[Benjamin de Rooij]

Very beautiful, something I would never be able to do.

I will think about how to approach this and then get back.

[Benjamin de Rooij]

Oh, and placing a small tank on top of the big one: I don’t think my lids will hold that 😉 I made a custom cover for the tank as it is quite old and the original tube lighting system was rusted. I put up a custom build (by me) LED system above the tank that gives me yellowish light and can dim automatically.
Plus, a third tank in the living room would not be appreciated by my wife, I think. If I do that, it will be in the bedroom.

[Benjamin de Rooij]

Be aware, long text 😉 (I’m a writer in my spare time, sorry…)

No, I will keep thinking about Paro’s, ever I first read about the species I was thinking of a way to keep them and breed them.
Besides the big tank I already had some tentative plans to make a little breeding station, I have a little corner in our bedroom where I spend time with my other hobby (electronics), which will be redone in a few months. I was thinking of putting up a rack where I can place a few small tanks to breed some fish and most probably this will be 2 or 3 different species of Paro’s. But before that can happen I want to finish the big tank first.
The tank was built with Paro’s as the most important inhabitant, and mainly because of Paro’s I went with the Borneo biotope but if everybody here advises against keeping them there I will probably try to find a different fish that would ‘work’ in there and push out the Paro plans for another 6 to 12 months.
It would be a shame, but I don’t want to do damage to the hard work of the people who are breeding these fish so they can be preserved.

It certainly isn’t the case that I don’t want Paro’s if they can’t be in the big tank, but they are a big part of the plan for this project. I didn’t get the feeling from the literature about Paro’s I found that they where so fragile that competition from small barb sorts for example would be an issue.
I adjusted my plans after Bernd’s advice to not combine them, for example, with Betta albimarginata (which already proved to be even more difficult to find than the Paro’s, even our local fish store has some Paro’s at the moment, can’t tell you which species, as they are labelled Deissneri).

For me, right now it is like this:
If you advise against holding Paro’s in the big tank, I will probably reconsider about that. You people are the experts, if you say it can’t/shouldn’t be done, I will have to respect that.
If you say it can be done but might not be the best choice, I think I will try it and see if I can have some success. I have already thought of systems to bring the food close to where they stay in the tank (from what I’ve seen and read Paro’s usually find a corner in some bigger tanks and remain there, so something can be made) and try to keep a close eye on the caves for any spawning activity.

Again, I don’t want to negate the hard work that is being done in breeding these fish by buying 3 pairs only for them to die off because I did not treat them in the way it should be done.

[Benjamin de Rooij]

Basically what you all are saying is: Don’t buy paro’s if you’re going to put them in a 200 liter tank?

[Benjamin de Rooij]

I get it, and there will be a breeding station in the near future, if it doesn’t work out in the large tank they will move to a dedicated tank rather sooner than later.

[Benjamin de Rooij]

I understand the reasoning behind this. The idea is to put a few ‘caves’ in the tank, I was looking at savu pods since they look very natural and even help manage water quality the same way catappa leaves do.
Once I notice spawning has taken place and the eggs have come out I will put the cave in a floating container to keep it in the same water quality and temperature so I can easily feed the fry and raise them.
I know this is not the prefered way, but I think it is worth a try.
Once I am fully comfortable with the species I would like to build a rack in a quiet room in the house and breed one or two different species there.
I have had a few smaller tanks in the past and always had trouble keeping the waterquality good enough.

If I don’t manage to breed the fish in the larger tank I will take them out and place them in smaller tanks sooner, but this will take some convincing at home as well 😉

[Benjamin de Rooij]

So I’m not the only one not having a 20 or 30 liter tank for the Paro’s? That’s great! 😉

This is the tank I want to keep them in, it’s 240 liters. There is going to be some smaller fish with it and I was hoping to keep Betta albimarginata along with the Paro’s but Bernd advised me not to since they will probably eat all the fry.
I might reconsider those, then.
I still have a bit to think about everything, the tank won’t run away!

I hope to see more people here and learn from all of you, even though I have had aquariums for quite a long time I still do not consider myself an expert, especially not with these special species.

[Benjamin de Rooij]

Thank you, Rafael,

Actually I am going for the allani.
My tank is a Borneo biotope and I would like to keep it as correct as possible,
I have been planning this tank for over a year, but up until recently I couldn’t manage to create an account here, for some reason it was rejected or didn’t go through. I e-mailed the admin but didn’t get a reply.
I had ornaticauda on my list, but Bernd told me that was going to be a disaster, so I followed his guidance.
He came up with allani first and then harveyi but since they are from peninsular Malaysia I think I will stay with allani.
Maybe that will still change but I guess I will see when I visit Bernd in Hamburg. My brother is driving, we’ll have a long overdue brothersday 😉

I have never bred in a breeding setup, nor will I do so with the Paro’s, as I love the idea of a natural environment.
In the past I have bred many live bearing fish, as well as a good amount of barbs, Corydoras and labyrinth fish. In my community tank that I have since four years I have had succesful offspring from Corydoras paleatus and Trichogaster chuna.

This tank is my first blackwater tank, I have wanted one for a long time but never had the opportunity to do it the right way so I didn’t do it at all.

For the Paro’s I will ofcourse take more care, and move any free swimming fry to a floating setup inside the big tank, so they will have a chance to grow up and I will try to distribute the fish to other enthusiasts.
Maybe in the future (if my wife agrees to it, the new tank took me about a year until she agreed 😉 ) I will make a rack setup with 2 or three different Paro species as I have completely fallen for these amazing little creatures.

I will certainly stay in touch, even though the community here doesn’t seem to be very active, I have learned a lot from the topics that are already here.

[Benjamin de Rooij]

I’ll consider myself lucky then, but it’s the first time I’ve traveled that long to acquire anything 😉
Actually, it’s the first time I will go abroad to buy something 🙂

Thanks already for existing, without you people I would probably have bought ornaticauda through my fish store (they say they can order them) and would have had a massive disappointment.
Then again, the chance they would’ve actually had them is small, as right now they have a few paro’s there identified as deisneri, and even my untrained eye can tell they are not 😉

[Benjamin de Rooij]

Thank you for your reply, Helene.

Bernd has indeed answered me and I am already trying to arrange transport to Hamburg in the near future.
He indeed told me that the ornaticauda is not the best choice for a starter.
I am indeed a beginner with Paro’s although I have kept and bred many different fish in the past.

Bernd has advised me to go for the allani and as you people here are the experts I am following this advice.
My tank is up and running, so I hope to have everything arranged in the coming 1 or 2 months.
Hamburg is quite the trip, around 3,5 hours by car, but for this beautiful species I am willing to make that trip. My brother has offered to drive me, we’ll make a day out of it 🙂

Kind regards,
Benjamin

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