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I have just found a clutch of my new parvulus. It seems to me pretty much apistogramma style. Anyone ever seen something like that? I am confused.
Hi Pavel
First of all I think its really great news that they already spawned 🙂 .. I really hope that the eggs will develop fine and you will be able to have more of this fine little species, after all the trouble you did to have them.
Its unusual to place the eggs like that, I am sure, but I would take as perhaps either the confusion of a recently wild caught and perhaps even very young parent.
Or perhaps its saying something about how they actually can do in the natural environment, – I mean, my parvelus males are always hanging around inside the caves I gave them, but of course in nature, perhaps theres no such ‘nice’ cave around, and then if they want to breed, they probably find all other kind of places.
But its unusual in the way that the eggs seems to be set on the side with no bubble nest to really hold it 🙂 ..I am intrigued! Keep us updated on this (including on whether the father successfully hatches his clutch and gets them to the free swimming stage)
Thanks Josh,
there are already larvae on the bark, I guess they have spawned on Friday. I am quite sure the water should be ok, it is all up on the male now. He seems to be doing ok so far, wild fish are usually good parents, so I hope for the best. On the other hand, I think the larvae are close to the point when I could remove even the male.
will keep you posted 😉
when you expand the picture, you can see a dark line dividing the second closest egg. This is an embryo forming already…
Congrats 🙂 Going to get P. nagyi myself from msjinkzd at the end of this month (not parvulus, although I think I could handle them) and will be keeping 1 pair in a standard 40 litre and the other in a 12 litre clear storage bin…hoping one or both spawn 🙂
[quote=”Deepin peat” post=6002] (…) He seems to be doing ok so far, wild fish are usually good parents (…) [/quote]
Pavel, you speak of “wild fish”. What do you mean by this? Have you been in Kalimantan catching the parents yourself? Where did you get these fish? P. parvulus has only rarely been traded; in fact we know of only one case in several European countries to which nearly all fish swimming presently in our tanks refer to. Before we had self-caught fish from different origin in Kalimantan Tengah only (Linke, Perrin), not mention the first appearance of this species that led to the description of the late J.Vierke.
If your fish refer to ancestors of the trade action I mentioned, we should not call them “wild fish”; if they refer to a new trade action, we should be cautious either since it is normally unclear what the line of descendance is. Normal trade fish are wild caughts, but meantime sometimes there are filial generations of aquarium fish mixed sometimes and at some places.
Helene mentions rightly that there are exceptions to the cave rule in some cases. It has been more often experienced with P. parvulus than with other species since parvulus tends more often than others to move their clutches to new places; mostly below dead leaves at the tank bottom (= that is a form of natural cave), but sometimes more openly as Helene proves by photo of a different species. It would be interesting to compare P. especially ornaticauda as closely related species. At the moment I don’t remember that we had a similar “open cave”-situation with it, but that maybe wrong. In other species, such a behaviour is possible (as Helene’s photo shows) but extremely rare, in each case an exception.
P. parvulus males normally care for their clutches and larvae rather tenderly and without any aggressive action; so I should try not to change that situation besides removing the female. When the young swim free, they hide very efficiently below leaves, dead wood and plants for some weeks, and it is only later that you will encounter them again. But surely, if your priority is raising this first clutch of a rare species, you will take the other path. I could understand that, of course.
Hello Peter,
we have a friend, killifish breeder, in Indonesia who is able to obtain wild caught bettas mostly. I think the fish come from some small scale collectors and fish like that are not traded in big numbers, there is quite a market with such fish between the enthusiasts. His friends are sometimes able to bring such fish to Europe. I had no space to taky any fish from him this time, so I did not even check what was available. But I think two weeks ago or so, my friend told me that he has a group of parvulus, that he took from him and he wanted to give me a pair. Of course I had to make space for such fish, so I agreed, but before we were able to arrange the handover, he lost most of the parvulus and I got what he had left, two females and a male. So since that time, the fish recovered nicely under heavy feeding and with heavy water changes.
What is important for your question is that the Indonesian friend told me they currently know about three locations where parvulus live. The fish that I have come from Bukit Batu near Palangkaraya , Kalimantan Tengah.So, everything is in order now: the cave again, normality, the moving, typical for parvulus, the phrase “wild fish”. Thank you Pavel for your explanations, and the most important of all: the name of a real location, Bukit Batu near Palangkaraya, Kalimantan Tengah. This is within the known parvulus area, and that’s a vast area compared with most other known locations of Parosphromenus species. As I just learned, some enthusiasts have begun to buy small pieces of locations in order to save them from destruction. Are your friends willing to do this, too? We currently think of the same at another place outside Kalimantan.
Thanks for letting us participate in a deviation that finally end in normality.there are at least ten of them. Had some losses when I was away from home but they seem to eat fine and grow well…
Very good, dear Deepin’ Peat. Please go on breeding parvulus. There were years in which we thought to have lost the species. And in case of such a fish this means: possibly for ever. Try to enlarge the small tank population and find a cooperator in your country. It was an exceptional situation that Helene discovered parvulus being traded really. That was one incident, it may never be repeated. Although parvulus, as we know now, is in nature not as endangered as many others of the genus (because of its bigger region of locations), this is by no means secure terrain. And whether there will be a second trade incident is completely uncertain.
Congratulations, and: Make it a second time.
PeterThank you very much for the nice words Peter. I apologize for my late reply. The fry is still growing, now 7 weeks old and the males are starting to show dark bands on the fins. I have at least two friends who will jump after the fry and I hope to get more of course. Even the second female that looked pretty weak when they got to me recovered well, so I hope they will breed again. All the adults seem to be in good condition a there is plenty of mosquitoes around.
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