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The new guy, looking for P. ornaticauda group
2 years 3 months ago — 2 years 3 months ago #6108
by parosphr
Many kind regards Helene, webmaster at P-P
Replied by parosphr on topic The new guy, looking for P. ornaticauda group
I think I am reading between the lines, that you may not think it is easy to keep the small tanks — and I admit, with other species I may also have had the experiences of endless problems with waterquality, too much food, etc etc — but really in paro-aquaristic you will find that it is not really near as problematic.
Breeding paros mean you have one tank with two (very small) fish, male and female. You dont feed of course dry food, or frozen food, — you feed live food, and you dont feed very much (thats an important point of course). Paros dont need a lot of food. So you dont have heeps of too much food rotting. Even the fry, you feed them microworm for example, — in a small tank they will find the microworms even if you dont overfeed the whole tank.
If you need to change some water, you use a small tube, you dont of course vacuum the bottom at all, you change water carefully and its fine.
In a small tank once you see the male in the cave with the eggs, you can more easily catch the female out carefully, and then the male with stay with his duties untill the eggs have developed and after a week and a half, he will no longer be needed.
From that point on, even in a small 12 liter tank, you will think you have no fry at all. You dont see them, for weeks perhaps, they are that small. But they are probably there, — and you just keep adding a little bit of microworms, — and after a few weeks or even before, a little bit of artemia. Perhaps after two weeks one day you suddenly spot one 2 mm. fry sneaking out to get an artemia.
In a big tank, — you will never see the fry. They may of course survive, a few, — then you will suddenly in two months time see a 1 cm long fish, and you will be quite surprised, because you were certain there werent any.
Perhaps you can take out the cave from the bigger tank and transfer to a smaller, perhaps. I would think that was a risky operation.
And
… I dont want to continually take away your optimism, but to catch a paro in 240 planted or decorated tank — 
…
I would — in your case — as you are getting fish from Bernd, have a seperate certain pair, put these into a small tank, — if you have no space you can have them on top of the big tank .. I do that because of lack of space. Try with the rest in the big tank and see how it works there. Then when you have fry from the couple, put the pair also in the tank if it works well.
Kind regards Helene
Breeding paros mean you have one tank with two (very small) fish, male and female. You dont feed of course dry food, or frozen food, — you feed live food, and you dont feed very much (thats an important point of course). Paros dont need a lot of food. So you dont have heeps of too much food rotting. Even the fry, you feed them microworm for example, — in a small tank they will find the microworms even if you dont overfeed the whole tank.
If you need to change some water, you use a small tube, you dont of course vacuum the bottom at all, you change water carefully and its fine.
In a small tank once you see the male in the cave with the eggs, you can more easily catch the female out carefully, and then the male with stay with his duties untill the eggs have developed and after a week and a half, he will no longer be needed.
From that point on, even in a small 12 liter tank, you will think you have no fry at all. You dont see them, for weeks perhaps, they are that small. But they are probably there, — and you just keep adding a little bit of microworms, — and after a few weeks or even before, a little bit of artemia. Perhaps after two weeks one day you suddenly spot one 2 mm. fry sneaking out to get an artemia.
In a big tank, — you will never see the fry. They may of course survive, a few, — then you will suddenly in two months time see a 1 cm long fish, and you will be quite surprised, because you were certain there werent any.
Perhaps you can take out the cave from the bigger tank and transfer to a smaller, perhaps. I would think that was a risky operation.
And
… I dont want to continually take away your optimism, but to catch a paro in 240 planted or decorated tank — …I would — in your case — as you are getting fish from Bernd, have a seperate certain pair, put these into a small tank, — if you have no space you can have them on top of the big tank
.. I do that because of lack of space. Try with the rest in the big tank and see how it works there. Then when you have fry from the couple, put the pair also in the tank if it works well.Kind regards Helene
Many kind regards Helene, webmaster at P-P
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2 years 3 months ago #6111
by bderooij
Replied by bderooij on topic The new guy, looking for P. ornaticauda group
Be aware, long text 
(I’m a writer in my spare time, sorry…)
No, I will keep thinking about Paro’s, ever I first read about the species I was thinking of a way to keep them and breed them.
Besides the big tank I already had some tentative plans to make a little breeding station, I have a little corner in our bedroom where I spend time with my other hobby (electronics), which will be redone in a few months. I was thinking of putting up a rack where I can place a few small tanks to breed some fish and most probably this will be 2 or 3 different species of Paro’s. But before that can happen I want to finish the big tank first.
The tank was built with Paro’s as the most important inhabitant, and mainly because of Paro’s I went with the Borneo biotope but if everybody here advises against keeping them there I will probably try to find a different fish that would ‘work’ in there and push out the Paro plans for another 6 to 12 months.
It would be a shame, but I don’t want to do damage to the hard work of the people who are breeding these fish so they can be preserved.
It certainly isn’t the case that I don’t want Paro’s if they can’t be in the big tank, but they are a big part of the plan for this project. I didn’t get the feeling from the literature about Paro’s I found that they where so fragile that competition from small barb sorts for example would be an issue.
I adjusted my plans after Bernd’s advice to not combine them, for example, with Betta albimarginata (which already proved to be even more difficult to find than the Paro’s, even our local fish store has some Paro’s at the moment, can’t tell you which species, as they are labelled Deissneri).
For me, right now it is like this:
If you advise against holding Paro’s in the big tank, I will probably reconsider about that. You people are the experts, if you say it can’t/shouldn’t be done, I will have to respect that.
If you say it can be done but might not be the best choice, I think I will try it and see if I can have some success. I have already thought of systems to bring the food close to where they stay in the tank (from what I’ve seen and read Paro’s usually find a corner in some bigger tanks and remain there, so something can be made) and try to keep a close eye on the caves for any spawning activity.
Again, I don’t want to negate the hard work that is being done in breeding these fish by buying 3 pairs only for them to die off because I did not treat them in the way it should be done.
(I’m a writer in my spare time, sorry…)No, I will keep thinking about Paro’s, ever I first read about the species I was thinking of a way to keep them and breed them.
Besides the big tank I already had some tentative plans to make a little breeding station, I have a little corner in our bedroom where I spend time with my other hobby (electronics), which will be redone in a few months. I was thinking of putting up a rack where I can place a few small tanks to breed some fish and most probably this will be 2 or 3 different species of Paro’s. But before that can happen I want to finish the big tank first.
The tank was built with Paro’s as the most important inhabitant, and mainly because of Paro’s I went with the Borneo biotope but if everybody here advises against keeping them there I will probably try to find a different fish that would ‘work’ in there and push out the Paro plans for another 6 to 12 months.
It would be a shame, but I don’t want to do damage to the hard work of the people who are breeding these fish so they can be preserved.
It certainly isn’t the case that I don’t want Paro’s if they can’t be in the big tank, but they are a big part of the plan for this project. I didn’t get the feeling from the literature about Paro’s I found that they where so fragile that competition from small barb sorts for example would be an issue.
I adjusted my plans after Bernd’s advice to not combine them, for example, with Betta albimarginata (which already proved to be even more difficult to find than the Paro’s, even our local fish store has some Paro’s at the moment, can’t tell you which species, as they are labelled Deissneri).
For me, right now it is like this:
If you advise against holding Paro’s in the big tank, I will probably reconsider about that. You people are the experts, if you say it can’t/shouldn’t be done, I will have to respect that.
If you say it can be done but might not be the best choice, I think I will try it and see if I can have some success. I have already thought of systems to bring the food close to where they stay in the tank (from what I’ve seen and read Paro’s usually find a corner in some bigger tanks and remain there, so something can be made) and try to keep a close eye on the caves for any spawning activity.
Again, I don’t want to negate the hard work that is being done in breeding these fish by buying 3 pairs only for them to die off because I did not treat them in the way it should be done.
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2 years 3 months ago #6112
by bderooij
Replied by bderooij on topic The new guy, looking for P. ornaticauda group
Oh, and placing a small tank on top of the big one: I don’t think my lids will hold that I made a custom cover for the tank as it is quite old and the original tube lighting system was rusted. I put up a custom build (by me) LED system above the tank that gives me yellowish light and can dim automatically.
Plus, a third tank in the living room would not be appreciated by my wife, I think. If I do that, it will be in the bedroom.
I made a custom cover for the tank as it is quite old and the original tube lighting system was rusted. I put up a custom build (by me) LED system above the tank that gives me yellowish light and can dim automatically.Plus, a third tank in the living room would not be appreciated by my wife, I think. If I do that, it will be in the bedroom.
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