Leopard Gourami, Spotted Climbing Perch (Ctenopoma acutirostre)

yoink

Habitat: In tributaries and deeper streams of Zaire, from Lisala to Kinshasa. Sex: Male has patches of spines on the body; Female may have fewer spots on the fins. Social Behavior:A large, peaceful, bottom-dwelling fish, specimens should be selected carefully. Not particularly suited to a community tank. Recommended Maintenance: May hide in a small tnak but in the right environment and company it is a bright, friendly tankmate.Needs swimming space with hiding places such as roots or shards.Prefers a dark tank bottom and subdued lighting. These fish are so fun to watch when they are hunting. They stalk their prey and spring out on them when they least expect it. Not one of the prettiest fish around but definately a great "odd ball" to add to an ordinary tank.

Dawn

A great addition to the community tank. THey give you the fun of oscars and their personable behavior, in a non-agressive package. They love live food, as they are predators, and also love beef heart. They wont attack anything bigger than they can eat.

Tim

I love this fish. So much fun to watch, he follows me from side to side when i am around the tank. Very docile fish likes to sleep and hide inside a clay pot, but is usually swiming around in the tank. He guards his clay pot and will nip at any fish that tries to go in his pot. otherwise the most gentle fish I have. I would love to find another for him to have a companion.

Renee

.

KT75

I originally bought three of these wonderful fish at a Petsmart, and (as usual) they had misidentified this fish as an African Leaf fish. I lost one of the fish within a few days, but the other two survived and are now about six inches long. I have a 47 gallon bowfront, planted, with many hiding places, and amusingly enough, even with their size they never have a problem hiding from me. They always come out for feeding or if they're hungry, and will follow my every move until the food comes.
These are by far my favorite fish, being easy to care for and a joy to watch. They are usually very slow moving, and graceful, and their fins move in a fluttery way, but they can move amazingly fast when after food.
I'm not sure of the sex of my pair, but they are almost always together and often rub against each other, never very far apart. They never bother my other fish, although I've been told they will eat anything they can fit in their mouth, which is much larger than it appears. Although not an easy fish to find, I highly recommend them.

Mark F.

These are indeed great fish, with a lot of personality. As others have mentioned, they do like shady places to hide; mine use to nap in a "nest" it made amidst a dense mat of java ferns.
I'm not so sure about males having patches of spines on their body; most of the other sources of info I've checked say the males have spines on the edges of their gill plates - which is where mine had them, so I always assumed it was a male (I could admitedly be wrong, though).
I also wouldn't characterize this species strictly as a bottom-dweller, either - being labyrinth fish, they like to come to the surface for an occasional gulp of air; mine spent time throughout the water column, favoring the middle. Basically, where ever there's foliage, branches, rocks, or roots, they'll feel safe.
A word of caution, though, to people considering getting one for the first time: they are irresistibly cute when they're little, but they grow fast (maximum size between five and six inches), and will eat just about any moving thing that will fit into their big, telescopic mouth. Mine ate an otocinclus and a glo-light tetra! More ideal tank-mates include plecos, congo tetras, and syndontis cats. I've heard that they can also be kept with some kinds of cichlids, but you'd have to be careful about the species - though obviously efficient predators, they can just as easily be bullied by more aggressive fish.