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Yes, okay, – I trust you 🙂 … but it really would surprise me, – to me it looks like a male. Do you keep them in one tank together and no other fish ? As a pair ?
As far as I know quindecim has not been available in the US yet. Have not seen it thru any of the retailers yet nor has Bill Little ever mentioned it. Mark with Anubias Design seems to have disappeared.
The Wet Spot and Rachael seem to be the most reliable importers to the states. I post whats available fairly regularly here on the forum. Mostly from Wet Spot as Rachael’s supply seems more limited.
Ryan —
I have been watching the trade here in the U.S. for almost 2 years now and I have not seen any of the quindecim offered here in North America.I hope this is good enough for identification. Only the first is made with flash, the others are how I see them naturally.
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[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img834/1569/p1060623u.jpg[/IMG]Even its nice photoes, its really impossible to see precisely how the fish look, its too dark. The first photo is better, but then the fish is not showing too much.
I dont know if its helpful, but I sometimes have taken the photograph by simply putting the lens totally up against the glas, – and then using the flash, – you can be lucky and get a real clear sharp image with the colours showing clearly.I tried that, but only the background gets lit and the fish is even darker. The lens is pressed against the glass, and so is the fish. The tank is quite dark, since they like that. I could try adding a lamp temporarily …
I know my photoes are not to be very proud of :whistle: but these of p.parvulus I took with one hand pointing a little torch to spot the fish. At least they show the red spots more than most of my other images of parvulus.
For id-purpose it may be a way to do it, – not for taking beatiful pictures really 🙂http://www.pragtgurami.dk/en/gallerier/fisk.html (top 3 to the left)
Unfortunately they really don’t like too much light. I tried all kinds of lighting but they refuse to do anything. These are the best pics they allowed me to shoot with extra lighting:
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[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img585/2198/p1060691.jpg[/IMG]The male of the pair I separated is now defending a coconut shell. He stays in most of the time, but when the female approaches he darts out to display and flare to her. My other paro’s don’t use these kind of caves normally, so does it mean he is defending a nest? He has been doing this since 28 february. He is mostly peeking out the entrance, looks cool.
Also, how long do bintan-forms defend theit nest mostly?
A halved coconut may be taken as a cave, – so it sounds like this is what is happening.
Are there other caves available ?
Because I would say its not the ideal cave, but then again, – in nature the fish will sometimes have nests underneath leaves, or other less structured things, – so its not always that there a fine little perfect cave available.
In a tank though, I think this kind of cave is not ideal because the fry will probably tend to leave earlier than in a small narrow cave, so the male wont be able to look after them as long time.I have generally found that paros simply prefer at all times to stand underneath something, – so if theres somewhere which is like a shelter they will seek underneath that. I have a tank with a big ketapang leave which has fallen down and all the paros stand under this – not nessesary for nesting but simply because they are ‘protected’ from being seen from above.
I have also found that in tank with less floating plants the paros are less seen than in those with a thick layer of floating plants in the surface, so they prefer to be ‘under’ something.Your second question about how long the bintan forms defend their nests … I dont think theres much difference to other species. My experience is that the male will take some place in the tank as his preferred ‘home’ base, and he will stay around there whether he has eggs or not. The actual time in which eggs are developing is around 10-12 days, and if the fry stay in the cave all this time the male will also be in the cave and strongly defend it. But I have experienced that in big caves, such as probably a coconut, – the fry will leave earlier, and once gone the male does of course not defend the nest in the same way.
Thanks for the answer.
There is a layer of Ceratopteris in the tank. The paros I have don’t normally use shelter, even in tanks without floating plants. Also, the specimen in question didn’t show this kind of behaviour before given day. It swam around, mostly between some stones and pieces of wood, and displayed to the female when she came out of the Ceratopteris. That day he was constantly chasing her and kept flaring and dancing around her, so I was excited when the day after he stayed in his cave all the time.
I’ll keep watching them and looking for fry. I’ll pour some vinegar eels in every now and then just to be sure. The fry of one of my other bintan-forms seemed to greatly benefit from floating Ceratopteris and stay hidden in it, so I will keep looking in it.I just noticed the male doesn’t stay in the cave anymore. He also ceased showing “sexy eyes” constantly, like he did the past days.
About cocnut caves not being ideal: they don’t have film canisters in the wild, do they? If a bunch of leaves is enough in the wild, a coconut should be fine too.
As Helene told already, most Paros tolerate many different hiding places and caves. But most prefer caves that are not too wide. Normally. coconuts are very wide indeed. Our German breeder Bernd Bussler is very successful using extremely narrow caves measuring not more than 1 centimeter in diameter. Even species with large nests (as filamentosus) breed there successfully. But with this species they can be wider too. A coconut however is too wide, normally. Nevertheless, if there is no alternative, they take it.
I once have used in two of my 33 small Paro-tanks (which contain one pair and one cave, very different caves, each) coconuts too, because they look so “natural”. But I did not repeat that because of bad experiences. I was unable to control what happens inside and the male fish obviously did not like the wide room very much. Are you able to have a good look into your coconut? You should in order to explain breeding success or breeding failure. In your case it looks like a failure. But why?
Most species maintain a cave for very long times. In my tanks, they have only one on the bottom and are very reliable in going there. Sometimes, I offer a swimming photo canister as an alternative, and then they sometimes change their home.
This cave works, – but in my opinion its also not ideal. What happened was that immidiately after the larvae was freeswimming they left the cave. Still some survived, – but the process was different than from the spawnings in a narrow cave, where the male was looking after the free swimming larvae some more days.
I am not saying we need to make it ‘as in nature’ :), certainly film canisters are not natural, – its more the wideness as Peter is also saying which I think might be a problem.
Does it not also make sense, that in a wide cave such as the one I used for my linkei’s its would be easier for any intruders to disturb ?
Anyway, I am still using this cave, since this particular male seems to like it, and theres only one pair in the tank.Hello,
I have – besides “regular” shrimp tubes of about 1,5 cm diameter – two quarter (2 halves of a half) coconut shells in one tank. They sit on the ground, surrounded and partially covered by leaves. I also thought the “entrance” to be too wide – and put two slightly cup-shaped leaves each in front of the entrance, hanging from the “roof”. They work as “curtains”, leaving only a small hole to enter the cave. The fish like it very much, go in and out. And maybe the risk of fry leaving the cave to early might be reduced, too? I don’t know – as I said – there are also smaller tubes for breeding in the tank, I just put the coconut shells there for additional cover. But maybe this is a way to offer even coconut shells as possible cavities for breeding?
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