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Peter,
Patrick is the best and most likely source for them. I have gotten them from him on several occasions. The key is to ask for the collection location prior to ordering them. When I posted his list the last time, they were the right fish. He had a number of other species (rasboras, etc.) from Bangka Island in stock at that time, too.
MarkLast week’s labyrinth fish availability:
BETTAS WILD
Betta Blue Spot Betta Cocinna
Fire Betta Betta Rutilans
Ninja Betta Betta Foerschi
Betta Peacock Betta Imbellis
Pink Pearl Betta Betta smaragdina
Betta Red Skirt Betta Falx
Scorpion Betta Betta Brownorum
Gold Dragon Betta Betta Unimaculata
Blue Damsel Betta Betta Kratois
Borneo Pear Spot Betta Betta cf edithae von Palangkaraya
Zebra Betta Betta patoti
Red Cherry Betta Betta Channoides
Bordeaux Betta Betta Burdigala
Blue Firefly Betta Betta Dimidiata
Gold Stripe Ninja Betta Betta Mandor
Blue Moon Betta Betta cf uberis-kubu
Pumpkin Betta Betta Simplex
Arithmatic Betta Betta Pi
Sakura Betta Betta ideii
Golden Ninja Betta Betta Strohi
Samurai Betta Betta Pallifina
Rose Red Dragon Betta Betta Compuncta
Assorted Multi Color Crowntail Female Betta Betta splendens
Blue Dragon Betta Betta ocellata
Strawberry Betta Betta AlbimarginataGOURAMIS/LICORICE GOURAMIS
Gourami Licorice Paradise Parosphromenus deissneri
Burmese Mini Chocolate Gourami Parasphaerichthys Ocellatus
Gourami Licorice Blue Line Parosphromenus blue line
Gourami Licorice Sintang Parosphromenus Sintangensis
Ornate Licorice Gourami Parosphromenus ornaticauda
Strawberry Licorice Gourami Parosphromenus Nagyi
Dwaft Gourami-Pair (Own breeding) Colisa lalia AVA TESTED VIRUS FREE!!
Dwaft Gourami-Male (Own breeding) Colisa lalia AVA TESTED VIRUS FREE!!
Noble Gourami Ctenops Nobilis
Filament Licorice Gourami Parasphromenus FilamentosusAsian Nandus Leaf Fish Nandus Nebulosus
Chinese Red Fin Paradise Fish Macropodus Concolor
Dark Knight Paradise Fish Macropodus Chinensis / “Shin Hi ” Wild
Hong Kong Flame Red Paradise Fish Macropodus hongkongensis “Chungshan”
Shanto Flame Red Paradise Fish Macropodus hongkongensis “Shanto”I’m planning to order this week.
MarkThere are a couple of keys to remember with heat packs.
First, they need air to work. I usually use a styrofoam box inside a cardboard box. I don’t tape the styro and when I tape the cardboard I only tape it so that it stays closed. I don’t tape all the seams because we need to get some air exchange into the box. If the heat pack doesn’t have enough air, it will stop working. There’s nothing worse than receiving a cold box only to have the heat pack reactivate and heat up after the box is opened. This also affects the number of heat packs to use. More is frequently not better. In small boxes, one heat pack is sufficient. If you use too many, they may run out of air and stop working. If you’re shipping large boxes, like those that wholesalers or exporters use, you may need to use additional heat packs.
Second, if the heat pack gets wet it won’t work. While the logic may be to put the heat pack on the bottom of the box because heat rises, this is not a good idea. It should be in the top of the box to decrease the chance that it gets wet and also because there is likely to be more space and hence more air at the top of the box.
I like to use a couple of pages from a newspaper to line the box and wrap over the fish and then place the heat pack on top of the newspaper. Many heat packs have an adnesive on one side that will allow you to attach them to the top of the box. That will keep them in place. Alternatively, you can tape them to the inside of the box lid. If you’re taping them to the lid, just tape around the edges. If you tape across the actual heat pack you will limit the airflow and you don’t want to do that. Alternatively, you can wrap the heat pack in a piece of newspaper and lay it on top of the fish bags.
MarkAmazonas has stated on their FB page that they are likely to run the Paros articles in the English version, though they will not run concurrently with the German version.
MarkGreat news on both counts. We should all make comments requesting the Paros articles on the Amazonas Facebook page. It is very active and they seem to monitor it quite closely. If enough of us do that it may tip the scale.
I hope you are able to publish an English version of the book. I’m looking forward to that!
I should have an article on Paros in Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine later this year as part of my column on labyrinth fish.
MarkSalt will supress velvet but will not kill it, contrary to the old wives tale. Adding some salt may also help.
MarkI’m not familiar with that one, or may know it under a trade name. What name is it sold under in other countries?
There are a number of meds out there for velvet. Most of the ich meds will also work on velvet. You can also use Acraflavine Neutral and can dose that at higher than recommended rates if it’s a resistant strain (works with Bettas at several times the dose but have not tried that with Paros). You might also try LifeBearer, which you should be able to find locally.
Good luck,
MarkOur hope with ALFA is that it will grow into a large national association along the lines of the ACA, ALA and similar groups. We intend to focus on wild type fish rather than on captive bred finnage and color variations. We should have the website up and running in the next couple of months and hope to start producing a magazine at some point in 2012. We will need content for both the website and the magazine so if any of the members of this forum would like to write up their experiences with various species, we would really appreciate the input. We’re also open to any and all suggestions.
MarkI think most of the fish are wild imports through the aquarium trade. I know I have access to 5-10 species in a typical week through my regular sources in Asia. We see very few tankraised fish offered for sale or trade. I’m hoping that the formation of this organization along with the American Labyrinth Fish Association will help to encourage more breeding.
MarkIf there appears to be sufficient interest, we can put something like this together. I can receive the shipment at EWR (definitely preferred!) or JFk and can distribute the fish.
MarkYou may have a situation in which you’re actually seeing agression between females. Subdominant females will adopt male coloration as a means of decreasing their threat to the dominant female. Aggression between males is not unheard of in this species but most intraspecies aggression is between females. I’ve kept them quite successfully in groups and in pairs. To maximize their production I would keep a pair or a female with two or three males. Be sure that there are plenty of hiding places so that any fish getting picked on has a place to hide.
MarkJacob,
This answer may be too late but you should remove the plants from the pot. I generally prefer to buy these as bare root rather than to pay the premium for the pot. The substrate should be fine and ideally include some iron. A simple way to accomplish this is to add a product like API’s Laterite to your substrate. The use of a substrate heater is also particularly beneficial to Crypts as it will create a flow of water through the substrate which will bring more nutrients to the roots.You can offer a variety of foods to S. vaillanti. This species is the easiest to feed and breed in the genus. I have bred them on a diet consisting entirely of Ocean Nutrition’s Community Formula flakes. I would suggest a mix of flakes, pellets, frozen and live foods.
Best of luck,
Mark
