Climbing perch inhabit water bodies ranging from fresh to brackish waters across a wide range of environments, and are widely distributed throughout south and southeast Asia through to southern China. In India it is prized both as a foodfish and as a traditional medicinal food.

This article describes the induced breeding of climbing perch and the interaction of scientists and farmers to improve survival of larvae and fry in through the use of live feeds (rotifer) in small-scale hatcheries in India.