Want an affordable oddball that’s not a feeding nightmare, and doesn’t need extreme water chemistry? Sounds like you need a climbing perch.
I ADORE MY CTENOPOMA acutirostre. Purchased from my local Maidenhead Aquatics eight years ago as a nervous 4cm juvenile, he’s grown to a good 18cm in the ensuing years. The kribensis in my tank might provide that vivid splash of colour, and the unusual appearance of my butterfly fish always catches the eye, but in terms of personality, the C. acutirostre is the undisputed tank showpiece.
C. acutirostre goes by a host of common names: the spotted climbing perch; African leaf fish; leopard bushfish; spotted bushfish. The reference to ‘leaf ’ does bring about comparisons with other, similarly titled fish. In South America live other leaf fish in the Polycentrus and Monocirrhus genera, examples of convergent evolution in action—the Ctenopoma’s leafy appearance evolved independently.
Our leaf fish here hails from the family Anabantidae—the climbing gouramis—a group comprised of four separate genera: Anabas from South Asia; Sandelia from South Africa; and Ctenopoma and Microctenopoma from the Congo River basin. All of these fish possess a labyrinth organ, a lung-like structure formed from a modified first gill arch, allowing them to gulp air at the surface and enabling survival in low-oxygen conditions. The lower the O2 content of the water, the larger the labyrinth organ is likely to be.
Counting Ctenopoma
Despite C. acutirostre being the poster child for the genus, and the species you are most likely to encounter, they aren’t the only Ctenopoma. Fishbase lists 17 different species, and while some are likely to never be much more than a name on a page, the tailspot climbing perch, C. kingsleyae, two-spot climbing perch, C. nigropannosum, and the mottled climbing perch, C. weeksii, do feature from time to time.
While these fish might lack flashy colours, they aren’t dull. C. acutirostre and C. weeksii in particular display an eye-catching snakeskin attire, while the shimmering grey-brown C. kingsleyae sports a striking eyespot at the base of its caudal fin. The beauty is in the detail.
12 species were separated from Ctenopoma to form the genus Microctenopoma, on account of their differing brood-care strategies. While Ctenopoma show little regard for their offspring post-fertilisation, depositing their eggs amongst the surrounding surface vegetation and leaving their survival to fate, the males of Microctenopoma leave nothing to chance. After constructing a
