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Mosquito larvae (mainly Culex spec., but there are new genera invading the western hemisphere now in the course of climate change) are since long known as very good food for our fish if not too big (as Helene told in the opening mail). The special quality is seen by the fact that this food leads the females to develop a good stock of eggs (which is nearly impossibe with Daphnia spec., for instance). And the tiny forms that come out of the rafts are since long known as a very good food for raising our offspring.
Malaria mosquitos (Anopheles spec.) look very similar and obviously spread to formerly colder climate ranges, too. They have been found recently quite often in Germany among Culex where they were totally absent in former times. They are readily taken by our fish, too. Up to now, a danger of getting infected with Malaria in our countries has not been reported.
There are two things that are not widely known. The first (that was even new to me) is the knowledge of our experienced friend Bernd Bussler (from Hamburg) that you can find them even in Winter at special places. Bernd is a hard-working catcher of live outdoor food even when most ponds are frozen; and his success with breeding all Parosphromenus is widely recognized and acclaimed. The other thing is that you could store the rafts in the refrigerator for quite a long time without water. If placed at the water surface of an aquarium they will soon hatch and produce that tiny food that was spoken about. By this means you can store quite a mass of rafts in the autumn and use it in winter for your offspring.
Nearly all young fish, cichlids inclusive, show shoaling behaviour before claiming individual quarters. Young Paros do often until a length of about an inch. And many fish that have developed a territorial behaviour already show shoaling for some days when introduced into an anvironment new to them. Your fish are young and are newly introduced in that tank; they must learn what a strange thing glass is. The Boraras led them to shoaling, too. But they will stop this behaviour soon if offered enough places for retreat.
That’s very good news from Britain and from the U.S.!
Big adult mosquito larvae are too big indeed for half or even fully grown Paros; but they like smaller ones very much. They will not become fertile with Daphniae alone, but glassworms or smaller mosquito larvae or even Artemia naupliae are readily taken with that outcome.
I should suggest that you keep a pair separately aand provide a nice small cave for them with an even roof, so that a small bubble nest and the eggs will not slip out.
But possibly this will not happen the next days already. Congratulations!
We as P-P could only make an offer for seekers and for breeders to come together individually. This is used quite efficiently in Germany. The distribution-address is open for anybody on either side. We have a representative behind it (he is Frank Büttner from Meiningen in Thuringia who followed Michael Beuscher) to whose address all enquiries from either side will be automatically directed, and he will communicate with the sender on his wishes. It does make no difference if the sender is a breeder with offers or a seeker with a wish to get hold of special species.
My question referred to two remaining problems:
1. What could we do additionally for breeders with greater numbers of young Paros?
2. How could we make this system work across borders?The plant-method will not work because the normal German organization for postings (“die Post”) will accept plants but not accept animals as being shipped. There are other organizations which will but they are much more expensive and not at hand everywhere. And the time for delivery is not really calculable.
The main problem is not to get Paros from germany to the Netherlands or to Denmark, but to get them to Britain or Norway or the U.S. There even have been enquiries from Malaysia (!), for there are members too who don’t know how to get hold of these fish … Maybe, in some years time this could really be a problem if the habitat-destruction proceeds in the same speed than up to now. (But it is not meant seriously at present).
Helene, I suggest that we should put such nice photos and/or photo series additionally at the bottom of the according species page.
In this case the colour difference between male and female is striking. Often (but mostly in normal colouration only, here we have the breeding colouration) the colour difference in pahuensis is very small indeed. I remember fish of this species that were rather difficult to sex (as more often it can be the case with P. paludicola; that could very difficult indeed with P. p. Paka or Wakaf Tapei. In Stefanie’s pictures it is nicely to be seen that even in pahuensis there could be a marked sex difference in a courtship atmosphere.
Jacob, I am afraid I cannot say anything about American brand names of mixed-bed-filters, but maybe Bill Little is able to do so.
As your other question is concerned: Yes, rainwater is good, some say: it is best. Today, the rain is often falling down with an acid character already because of the intensified CO2 and other acid substances (from industrial emissions) in the air. We did not encounter any problems by that. What you have to obey is that the rain should not be used in the first hour especially in industrial regions; there should have been a certain “washing” of the often polluted air before you use it. And it should not run across rather dirty roofs or other materials before being collected.
But if you obey such simple rules, rain water is very good indeed. And cheap!
Bartian, yes you do: the black lines are reduced but the black blotches are shown.
And, Helene, why should one try to breed with this fish? Well, in order to know about the dominant or recessive character of that feature. To say it clearly: I do not like any such variations as permanent inhabitants of our tanks (as there are many examples with other fish filling the tanks in the hobby stores). But we should know whether this is a single event in a single specimen or whether some sort of genetic hereditary disposition is slumbering in it. You may take it as a hidden danger.
It was Horst Linke who told me this should be tested by trying to breed with this fish. And I think he is right although nobody of us likes it.
I work with a so-called mixed-bed filter, which is filled with a mixed bed of synthetic resins of two kinds. This method produces at high speed large quantities of fully demineralized water (identical with destilled water). The cartridges must be treated (revitalized) professionally. You can not do that yourself.
The water you obtain is of the purest possible quality (near to H2O). So, you still have to add a tiny amount of minerals again, change the pH to acid values (f.i. by peat) and add humic substances in order to receive a sort of blackwater.
This ist the best, quickest and most consequent technical way presently at hand.
The question of Bill Little is fully justified. It looks like a mixture of different species/forms has happened, which is not rare in that Paro-business.
The last photo shows a male Parosphromenus with a marked red area in his caudal fin; a bit like P. opallios.But the main thing I have to say is: No expert of that genus has ever heard of a P. stangenasis. There is no fish scientifically described like this. This is a name composed like a scientific name, but it is no scientific name (just as in the case of “P. sintangensis”). Did you perhaps mean that form and did you get the name wrong? The correct way of naming it as long as there is no scientific description is P. spec. Sentang (as being from the area of the city of Sentang on Sumatra).
But your fish don’t look like typical Sentang, They look more like so-called P. spec. “blue-line” from the Sungai Tunkal-region on Sumatra. However, those two undescribed forms from Jambi on Sumatra (Sentang and “blue line”) have been mixed and interchanged often already; the trade business is very unreliable in this respect.
Unless your present more details and photos which show the fin characteristics much more clearly it is impossible to exactly determine these fish.
There is another campaign by Save-the-rainforest.org to support a letter of Indonesian activist Rudi Putra to the Indonesian president:
The Orang-Utan forest contains habitats of Indonesian Parosphromenus-species, too. Please, take action as I did before.
Rudi Putra is the winner of an Indonesian environmental award for 2013.There is a corresponding campaign by save-the-rainforest.de
Please, support Indonesian activist Rudi Putra in his letter to the Indonesian president:Helene, very nice photos. We should include them into the species accounts, e.g. the photo of the young linkei to the photos in the linkei-account, the photo of the young anjunganensis in that account, and so on. We should speak about a further place, but this – I think – is the first thing to retain them and make them accessible every time at a good place.
There is a new campaign of the AVAAZ-network to prevent a new disaster for the Indonesian primeval forest, regarding a spce of a million football-fields. Please click on this link to see the details and take action:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/the_plan_to_kill_orangutans_dm/?bDPDwab&v=24892
Certainly, Teunis, it’s far more: doing political work regarding Malaysia and Indonesia and developing a realistic strategy. I think it must contain at least five points: 1. thinking anew and conducting others to think anew, 2. installing and monitoring reserves, 3. renaturalization measures at different places, 4. directing money in other directions, and 5. a media strategy. In all elements one has to involve the aquarium business, the aquaristic media and the aquarists themselves.
But in my opinion this should be accompagnied by sustaining the present aquarium stocks of the different species. Before we started our godfather-program all species that had been imported died out again within several years. Since then we have them.
This is not the most important point, but it is an important point. There is a litte bit of education in it, I am afraid. The more people see this, the better. (Excuse me!)
[quote=”Teunis” post=2242]… isn’t it a waste to keep them hidden in small breeding tanks, where I only look at them 3-4 times a week to make sure that they are okay… wouldn’t it be much nicer to be able to see them all day swimming around in the living room tank….[/quote]
You know my opinion already: It’s a waste to put them in a decorative tank b e f o r e you bred them. Afterwards, you have enough young to do with them what you like, but the first thing ever with endangered rare fish is seriously trying to multiply them.
