Microctenopoma ansorgii (Boulenger 1912)

Diagnosis: dorsal fin with 16-19 spines and 6-8 soft rays; anal fin with 10-12 spines and 7-10 soft rays; subopercle rarely serrated (in adults); caudal fin rounded in adults; caudal peduncle very short; flanks barred, breeding males marked with orange on flanks (Ref. 81650).Description: one of the smaller species in the genus, adults rarely larger than 45 mm SL; snout blunt; head profile rounded; body fusiform with very short caudal peduncle and rounded fin; 1-9 scales in upper lateral line, 2-7 in lower; 2-3 scales above upper lateral line, 6-7.5 scales below; 1-5 serrations above opercular notch, none within notch, 1 below, no subopercular serrations (rarely 1-3), interopercle and preopercle entire (Ref. 81650).Coloration: 7-8 dark vertical bars on flanks, each narrower than pale interspaces; bars more pronounced in males than females, and continue onto dorsal and anal fins in males, but not in female or juveniles; interspaces in living specimens usually orange with colour more intense and extensive in males, especially so when breeding; 2 dark streaks radiate from posterior border of orbit; pelvic fins with a single median black stripe; leading edge of pelvics and tips of dorsal and anal rays and spines white; ocellated caudal spot in juveniles up to 25 mm SL, sometimes faintly visible up to 37 mm SL (Ref. 81650).

Dorsal spines (total): 16 - 19; Dorsal soft rays (total): 6 - 10; Anal spines: 10 - 12; Analsoft rays: 7 - 10; Vertebrae: 26 - 27

Maximum total length reported 8.0 cm (Ref. 6803).

fisheries: ; aquarium: commercial

Microctenopoma ansorgii is a small freshwater fish, known in the aquarium trade as the ornate ctenopoma, orange ctenopoma, ornate climbing perch, pretty ctenopoma, or rainbow ctenopoma. It is related to the more familiar spotted climbing perch (Ctenopoma acutirostre), but looks very different. Its body is more elongated and rounded, with fins with red and black stripes; the color intensifies when the fish are displaying, with black bars becoming visible on the body. The ornate ctenopoma spawns at night, laying its eggs on a floating bubble nest like its relatives in the osphronemidae. It lives in the slow-flowing forest streams of the Congo Basin, where it feeds on worms, insect larvae, and other aquatic invertebrates. It is the most common member of its genus in the aquarium trade, where it is known for being a shy, easily bullied fish that needs live or frozen foods and which benefits from the presence of smaller dither fish to encourage it to come out of hiding.

This species was described by George Albert Boulenger in 1912 from a type locality of some lagoons near Luali River at Lundo in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The collector of the type, the explorer William John Ansorge (1850-1913).