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After my initial introduction several months ago I was hoping we would develop some dialogue in the American “channel” of the forum. I guess I was wrong – nothing happened…….
Here is a question that may generate some interest and comment from some of you. Our newest member of the PP is Jennifer (welcome Jennifer) contacted me the first of the week with a question. It seems our largest U.S. wholesaler & importer put the word out last week that they had received a shipment of juvenile tank raised P. Tweediei and P. Nagyi. Jennifer went to her LFS and asked to bring in 6 each of the two species. She was successful in acquiring the fish. Even without seeing them I told her there was no way she had Tweediei and probably not Nagyi. Later an image confirmed they were not Tweediei, not even a Paro but indeed were wild bettas. The distributor is in the Tampa Bay area and I have connections to the management of the company so I made a call. By the time I made connection all the stock had been sent to dealers. I personally have not laid eyes on either species. I would ask you all to check with your local shops and see if they received any of these fish. Perhaps with some of us looking around we can determine just what fish were distributed under these names. Jennifer is attempting to get better photos and perhaps she can post them eventually.
Let’s hear from some of you …
For those interested, here is a gallery of some of the fish I received.
I did not include a photo of the one we concluded was definitely a wild betta. I’ll have to find what gallery I put that in. But, here are some of the others. The water is dark from oak leaves, sorry about the poor image quality.http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/30578766_TB4McD
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/30578766_TB4McD#!i=2639285459&k=rFpDxGK
In the background, is that a parosphromenus?If you are referring to the photos in the gallery the fish in the background would presumably be the second species that Jennifer received and those were referred to as P. Nagyi. I don’t believe that to be correct either. The poor image quality not withstanding, the body shape and horizontal line on the body could support the thesis that the species could be parosphromenus but not Nagyi.
Hi
Jacob is right, the one in the background is a parosphromenus, – I am pretty sure of that. You cant actually say its not a nagyi, because in subdued coloration nagyi is as black and white striped as all the rest, even the males.
But the other one, not a paro 🙂 .. its a betta of some sort. Interesting species though maybe 🙂 though I am no expert on bettaes
Ah yes, now I see what you mean. I was getting better photos of the wrong fish! Here are the ones that more closely resemble Paro’s. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Unfortunately, none of these ones have any color at all.
Clearly parosphromenus, but still difficult to say excact species, – I am not sure. But the last picture is likely a male, and the first could well be a female.
Could be nagyi, actually could maybe well be, based a little bit on the fact that it seems the caudal fin of the male has a colourless band at the end. Edit: I am not at all sure about that 🙂 .. it might not be significant at all. But the male does have quite a broad white band in the caudal, and seems to me the ventral fins are quite short, – that might be helpfull in id’ing.
But again before the fish really feels good its very difficult.They look rather thin to me, -they might have been long underway, with no proper food. So feed careful but well 🙂
I dont want to be scaring anyone, but the top one in the photo with two fish, looks a bit greyish, – keep a look out for things like odinium, – …. it may just be the light, – but just in case.
I separated out that one with the bit of color and the biggest one without any tail markings and put them into their own tank. They are very shy now though and hide whenever I enter the room. Hopefully they will adjust enough to color up soon.
I hadn’t heard of odinium, but do you mean the same thing we call “Velvet” over here? They look a bit more relaxed now that bigger one is out of the main tank. A little one I thought was gone is back swimming around in the 20 gallon tank.
Yes, I am quite sure velvet is what I also mean, – its in my experience the one illness which paroes are phrone to, – and in particular wildcaught fish that has been under long periods of stress (or maybe other reasons) –
Normally paroes are quite strong and healthy fish and dont come down easy with illnesses. But odinium can occur. It shows up as small small dustlike particles on the sides and you can also see the fins being affected. If one fish has it, it will likely spread.
But its not a ‘bad’ bad disease, it can be cured, or stopped, or prevented, – but it can also disseappear, and then reappear.
I have found (as well as many others with paroes) that the one medicin that helps is spirohexol, – it really helps, – but lately I have not been able to obtain it in the small tablets that I usually have had. But maybe in the states you can still get it. Its worth while having.
http://www.seahorseaquariums.com/JBL-Spirohexol-20-Tablets//1510
This is the right one. Most shops now only have drops, and its really difficult to figure out how much for a small tank. I used the fluid once with not very good result. Tablets are better.
One tablet might cure a small tank.
But then, after that, good maintenance is important, – and sometimes a bit higher temperature can also be quite helpful. I dont know if this goes for all species, but I have had good results with p. linkei and slightly raised temperatures.I think odinium comes when the fish is weakened, I think its possibly always present – but if weakened and in less optimal tank situation it might develop. Thats why I think wildcaught or commercial traded fish (long time in stressfull situations regarding water, food, tankmates etc) are more phrone to it.
Fortunately, I don’t think any of them have it yet. I went ahead and used a flashlight to light the fish brightly and they look very uniform. No small particles on them when viewed with bright light. Probably that photo looks that way because of the flash and small particles in my water from the oak leaves. It is good to know to watch for it. I wouldn’t have known to watch for it otherwise.
I will watch for those tablets as it seems like something I won’t be able to find locally, something I need to just order online and keep in stock for emergencies.
Thank you for your help. I really hope to be able to find more Paro’s at some point. They are not that easy to come by here. Someone else I know ordered those P. tweediei and her order came in today also wild bettas. She had ordered them previously and the first ones she ordered looked different she said. No idea who has those ones now though.
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