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I just purchased 2 blue paradise fish and I noticed, when I got home, that one of them has a red dot on its head. The fish acts absolutley fine. It is swimming very actively and such. I told the girl at the LFS that I wanted a male and female but I am pretty sure she gave me two females. The arent fighting each other. UNLESS, she did give me a pair or two males and the spot came up as a result of the close quarters during the ride home. Im kind of ticked because she gave me false info about the fish and now that Ive gotten home with it, I am in a rut as what to do with it. I told her they were gouramis but she said they were similar but they werent a gourami.

If you all think it is serious, I will take it back tomorrow.

I put the two in a tank with a betta. Is this ok? I plan to move them when they get bigger. But right now they are only about an inch and a half.

Where can I get good info about the BLUE PARADISE fish. The stuff Ive already read is about the red paradise.

Blue and Red are the same fish.
You should never keep 2 males together,
and you shouldnt keep them with any other
labyrinth fish, including bettas.


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Why cant they be kept with a betta? A fight might occur due to the fact that they are both aggressive fish? I guess I have two females then since they are getting along just fine.

For further clarification...the red dot on its head looks like birthmark does on a person. Its not a sore but looks to be like a red spot....like the bluu spot on their front side. BTW, mine are green tinted...not blue.

I guess time will tell.

They cannot be kept together due to interspecies
aggression. They are all very closely related,
and putting them together would likely result in at least
1 of these 3 being killed.
My Bet would be the Betta would probably kill both the paradise fish.
If you want to risk it, its your choice, But I wouldnt do it.
Here are some links for info on Paradise fish:
[link=http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/paradise.xml]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/paradise.xml" style="COLOR: #FFC0FF[/link]
[link=http://www.geocities.com/shtinkythefish/pfish]http://www.geocities.com/shtinkythefish/pfish" style="COLOR: #FFC0FF[/link]

[link=http://www.fishpondinfo.com/parad.htm]http://www.fishpondinfo.com/parad.htm" style="COLOR: #FFC0FF[/link]

[link=http://
www.aquariacentral.com/fishinfo/fresh/paradise.htm]http://
www.aquariacentral.com/fishinfo/fresh/paradise.htm" style="COLOR: #FFC0FF[/link]
[link=http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/paradisf.htm]http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/paradisf.htm" style="COLOR: #FFC0FF[/link]

Note: Edited to make links clickable and change font color

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Heck no, I dont want to risk it. I could see the paradise fish hurting this betta more so than the betta hurting them. This betta is really kind of shy for a betta. Im racking my brain trying to figure out what to do....
Thanks for the links. I may hevae read them already but Ill check.

Well, you could try it, however, I would make sure you have an area to remove the betta too if things become ugly.


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I agree that aggression will likely occur, but it may take some time to pop up depending upon the age of the fish. That's the problem with saying they're OK right now...because that only means they're OK right now. Historically, this combination won't work for long.

Do have a spare tank handy, and I agree that it's likely your betta that would take a beating rather than the paradise fish unless the betta is much bigger right now.

As for the red spot, some have them on their heads...just a coloration difference that doesn't mean anything. Males have more vivid colors with more defined stripes and longer fins. Their colors do vary greatly - mine can go from a light blue with reddish stripes to as dark as the picture here on fishprofiles in the profile section...it all depends on their mood.

Eric

Edit - just one thing in your original post...paradise fish aren't gouramis. Your LFS person was right - they're very closely related, though, but a betta isn't a gourami, either, and that's about how closely related paradise fish are to gouramis. It can be confusing, can't it? Also, in defense of the LFS person, it is very, very hard to sex young paradise fish. I have better luck when they're about 2 inches long. Some are sexable at an earlier age, but others just aren't.

Last edited by Big E at 15-Nov-2005 23:33

I got that they were gouramis from Yahoo seach. Its all over the place there.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=blue+paradise+&prssweb=Search&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&fl=0&x=wrt

look at the bottom where it says a--
Also try: blue paradise gourami, blue rabbit paradise, blue paradise resort More...

then the next page has blue paradise gourami all on it.



dont worry about the betta. he is safe now!

Last edited by ladiejl at 16-Nov-2005 03:10

First off, I'm glad the betta is safe - they're great fish but those long fins are tempting!

As for the gourami vs. paradise fish thing - the web is full of misinformation on some things, and this is one of them.

Gouramis and paradise fish are both members of the family Belontiidae, but what we call gouramis in the hobby (dwarf, blue, gold, pearl, etc.) are members of the subfamily of Trichogasterinae whereas paradise fish are members of the subfamily Belontinae (this includes paradise fish, bettas, and the Parosphromenus species). This is all from Helmut Pinter's book - Labyrinth Fish (the best text I'm aware of on these fish and scientifically accurate with the names/families).

So, they're closely related, but they're not really gouramis. What they and gouramis are, though, are both considered labyrinth and/or anabantidae (anabantoids) which is why folks sometimes label them as gouramis because they have a labyrinth organ to process surface air.

Does that help clear things up?

Eric

Even a paradise male and female aren't a good combination. Mine got really beat up. It's about like trying to keep a male and female betta together. You better have a huge tank or the female isn't going to be in good shape. Labyrinth fish generally don't mix well. There are some more peaceful gouramis that can live together but paradise fish and bettas are on the most agressive end of the labyrinth fish. They should not be mixed with each other or other labyrinth fish except in a very large tank or temporarily for breeding.

Mine dont fight at all. So I am pretty sure I have two females. Their fins look just alike.

Just an update. This fish is still doing fine. I am pretty sure it is what someone told me--just something natural.