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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.
I forgot to mention that I still have a single female P. sp. “Sungai Stunggang”
Bill Little got these from Europe but only the female survived shipping to Seattle.
She is lonely. If someone in the US has a male, contact me. Either I can mail you my female, or you can mail me your male!Dear Lawrence, it’s fine that you had the opportunity to visit Germany, travel with Peter Beyer and visit Martin Hallmann. It’s a pity that there was only one imported species (a bintan-form) at Glaser’s in Rodgau (the centre of imports for Europe since decades); they use the names given by the exporters in Asia, but they will change it after the German experts have identified the fish, if they are able to. A pity that you could not visit Hamburg and see the stock of Bernd Bussler’s, who has at least twelve if not fourteen or fifteen species , some of them in good numbers. You wouldn’t have left him without offspring of less than five or eight species.
We are not sure that the second meeting of the project that was postulated by all visitors at Hamburg 2015 including those from overseas will be really possible in Britain, as we actively tried to arrange; Helene has travelled there and asked our friends for their opinion. The main disadvantage is that there would hardly more than two or three species be available for the participants. And the other suggestion to meet at Singapore would mean that there would be even less.
In view of that fact we serioulsy think about a second meeting of the project taking place in Hamburg again. Bernd would make it possible that all visitors who want to take Paros away could do so with et least ten or twelve species, including tweediei, parvulus (presently his stock is more than eighty individials), paludicola from different locations, harveyi, spec. Lundu (“Sungai Stunggang”) and others.
For me, it sounds ridiculous that a global project like our PP should meet at the same place for a second time; we did not think of that ever before. But maybe that’s a prejudice. Seen in clear light one must admit that presently there is no place on earth where you could see and get hold of more Paro-species than Bernd Bussler’s private breeding station in Hamburg.The consequence is this: In a few week’s time I shall write a newsletter to all members in all continents asking them what to do, telling this fact and offer the opportunity to arrange a second meeting maybe next year at exact the same place we had that in 2015: Hamburg, the same hotel, and the same offer: to visit Bernd Bussler’s breeding station and carry as many fish away as people would like to do. But I must ask another question: Would you, or someone living in Poland or in France or in Ireland or in the U.S. or in Malaysia or in Japan really t r y to come to Hamburg, again or for the first time? Nobody can tell this definitely by now, but we must have an impression of the understanding of our argument and the serious interest in our solution. Or should we meet elsewhere in spite of the lack of Paros?
What do you think? Would you try to come? Or would you think that the availability of Paros is of minor interest and there would be a preference for the global aspect of the PP?
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