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The Paros allani we collected in Sarawak are settling in nicely in Seattle. Still young but getting handsome.
Nice work on the photos, Lawrence – glad to see they survived the trip home and are well settled into Seattle. Interesting looking population. Best of luck breeding them!
Dave
[quote=”Ekona” post=5299]:) A close examination of the first photo reveals that Lawrence’s finger is not actually touching the water and therefore he did not actually sample it :whistle: . I think this is because he knows that using the sensory method, one must guzzle and swill one liter of the sample solution at least 5 times to get an accurate reading – given the looks of the peat swamp water :S, I cannot say I blame him for the slightly diminished sampling technique :lol:.[/quote]
Exactly, Lawrence, that is it! You could test the method at home by guzzling and swilling your aquarium waters. But don’t touch the water with xour finger afterwards! It will work only with an inch or so distance between finger-tip and water-surface! And of course: You must try ever and ever again. In the end you will be able to dismiss your electronic equipment altogether.
A couple of days ago I moved a pair of the newly caught Paros allani to their own ten gallon, hoping to initiate some breeding. Here’s a photo of the male:
Lawrence, very good, but please try a further photo without the stripes (= with full display colouring) and one together with the female. We would need that for the new Parobook that was planned at the Hamburg meeting.
Very nice photo, again, Lawrence! Thanks for posting. Your photography is really good, and yes, as Peter says, try to get more, as I’m sure you will – I think these will breed for you, the male looks very healthy.
May I ask, what substrate is in that tank? Peat pellets or something else.Best,
DavidFound the male guarding eggs in that one inch clay tube two days ago. Our first ones! But I’m traveling to China on Friday and am not sure if my young son has the skill or passion to feed and raise fry while I’m gone. I’ll set up some vinegar eels and see if he can do it.
Peter Beyer and I collected Parosphromenus allani in Sibu in Sarawak, Borneo in December 2015, and have been trying to breed them since, Peter in Germany and me in Seattle, USA. I think Peter gave some to Hallman who also has been trying (I hope to meet him in September). Surprisingly and frustratingly, none of us succeeded (to the best of my knowledge), as the males showed very limited interest in the females, even when separated into pairs. Well, today we’ve had a BREAKTHROUGH! I noticed two young juveniles in one of my 10 gallon tanks housing a pair. I never saw them breed or lay eggs in the clay tubes and film canisters I provided, but apparently they bred surreptitiously, perhaps in the bogwood or catappa leaves. The water is very heavily stained, making observation tricky, but I’m guessing there are a couple more offspring in there. I am thrilled, as we now have proof that it’s not impossible to breed this species – the “true” allani!
10 gallon tank, Ph varies between 5.3 and 6.0 (my meter isn’t great)and lots of tannin. The hardness is probably about 50 microsiemens but difficult to measure because I treated this tank for velvet five months ago and ever since the hardness measurements are confounded. I confess that I change about 20% of the water every two weeks, not ideal but my work schedule is sometimes brutal. Neglect and patience seems to have been the key, rather than any secret trigger. Has anyone else experience breeding P. allani from Sibu?
Congratulations … good to see that it can be done. It’s really too bad that you were not able to view any of the initial spawning process. Hope you get to find additional fry. Do you think it might have anything to do with a seasonal charge?
We bred P. allani from Sibu and the rather similar P. spec. aff. allani form Lundu (“spec. Sungai Stunggang”)in Germany some years ago, f.i. Bussler, Linke, Hermann, Finke and a few others. Allan Brown (“allani”) bred “his” species in rather big numbers between 2000 and 2005 in Britain. I had a very good pair that was caught at the traditional place of origin by Horst Linke, often spawning in one of my small 10 liters tank.
I my view the species is not more difficut to breed than others. Presently, only spec. Sungai Stunggang is bred in some numbers by Bernd Bussler and Martin Hallmann.
Thanks for this information Peter. I was able to visit Martin Hallmann on September 8. I went with my friend Peter Beyer. It was great to see his fish room setup, listen to his advice, and see some species that I’ve never seen before, e.g., parvalus. He also gave me a signed copy of the book you co-wrote with him! An extremely nice and gracious man.
Martin still has some of the wild-caught allani that we collected in Sibu but no fry so far. My WC pair in Seattle seems to have produced a few more fry, but I’ve left them in their parents’ tank, as I don’t want to risk disturbing them, given that they finally seem to be spawning. I’ll wait another month before sorting through the tank to see how many fry survive.
Martin also gave me some young linkei to bring home to Seattle. They arrived safely and are settling in nicely. I now keep five species of paros: tweediei, linkei, allani, quindemim, and nagyi. Each has bred, except the linkei, which are still too young.
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