[Paul Molyneux-Berry]

You’re absolutely right. While watching the tank at feeding time, I saw the colourful male alongside another fish displaying ‘sexy eyes’. They were in a gloomy back part of the tank so a photo wasn’t possible this time.

[Paul Molyneux-Berry]

Remarkably, I now have proof that the fish are not all male as I had thought. I have just spotted a juvenile in the tank!
It’s about 12mm long, so it has been there for a while. Perhaps there are more?

[Paul Molyneux-Berry]

An update:

I’ve had the fish about 5 weeks now. I lost one fish of the six after a couple of weeks. I have now prepared an existing tank especially for the remaining five, it’s 100L and is decked out with seedpods, leaves and branches. Very soft water with tannins, and in a quiet location. Floating plants are starting to cover the surface.

The fish went in yesterday morning and seem to have settled. I have seen all five swimming around and taken some photos, though conditions are difficult for photography owing to low light and tannins. One of the photos shows all five fish together. Two fish still look very thin but they are active.

Behaviour-wise, there is clearly a dominant male that is longer and fatter than the rest. He has long pectoral fins and a rhomboid (slightly pointed) shape to the caudal fin. The edges of the fins have a fine electric blue line, but otherwise the fins seem clear.

He is often seen interacting with two of the other fish, including what may be a reasonably healthy female, plus one of the thin ones. The remaining two fish usually hang out on their own, but occasionally join the group.

I am offering daphnia, moina, grindalworms and newly hatched artemia.

I hope they will continue to improve in condition.

Can we confirm the species?

Best Regards,
Paul

[Paul Molyneux-Berry]

Here are a few more photos of the new acquisitions, taken yesterday and this morning. Sorry for the quality but as you know they are shy fish.

One of the better-looking ones (still rather skinny and less than 20mmTL) often seems to patrol around under the floating plants near the surface.

The others usually prefer the lower levels of the tank among the leaves and seed-cases there. I haven’t seen any interactions between them and the equally shy and sensitive weitzmani tetras in the same tank; hopefully there are enough hiding places for everyone. Hopefully the paros will eat and get stronger.

My previous success rate with Paros is a slightly disappointing 50%. I bought a pair about 18 months ago, but lost the female fairly quickly. In retrospect I wish I had bought a bigger group. The male is still with me, though I don’t see him often. I managed the following photo this morning:

He is a different species, of course, so I’m keeping them separate. Seeing him has made me realise quite how small and skinny the new P.paludicola are. Some of the live foods I have offered (e.g. daphnia) are too big for them, but hopefully the grindalworms and moina will be palatable.

Hopefully I can nurse the new P.paludicola back to health. Once they’re healthy then I would consider passing them over to a more experienced Parosphremenus breeder, given their rarity.

I also hope that someone else in the project will be able to acquire and save some more of this import.

Regards,
Paul

[Paul Molyneux-Berry]

Thanks Helene. I’m not on Facebook at all, but feel free to re-post the info there.
Kind Regards,
Paul

[Paul Molyneux-Berry]

Helene ,
Many thanks for the quick response. I’ll take the best care of them I can – although I could see that they were thin I thought it was better to try and save them than to leave them to starve in the shop (where they were being ‘fed’ with pellet food).
The tank they are in has a conductivity of 10us/cm and a pH about 5.0, it’s been running very stable as an acidic tank for several years. Foods offered so far include grindalworms, moina, daphnia and some other small critters from a tub in the garden.
Regards,
Paul

[Paul Molyneux-Berry]

Sorry for the delay in responding, I’ve been away on holiday, isolated from the internet. Thanks for your message.

I’ve spoken to John Walsh and been to a couple of the Preston Aquarists events. I’m based in Urmston near Manchester.

I bought a pair of a P.bintan-like species a couple of months back; initially both did well but unfortunately I have since lost the female without trace. I now wish I had bought more than two!

I’m well equipped for meeting their water and food requirements and have experience of breeding and raising fry of various fish (dwarf cichlids, tetras, corydoras and loricariidae, pangio loaches). Hopefully I can find some more Paros and try again at some stage.

Cheers,
Paul

[Paul Molyneux-Berry]

Thanks Russ. I must have been misled by the colouring so I’m grateful for your experience with these.
I’d hoped to chat with Steve when I visited the shop, but unfortunately he was out and I missed him.

I succumbed to the ‘dark side’ and bought a group of Poecilocharax weitzmani instead; they also looked a bit poorly in the shop but are doing very well now. They’re similar to Paros in their requirements for water, food and environment, and in the difficulty of breeding them!

Regards,
Paul

[Paul Molyneux-Berry]

Having seen the fish in the flesh, I’m pretty sure they’re not ornaticauda. I was unable to identify which species they are, as they were not in great condition from import.
Sorry for the terrible pics.

[Paul Molyneux-Berry]

Thanks Rafael!
I only have two fish, a male and a female. They’re quite small, maybe 20mm SL, so as you say they may need some more time to mature.
I am feeding a variety of live foods and they have both been eating well on worms and invertebrates.
Thanks again 🙂
Paul

[Paul Molyneux-Berry]

Many thanks for the welcome and the helpful thoughts and ideas. Even if we don’t know the exact
‘species’ then it’s still useful to confirm which group they are from, which will help me understand their needs.

Hopefully I will be able to keep them healthy so they will mature and breed. I’ll keep observing and taking photos when I get a chance. The tank is lit only by natural light on a north-facing windowsill so in the winter I can only get good photos when I’m at home in the daytime.

I don’t know John Walsh; most of my fishkeeping contacts in the Manchester area are catfish specialists. But it would be good to be in touch with him about Paros and hopefully I can learn from his experiences too.

Regarding live foods, I have cultures of daphnia, moina, grindalworms, microworms, blackworms, saltwater copepods and rotifers, plus brine shrimp hatcheries. Are all these good for the Paros?

Best Regards,
Paul

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