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As I reported in another thread I got some new paros yesterday – among others a young female for my lonely pahuensis male.
I got the fish from Bernd Bussler (thanks again, Bernd!).
When I put the female into the male’s tank, the male began his courtship display at once. The female was not very frightened and responded relatively quickly to the males’ advertising. And I noticed almost at once that this female looks very different to the pahuensis females I had before …………….
The first thing is that this female has a black “eye-dot” framed by a white ring at the back end of the dorsal fin and a black spot at the frontal base of this fin. The unpaired fins are red – as should be. The anal fin is very short – I have never seen such a short anal fin in any paro before. It ends straight below the caudal end of the dorsal fin.
I immediately contacted Bernd and asked him if this is really a pahuensis female – do all his pahuensis females look like this? Bernd confirmed this – but said that they are his first pahuensis – and that he has also always thought that they look different to those he has seen on photos.
I have no sufficient photo until now – I did want to disturb the new fish by using a flash. But I show you this first picture, just to illustrate what I mean …. What do you think?
I tried to get some photos using a flash this afternoon – still being not too successful (it can only get better, I promise 😉 ). The little female gets pale immediately when exposed to the flashlight, only the first photo shows a hint of her colouration: red unpaired fins with tiny white speckles and a slim blueish-white rim – just like it should be in pahuensis. The pale-golden body colour and the sexy eyes show her receptiveness.
But still there remains this white-rimmed black dot in the dorsal fin. And – absolutely striking to me – this exceptionally short anal fin.
Just to show the body profile:
For comparison – this is a young pahuensis female as I know it, still very shy, showing no colouration, the photo being overexposed – but see the anal fin:
Really no comments? Am I the only one who thinks that this fish is conspicuous?
No – Bernd Bussler, too, finds it extraordinary and recommended to post it here, to ask for your opinion ……..Maybe I can get a further pair of this “pahuensis form” from Bernd……….
I would like to know how the males look like – and I then would be able to post a photo of a male.The strange young female 1) has an incomplete anal fin; we know of no Parosphromenus with such a fin as normal. This certainly is a congenital defect; 2) the spot on the dorsal is very likely such a defect, too; we do not know this from any other P. pahuensis.
The paleness of the body seems to be a reaction to the courtship behaviour of the male. But it is not yet grown enough to finally decide.
Such congenital defects could be inherited to parts of the offspring, or could be lost in them. Without genetical investigation of the individual this is impossible to decide. Adult pahuensis look very similar in both sexes; the females normally look a little more dull than the males. I had a wildcaught pair from Hiroyuki Kishi that always made it difficult to decide: who is who? I could decide it, but the female showed in principle the same body and fin colouring as the male. And since filaments are missing too, this was really a problem. Therefore: wait and see how the colouring of the fish develops when she becomes bigger.If the fish originates from Bernd’s stock (and there is no reason to mistrust him or suppose that there has been an involuntary interchange; that has never happened to him, he is very sensible in that respect), then we can suppose it’s pahuensis female.
There are two possible ways of dealing with the problem: a) wait and see. However, if the offspring seems to look normal, this is no proof that the genetical defect was restricted to this individual alone. The defect could be recessive and not openly repeated. b) Begin anew with new fish that do not show this defects. This is surely the better solution. However, if you go this path, it would be better to change both partners if the male came from Bernd’s stock too. If not, you should only change the female for one of a different heredity line.
Maybe, this is too strong a position. Then you should go the first path, but be very cautious in dealing with the offspring. In any case, Bernd’s pahuensis stock need to be supervised closely. The most probable explanation is, however, that this are single phenomena occuring in one idividual only. This always can happen. If there are no signs of more defects in other individual of that stock, tehre may be a problem nevertheless. But you could do nothing against it and live with the results. If these defects appear more often in Bernd`s stock, then one should not use it any further for propagation of the species.
It’s interesting that we come across such phenomena rather rarely. P. quindecim, for instance, has been propagated from one original stock only until the present day, and it never showed (openly) congenital defects. But that maybe different with different species and stocks. We do know nothing about the health of the stocks that reach our aquaria. But the longer they have been treated inadequately since being caught out of their natural habitats (and the trade treats such fish badly for weeks and months, in Asia already, in Europe afterwards) the fish may bear the consequences without revealing them in their open appearance.
Thank you, Peter, for your opinion.
As I understood his answer, all of Bernd’s pahuensis look different from what we actually know to be pahuensis. I don’t know how large his original stock has been, but if it were more than one pair looking like this, a genetical defect seems not very likely, doesn’t it?
I asked Bernd if he is able to give another pair of these fish to me. My “old” male is not of the same origin as far as I know – I got it from Thorsten Kolb. I would like to compare it to a male from Bernd.
If all of Bernd’s pahuensis look different in the same way, then maybe it’s a new, unknown form of pahuensis?Let’s wait and see what Bernd can tell us.
Well, it’s my first offspring phauensis. As I said the animals originate from the trade, now I have to say I’m not a big watcher and spend most of my time with maintenance, feeding and rearing of young animals. All I can say, and I’m at the weekend to look again carefully, they all look the same, the males are very dark red during courtship, rather Bordeaux, with a beautiful drawing in the fins. I got 2 pairs and tightened it, currently I have another bubble nest but no eggs. I’ll have a look over the weekend how much and what gender I have, maybe I can give you then still in the short term make a pair, so we have at least once good pictures of the animals
[quote=”Bernd Bussler” post=4981] the males are very dark red during courtship, rather Bordeaux, with a beautiful drawing in the fins. [/quote]
Thank you, Bernd, for this short description of the males – I haven’t seen such a dark wine-red as you describe it in my “normal” pahuensis males (all photos of pahuensis here in the “species” column are of my fish – there you can see what I mean). That makes me eager to see one of your males.
[quote=”Bernd Bussler” post=4981] I’ll have a look over the weekend how much and what gender I have, maybe I can give you then still in the short term make a pair, so we have at least once good pictures of the animals[/quote]
That would be really great – I would be pleased to make photos and post them here as soon as possible. I think it will be rather interesting for paro friends to see photos of both sexes of your “pahuensis form” ………. and to have a close look at the characters in question – do all show this short anal fin and that black spot in the dorsal fin?
So I have again looked at me today the phauensis exactly. All females look alike, all with the spot in the dorsal fin. I’ve said as phauensis foreseen only on photos, there are not so many of them. My males see all different than in the photos. But phauesis are there for sure.
Thank you, Bernd.
So I think it cannot be excluded that we might have to do with an unknown form of pahuensis. This forces me to separate the new female and my old male – I think these two “forms” shouldn’t mingle. And it puts me in the need of a male of your pahuensis – otherwise I will now have two single individuals of two different forms living lonely in their tanks ……….. 🙁
Did you check if it is possible for you to give a pair or at least a single male to me? That would be great.
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