Macropodus is a genus of fairly small
gouramies native to freshwater habitats in eastern Asia. Most species are restricted to southern China (including
Hong Kong and
Taiwan) and
Vietnam, but
M. opercularis occurs as far north as the
Yangtze basin, and
M. ocellatus occurs north to the
Amur River, as well as in Japan and
Korea. In China, they are often used for fights, so they are named
Chinese bettas because of their similarity to the
Betta genus. A few species in the genus are regularly seen in the aquarium trade, and
M. opercularis has been
introduced to regions far outside its native range.
