Osphronemus goramy of the family Osphronemidae is originally living in freshwater bodies of Southeast Asia. By now, it has been introduced into Europe, Australia, and India. Despite its slow growth and low fecundity, it is being assumed suitable for farming due to its air breathing, which makes it withstand low oxygen levels in ponds, and the possibility to thrive on a mostly plant-based diet. Farming has probably been done for hundreds of years and has increased in intensity, while the wild stocks have decreased. A main caveat in production is the large variation in reproduction partially assumed to be caused by unfavourable sex ratios, but non-invasive sexing might be one way of improvement.
For O. goramy to increase its FishEthoScore, more research is needed on the biology and on natural conditions of home range, depth, migration, reproduction, aggregation, aggression, substrate, as well as on water parameter requirements, stress, and stunning. High mortality in larvae and fry stage and decrease in reproduction in spawners might be reduced by moving hatcheries and broodstock facilities inside to protect them from sun and rain, predators, disease, and noise and to better control water parameters.

Note: Due to reaching maturity after the typical age and weight at slaughter, there is no age class "Adults" in the profile.

Many species traverse in a limited horizontal space (even if just for a certain period of time per year); the home range may be described as a species' understanding of its environment (i.e., its cognitive map) for the most important resources it needs access to.

What is the probability of providing the species' whole home range in captivity?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Given the availability of resources (food, shelter) or the need to avoid predators, species spend their time within a certain depth range.

What is the probability of providing the species' whole depth range in captivity?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Some species undergo seasonal changes of environments for different purposes (feeding, spawning, etc.), and to move there, they migrate for more or less extensive distances.

What is the probability of providing farming conditions that are compatible with the migrating or habitat-changing behaviour of the species?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

A species reproduces at a certain age, season, and sex ratio and possibly involving courtship rituals.

What is the probability of the species reproducing naturally in captivity without manipulation of theses circumstances?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Species differ in the way they co-exist with conspecifics or other species from being solitary to aggregating unstructured, casually roaming in shoals or closely coordinating in schools of varying densities.

What is the probability of providing farming conditions that are compatible with the aggregation behaviour of the species?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

There is a range of adverse reactions in species, spanning from being relatively indifferent towards others to defending valuable resources (e.g., food, territory, mates) to actively attacking opponents.

What is the probability of the species being non-aggressive and non-territorial in captivity?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Depending on where in the water column the species lives, it differs in interacting with or relying on various substrates for feeding or covering purposes (e.g., plants, rocks and stones, sand and mud, turbidity).

What is the probability of providing the species' substrate and shelter needs in captivity?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Farming involves subjecting the species to diverse procedures (e.g., handling, air exposure, short-term confinement, short-term crowding, transport), sudden parameter changes or repeated disturbances (e.g., husbandry, size-grading).

What is the probability of the species not being stressed?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Deformities that – in contrast to diseases – are commonly irreversible may indicate sub-optimal rearing conditions (e.g., mechanical stress during hatching and rearing, environmental factors unless mentioned in crit. 3, aquatic pollutants, nutritional deficiencies) or a general incompatibility of the species with being farmed.

What is the probability of the species being malformed rarely?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

The cornerstone for a humane treatment is that slaughter a) immediately follows stunning (i.e., while the individual is unconscious), b) happens according to a clear and reproducible set of instructions verified under farming conditions, and c) avoids pain, suffering, and distress.

What is the probability of the species being slaughtered according to a humane slaughter protocol?

Likelihood

Potential

Certainty

Teletchea and Fontaine introduced 5 domestication levels illustrating how far species are from having their life cycle closed in captivity without wild input, how long they have been reared in captivity, and whether breeding programmes are in place.

What is the species’ domestication level?

DOMESTICATION LEVEL 4 19, level 5 being fully domesticated. Life cycle closed around 1900 1, pond culture much older 20-17, probably for centuries 4.

450-1,000 milliard wild-caught fishes end up being processed into fish meal and fish oil each year which contributes to overfishing and represents enormous suffering. There is a broad range of feeding types within species reared in captivity.

To what degree may fish meal and fish oil based on forage fish be replaced by non-forage fishery components (e.g., poultry blood meal) or sustainable sources (e.g., soybean cake)?

WILD: herbivorous 21, omnivorous with vegetarian focus 18. FARM: for JUVENILES, fish meal and fish oil may be partly* replaced by plants 22 18, SPAWNERS were mainly fed with plants 2, but no data found yet on replacements for FRY.

^{*partly = <51% – mostly = 51-99% – completely = 100%}