Adventures in breeding
I have two fishtanks. One's a big community one with interesting subtropicals like the very personable Weather Loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, the very pretty White Cloud Mountain Minnows (Tanichthys albonubes) and the mildly psychotic American-Flag Fish (Jordanella floridae).
I also have a smaller 40cm cube with more red cherry shrimp than the mind can comfortably entertain. There's also a small group of the utterly stunning Pacific Blue Eye (Pseudomugil gertrudae). Sadly the blue-eyes haven't done terribly well, from having 8 I'm now down to four, and while I've seen the males sparring with each other and flashing their fins at the females I've seen no sign of spawning. I think they'd probably do better in a larger group and with a bigger tank. I've decided not to replace the ones I have when they shuffle off this mortal coil- I've had something like 18 Rosy Bitterlings in the past year, and I'm down to my last female. If I can't keep the fish alive I think its best not to try until I have rather more experience. Besides as a beginner with a first aquarium, trying to keep a fish that breeds in Swan Mussels (which are renowned as impossible to keep alive) was perhaps rather too ambitious, though I did see lots of mating dances and one somewhat abortive spawning, so I was well pleased with the result. I'll definitely come back to the Blue-Eyes.
So I added three Least Killifish (Heterandria formosa one of which promptly died during quarantine, and a second jumped out the tank. Today I've seen two babies! There's no sign of mother however- she may well be hiding in the foliage (its rather densely planted), although both babies were relatively large, so they may have been in the tank for some time.
I think I shall have to track down a few more- unfortunately they seem rather thin on the ground only one place in London seems to have them, while others have stocked them they only crop up in small batches, and "when they're gone, they're gone".
I also have a smaller 40cm cube with more red cherry shrimp than the mind can comfortably entertain. There's also a small group of the utterly stunning Pacific Blue Eye (Pseudomugil gertrudae). Sadly the blue-eyes haven't done terribly well, from having 8 I'm now down to four, and while I've seen the males sparring with each other and flashing their fins at the females I've seen no sign of spawning. I think they'd probably do better in a larger group and with a bigger tank. I've decided not to replace the ones I have when they shuffle off this mortal coil- I've had something like 18 Rosy Bitterlings in the past year, and I'm down to my last female. If I can't keep the fish alive I think its best not to try until I have rather more experience. Besides as a beginner with a first aquarium, trying to keep a fish that breeds in Swan Mussels (which are renowned as impossible to keep alive) was perhaps rather too ambitious, though I did see lots of mating dances and one somewhat abortive spawning, so I was well pleased with the result. I'll definitely come back to the Blue-Eyes.
So I added three Least Killifish (Heterandria formosa one of which promptly died during quarantine, and a second jumped out the tank. Today I've seen two babies! There's no sign of mother however- she may well be hiding in the foliage (its rather densely planted), although both babies were relatively large, so they may have been in the tank for some time.
I think I shall have to track down a few more- unfortunately they seem rather thin on the ground only one place in London seems to have them, while others have stocked them they only crop up in small batches, and "when they're gone, they're gone".