Sphaerichthys is a genus of small gouramis (family Osphronemidae) from Southeast Asian blackwater peat-swamp forest - the atlas records Indonesia and Malaysia, consistent with a range centered on Sundaland (Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula). These are small, deep-bodied fish, 2–3 in in the atlas, typically a dark chocolate-brown base color broken by pale banding, adapted to the extremely soft, acidic, heavily tannin-stained water that defines peat swamp habitat.
Chocolate gouramis are well known among specialist anabantoid keepers, and unusually for the gourami family they are mouthbrooders rather than bubble-nest builders - the type species, S. osphromenoides, is a maternal mouthbrooder that carries the eggs and early fry in her mouth. They have a reputation as a challenging, advanced-keeper fish, needing very soft, acidic, stable water and reacting poorly to the kind of conditions that hardier bubble-nest gouramis tolerate. The conservation picture is a serious concern across the genus: the atlas records one Endangered, one Vulnerable, one Near Threatened, and one Data Deficient status among its four species, with none rated Least Concern, consistent with the broader decline of Southeast Asia's peat swamp forests to logging and agricultural conversion.