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That could indeed be the new form. According to Horst Linke it is a distinct species and should be called P. sp. “Ampah”.
Let’s hope so!Well that is exciting!! I suppose there is no way of a good ID on them until they are mature… They only have approx 34 in stock and I am hesitant to buy them all since we dont know who the importer is. If it were the same imported that shipped them into europe I would give it a go, but my shipper/store here in the States will not tell who his Asian shipper is.
Yes, your fish could be that new form, spec. Ampah. But it’s too early to call the sp. Ampah a new species. Horst is always ready to say that very fastly. It maybe, however. I differs from normal filamentosus considerably. There is nearly no filament. And the colouring is at a whole rather reduced. Only the edges of the male’s dorsal and anal fins are clearly black. Some tinge of brown is developing near the lower side of the body.
Thank you Peter, I’ll be keeping an eye on them for sure.
My concern is that if the shipping community hears that they are Filamentosis, the 2 forms could possibly become mixed together, by the locals who catch the fish and the shippers. That would cause a possible disaster in keeping the newly discovered fish pure. The females may be quite difficult if not nearly impossible to tell apart.
Even the possibility of the new form being a hybrid exists because of overfishing and loss of habitat?
Those who currently have the spec. Ampah should keep them guarded, as I’m sure Paros Project members will.
Ted, the new form is probably not a hybrid. We shall see soon; the first larvae swim in Germany. It maybe a subspecies of filamentosus, but even then it must ke kept apart!
But I share your fears. So, we should not name it cf. filamentosus but spec. Ampah. Sure, they must be kept apart!! And you are right: it is rather difficult with females. The dealers may not keep them together with filamentosus!Thanks again! Good news on new larvae, if hybrid, it will show in the young fish!! We cross our fingers for educated dealers and even harvesters, at least to seperate non standard market species.
New comments about my babies:
Several came to the front this morning looking for food (moina). I have started Brine Shrimp to, to supplement.
The fish have long parallel dark stripes the length of their bodies and very long pelvic fins (of the ones I have seen). Appear to have white-ish dots or markings along dorsal and caudal fins (near the outer edges), but surely too young, to observe anything definate.
Slowly dropping pH from 7.5.. targeting 5.5.. this will take at least a week.. dripping it into the tank.
Sorry if I’m over posting but this so much fun and interesting… you each have gone thru this too. Be patient and warn me if you see error in what I am doing.
Go on posting, many will read with interest.
With my sp. Ampah, the pelvic fins have filaments of different length. But there are two individuals (males) with very long filaments, too. The longest I have ever seen in licorice gouramis. The females’ are much shorter.“What shows up in the new fry that would prove something about the species?”
Vigour, vital energy. No colours, no special information about a species, but the fact that they live and thrive, prosper. Hybrids (in most cases) if they ever leave their eggs are often weak, don’t feed, die soon. There maybe close hybrids of course that do well, but normally they don’t. We know very little about this for Parosphromenus, however.
today was their first fresh brine shrimp day. I was able to confirm 5 fish so I’m assuming 6 are still there. The males (at least 2) intensified their color a bit…basically just darkened up.
They pick at moina but feast on newly hatched brine shrimp. I did have to add a light layer of substrate. I noticed they spent as much time chasing moina reflections on the bottom as they did eating.
I am glad that Filamentosis is one of the less picky species and thank you for the recomendations! The learning curve is slow but very exciting.
Adjusting the water is a nightmare. Been droping in a lower pH slowly, got to 6.4 and it creeps back up to 6.7 (was 7.5) I think I’ll remove the mopani wood and try to find what is preventing a lower pH. My guess is that the mopani wood is buffering the pH. Still want target a pH of 5.5 which seems to be stable in a pastic bucket but something in tank has to go.
O, it was the African Mopani wood!! It was buffering the pH. Now all is well and can continue lowering the pH.
Go, with Peter’s suggestion to use fresh bog or swamp wood.
Now I’m just using Oak, Beech and Catappa leaves, percolated peat moss for tannins and java moss floating.
is mopani wood a special kind of wood ?
I havent found any problems with the normal kind of ‘aquarium roots’ that I use.
Mopani is a very dense wood from Africa, it just sinks and very heavy. Popular here in the States for Aquariums and Repites. But I have no doubts now that it was buffering the tank water to 6.6 – 6.7 pH
So the driftwood is out of the tank. All 6 babies were out eating Moina this morning! I’m very pleased not to have any loss.
The ones I suspect are males show the beginnings of a brilliant blue stripe on the borders of the dorsal, anal and caudal fins. No other colors except the 2 dark bars that are the body length.
They love the brine shrimp so I will start trying some soaked decapsulated shrimp eggs mixed in with the hatchlings.
The “wood” that is sold in pet shops for the use in normal aquaria belongs to totally different sorts of wood. Wood from peat regions is the best, but it is normally sold dried out and that is bad already. If you are once able to get hold of f r e s h wet wood pieces from bogs or swamps, take it. It’s just the best. If you only get hold of dried pieces, you must soak it before some days in destilled or at least pure rain water and continue to measure pH and conductivity.
There are many sort of “oak-wood” sold, too, and it is impossible to tell generally it to be goood or bad. You must try. And I don’t remember the place, but I warned to use Mopani-wood some time ago. This African wood is entirely useless resp. wrong for use in blackwater tanks with a stabile low pH.
A good alternative to fresh bog wood from peat regions is alder from creeks or small rivers, but only dead pieces that could be collected under water.
Therefore mind: Wood is not the same as wood. And pet shops sell many things that are entirely useless for Paro-lovers.
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