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Compared with some tanks of European Parosphromenus-specialists, your tanks Jennifer look nearly “natural”. Functionality is a good criterion for a useful Paro-tank. And that 10-gallon-size is very adeaquate, too.
Even the small flower-pots make conveniant caves, I think. But you could improve two things with them: first, place the caves so that you can easily look into them (perhaps with help of a small electric light). You need to have frequent looks when the animals display and eggs are laid. Second, place them so that the ceiling of the caves is horizontal. If it is like that position which it has now, a small nest of bubbles and eggs will slide out of the front. Nests are always situated at the back part of the ceiling. But they will not stay fixed there if the front part is higher than the back part. (Perhaps you can find rectangular “quadratical” small pots; then you will avoid that problem.)
Please, go on photographing your set-ups! We can praise them and learn.
Presently there are opallios on the European market. P. tweediei and especially P. phoenicurus have never been traded at all. All our stock (and there is quite big a stock of both species) are from private expeditions. It is probable that tweediei will be in trade sooner or later, but I should rule out phoenicurus. They are fould in one small place on Sumatra only, and never has a commercial fish-catcher been seen there.
Some years ago there were fish in the trade that we called spec. Kota Tinggi, which look somewhat in-between tweediei and alfredi. But we have not seen them again for years. Their status is unclear.
If one is lucky to get an answer to this, the second question is at which location it has been found. This question will (or could) nearly never been answered. (There was an exception: spec. Ampah).
If fish are from private breeders (which is extremely rare) the name should be obtained. Then it is easier to follow the lines of descendance,
It is really impossible to say more than that it is a fish from the bintan-group. That means, it can be everyting from bintan, rubrimontis, alfredi, tweediei, opallios, and all the forms from Sumatra (as for example specc. Sungaibertam, Dabo, Pematunglumut, and many others). Probably, the ones with much red in the fins (tweediei, alfredi, phoenicurus) could be ruled out. Certainly nagyi and allani can be ruled out.
The species of the bintan group are largely defined on the display colours of the male; that’s problematic, but it is the state of the art in Parosphromenus-taxonomics. That means that you have to wait until your males show full courtship colours and then take good sharp photos. Give good changing food, prefer a subdued lighting and be sure that the water meets the conditions. In some weeks time we can have another try.
Moina is notoriously difficult to find.
But as John asks for a European address, I can tell him two addresses from Germany:
1) http://www.moinashop.de and
2) http://www.interaquaristik.de
Both are prepared to ship Moina within Germany. I don’t know whether they do this across the country’s borders, but you can try and ask.
At 1) it’s easy to find, since the whole shop is called “moinashop”; it only sells very few things, among them Moina macrocopa, the “Japanischer Wasserfloh”.
At 2) it’s more difficult. Look for “Futter”, then go to “Lebendfutter” (live food) and then look for Moina macrocopa, “Japanischer Wasserfloh”.And ask them whether they will ship these to … Good luck.
(By the way: Mostly one single small stock is too small. Take at least three of them).Jennifer, don’t hesitate. Take filamentosus and/or linkei. Both species are the hardiest of all Parosphromenus, they are quite different than those you have and will make no troubles if they are not ill at the beginning. But that is a risk of all ornamental fish.
Good luck! Try it!Bill, that’s very good news indeed!
I recommend to all who read this: Take this opportunity and get some of thesewonderful fishes. But mind: Especially P. opallios, parvulus and even spec. Sentang are no fish for the unexperienced. These species demand the full Parosphromenus-program. They are no fish for the normal community tank where they will simply “disappear” if accompagnied by fish which are much more agile and dominant. And they definitely need demineralized water with low pH (4-6), otherwise they will get ill by Oodinium.
Less demanding are filamentosus and linkei. I strongly recommend to all who would like to try their first Parosphromenus to take one of these two species. They are wonderful, not difficult and will delight you. Take no less than 4 to 6 individuals; in both cases the sexes are easily determined by the long filaments of the male caudal fins.
Both species can develop to brilliant small fish, and both are relatively easy to spawn. If you take such a group you should pobserve them some weks in a small tank with no companions or some Boraras spec. only. Use very soft water with a pH below 7.0. Put some very small caves in it. Then you will see the spectacular beginning courtship behaviour.
And if you see it, you should separate that pair to a very small new tank filled with pure rainwater or osmosis water. Add a Catappa leave at the back glass and 10-20 oak leaves on the ground. The pH must be definitely below 7.0, somehow between 4.5 and 6.5 in order to mnimize the germ development.
Additionally, you must start some food-cultures; I recommend Artemia and (for the very young) Paramecium or vinegar eels.
Use much Java moss and Ceratopteris at the top swimming.More experienced aquarists should defiitely have a try with the first three species. You never knwo whether you will have the opportunity ever again. But mind: P. parvulus is really tiny. It must have a small (!) tank for its own. Then you will see that spectacular courtship behavior, with that zig-zag-dance which is as speedy that you will not able to follow with your eyes.
For the beginner pure rainwater is a good alternative. If you can raise Artemia naupliae from the cysts then you have a good food, at least as basis. Additionally you can feed small (!) mosquito larvae that can be easily produced in containers (Buckets etc.) in the garden.
Don’t hesitate! Take the opportunity! These are heavily endangered fish. Maybe, you will see them not for long a time.Jacob, let the exact species identification not be the most interesting question presently. It is difficult even for experts and sometimes impossible even with good photos.
We should learn more from a good description of the behavior, especially the interaction between male and female. And the general color changes of the male and (!) the female!
What are the body positions? Does the male visits a cave already? Is the female more active or more passive?
And Jacob – please don’t be offended by this – wouldn’t it be better you wrote your interesting postings in the American Forum of the project instead of the Global? I don’t know what Bill has to say to this issue. But I think we must push the American Forum a bit (just as the Asian, of course). The American Paro-friends should become more involved in order to establish a real “scene”, small in the beginning but highly motivated and interested. We Europeans read the American Forum too. For we try to help it to develop.
But I admit, Jacob, that there are issues of global interest, and identification is one of them.
Moina could faster reproduce than Daphnia, but often they do not. Try a small container with water not higher than one or two inches. They must sit densely there and assemble in clouds at the surface. If they swim solely around they will not reproduce properly.
No airing is essential. Then feeding on a weak solution of yeast, perhaps that helps.I have no experience with that species of paramecium, but I guess it is much too big for young Paros. Normally we use P. caudatum. It is widespread in the world and mostly easy to be raised and fed.
But normally, any rotifiers are preferred to Paramecium since they are soft whereas Paramecium are harder. However, P. caudatum is a good alternative since it could be gained an cultured rather easily (at least in Europe …).
Culturing rotifiers in the breeding tank itself is sometimes possible but mostly a highly uncertain Thing. You should in any case set up a separate culture.
In Germany, breeders mostly use a slight yeast suspension for boosting the rotifiers.
It’s still easier to set up a Paramecium culture. The most easy method is taking some small dried material of bananas. But it needs about ten days for Paramecium to develop. They need very little food; good is a drop of milk, mostly less.
Vinegar eels are also taken rather early. And if you are lucky to get cysts of the very tiny Artemia of the Californian lakes, the young Paros might tale them from the very beginning. But quite freshly hatched only. Two days old they are much too big already.
Jennifer, Paros need between 3 and 6 months to grow and colour up; quite a longer time than many other fish. And they must be fed with a variety of good foods in order to accelerate that process. Baby Artemia are very good, but interchanged with Grindal or glassworms or small mosquito larvae or Moina is better. Daphnia do not contain many nutrials, but to feed them sometimes is not bad either.
Be patient! The males will become glorious!
Yes I confirm Helene’s opinion: This seems to be the most frequently traded form of P. spec. Blue line. As I have written elsewhere, there have been other variants been traded already (e.g. with much longer filaments at the ventrals) or with blueish or blackish filaments at the ventral fins. Mostly the differences were to be seen at the ventrals.
But this is the mostly traded form of “Blue line”. They are very beautiful fish. The reason why they are not yet described is that they resemble very much P. bintan, and the taxonomists are uncertain and hesitate to describe them as new species. Perhaps they are a subspecies. But I am sure: Within a few years from now we will see much clearer than nowadays because of genetic information. The first investigations we have from Dr. Lukas Rüber (Berne) indicate very few differences even between the described species. So, the nomenclature might still change; within the genus of Parosphromenusthings remain interesting.
I write this from Paris, from the flat of our friend Olivier Perrin. I stay here with my wife for two weeks while Olivier visits Costa Rica with his family.
It’s exactly as Helene said: 5 gallons are good for one pair but too small for two.
A Paro-pair needs extremely little breeding and behavioural space (although of course they use more of it in nature. We talk about the aquarium situation). Allan Brown bred most species in small tanks of 5 liters (much less than 5 gallons). I do in 10-liter-tanks. Clearly, the non-guarding female uses much more surrounding space in nature, driving alien fish and shrimps away. But in the tank a very small space is absolutely possible (not for quindecim which is a strong and quite big species; in that case even my 10 liters are a bit too small).
But in the moment a third fish is present or even a second pair, the situation changes completely. Here, the space needed resembles the situation in nature. Otherwise there are constant little combats and arousal; there is no secure space except for the one guarding male. The other three fish do not show a normal behaviour.
So it’s good that you will separate them into two small tanks. (Or one bigger, but then you probably won’t experience young growing up).
Your method of harvesting the eels is mine too; I agree with you: That cannot be causal for your desaster.
I have no other theory than you have: There must have been some toxic pollution within that culture.
But what and how and why?This is not entirely new to me, but the only experience similar that I heared of before referred to vinegar eels not purified carefully.
Living in vinegar, these organisms must be harvested for feeding fish by the one or other method in order to prevent vinegar from infesting the aquarium. Normally, this is no problem at all. But I have heared of one case where a considerable amount of vinegar entered the tank water and the fish died because of a substantial change of their environmental parameters.
But this is nothing to be alarmed about normally; it’s quite clear. That the vinegar eels should not be fed to the fish with a considerable amount of the vinegar is self-evident. Every method for raising vinegar-eels contains a method of harvesting them and does not include to add them together with their vinegar to the fish-tank.
Therefore I am sure that you did not do this either. I only reported about that mistake as having heared once; there is not big mistake that is never made by someone. But not in this case, of course. And therefore I am puzzled as others are by your bad experience. What could be the cause of it? I assert to your opinin that – normally – it can’t be coincidence.
