for those who search for colour and vibrancy, but they have a personality which is rather astonishing and as such hobbyists should rather be encouraged to keep them too.

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