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I would very much like to join in Helenes laudation ……………. but I can’t!
I will only get the book as a birthday present in the first days of November…………….. But it is already here, lying on the table in it’s transparent shrink-wrapping …………. Can you imagine this pain?????? (How cruel a husband can be ….)Some photos to show the development. I am able to distinguish 4 young, that’s the highest number I have seen together, and I claim to be able to tell 4 individuals apart.
Two are of the same size, one is slightly smaller, and the fourth is still very, very tiny.Here are the three bigger ones with their father:
And here you can compare one of the bigger ones to the “pipsqueak” (above):
The pipsqueak compared to mosquito larvae …..:
And the eyes of the little one (above) and it’s bigger brother/sister (below)
(Notice the pearl-white eye rim which already tiniest quindecim-fry show!)
🙂
Yes, Bartian, that’s one aspect. I thought that maybe if they are viable and develop well, I could put them back to one or two of their yet undetermined “aunts” to try out their fertility. Maybe male hybrids unveil their mother’s species by showing typical colour aspects …………. at least in the following generations after backcrossing. And maybe this results in a chance to find matching males for the four unknown girls at last…………….But by now my problem is how to separate the existing quindecim fry from their straying father and his bastard children ……………….
Maybe I can slightly turn the topic back to growth and development of young paros by confirming Helene’s observation of fry developing better if they are not separated from their parents. I don’t have experience with young paros at all – but my experiences with young Badis convinced me that it’s better to raise young with their parents.
Badis show a similar breeding behaviour as Parosphromenus: the male living in a cave and guarding it, being visited by the female from time to time, watching the clutch, caring for the young in their first days before they leave the cave. Adults normally don’t eat their fry, so they can well develop in the same tank as their parents. I separated the first fry of my Badis species and put them in a tank of their own, all young Badis together. But the parents bred and bred – and I left the new fry in their tank to put the permanent breeding to a stop. It is really amazing – the fry left in the tank with their parents grew very well and are now twice the size of their much older siblings in the separate tank. And their life is more difficult and stressful than that of their siblings – always in concurrence with their large and powerful parents, already being chased by them when growing bigger.
From this I learn that it it is better for the young to stay in the group – at least in Badis, but what you say about paros seems to be very much alike.And now completely back to young paros: Although I have no experience and no opportunity to compare, I think that young quindecim are growing rather fast. My impression is that my young quindecim have nearly duplicated their size since when I first noticed them.
Some more:
Yes, Helene, I also think that they are not completely “new”. I wouldn’t have thought that they might be “months” old – one month or 6 weeks would be my estimation. But this is a deduction from the development of fry of my Badis singenensis: A species of a size similar to paros (about 4 cm), with a similar breeding behaviour (breeding in caves, the male cares for the eggs, the fry leave the cave within a few days, they then have the size of small white mosquito larvae, they are nearly invisible, hiding in the ground cover). These Badis fry reach the size now shown by my little paros within 4 to 6 weeks.
But you are experienced in breeding paros – in contrast to me. So if you say they may be months old, it will be right.The young paro I show on the pictures is the biggest. I have seen 3 young at a time – the others are noticeably smaller. This bigger one is swimming free, slowly moving through the plant roots hanging from the surface. The smaller ones are still mainly “ground dwellers”, hiding under leaves.
Hello, Bill – thanks for your post!
I have also recognized a great interest of my paros in what happens in the neighbouring tank. They were staring at each other through the glass and were more interested in watching their neighbours than in “enjoying” their own home. So I disrupted this by sliding a paper sheet between the two tanks. I have done this with all my tanks – none of my fish can see their neighbours anymore. Prying eyes from curious neighbours – who wants this? 😉
Helene – thank you for your advice. I will leave the female with the other girls for a while. The lonely male seems to be very comfortable without her. I will rearrange the bigger tank in the near future and will then try to catch the little runaway.
I have never experienced one of my paros even trying to jump, too. I think the fact that my quindecim female jumped into the adjacent tank is really exceptional.
As I told you, I have been ill for a longer time. The tanks have been rather unattended for about 6 weeks or more. My husband just fed the fish and filled in water where it had evaporated.(Short note: the water values stayed still fine in these untended tanks, pH 5,5, conductivity 45 µS)
As soon as I was able to care for the tanks again, I cleaned the panes, made greater water changes and – above all – removed the lush plant cover. Ceratopteris, Riccia and Lomariopsis sprawled all over the surface.
Now the quindecim female loves to hide just in this thick plant covers. I think I frightened her by removing big parts of it. Maybe I even lifted her with a handful of plants and she slipped off into the other tank.Today I succeeded in taking some baby photos:
Thank you for your kind responses!
I couldn’t believe that the female might have died – all fish looking so healthy, young fry in the tank – why should she have died? But, nevertheless – I haven’t seen her for days.
Today I became suspicious ………….. and I carefully watched the adjacent tank with the four “unknown ladies”. What I suspected is true – the quindecim-female has happily joined the ladies club. Funny, how easily distinguishable she is from the other females ………. compared to them she is definitely colourful ………..Now I need your advice:
It is absolutely impossible to catch her alone out of this tank. It is a 25 l-tank, totally overgrown – no chance to find one hiding paro.
What do you think – should I simply put the male quindecim in this tank, too? If he has a female of his own species – is there a risk he might pair with one of the other girls of unknown species?
It would be much easier to simply catch him out of his tank, it’s a small one, 16 l and not so overgrown. I could leave the fry to grow up undisturbed.Or should I rather empty the bigger tank, try to catch all 5 females and to separate the quindecim female – and make a big cleaning up of the tank? This would be a much bigger effort, and I can only hope to get all the females ………
But if it is risky to join the male with the four “beautiful strangers”, I will refrain from doing it.
Good evening to all of you!
For health reasons I’ve visited the forum only sporadically in the last months, without even logging in.
But today I would like to share the first photo of my very first fry with you:
Yes, it’s not sharp – yes, it’s no good photo. But it’s my first Paro fry at all!!!!
I saw not only one, at least two in one place – but they’re hiding as soon as they see a movement outside the tank. Very shy.
Sadly I only saw them because I was desperately looking for the adult female. I haven’t seen her for days, only the male. There’s still hope, because he is quite aggressive and she is always hiding in the dense plant cover. But I usually see her now and then ………….. Keep your fingers crossed.Very early this morning I was able to observe a very intense courtship display of my pahuensis-pair.
I would like to show some photos – and I hope you excuse the photos being no brilliant close-ups. The pahuensis – especially the male – absolutely don’t like the photoflash, if I go to near. I didn’t want to interrupt the mating and thus took the photos from a small distance.He then moved to his cave to swim sideways back down to her repeatedly, slightly tilted towards her, to show off his “broadside”.
Now he is sitting in his favorite cave …
…. while she is wearing a pale dress and looking very “pregnant”
Good Morning, Helene,
yes, the fish are doing well – the pahuensis and also the quindecim. Both are pairs, both males are courting.
And yes – if some photos are good enough, you may use them to illustrate the species section. I would be pleased!
