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I just came home to see the male outside the cave in full display……..
The cave looked like this inside:
The day before yesterday there were still eggs to be seen:
It’s now only the 4th or 5th day after spawning ………. what’s happening there?
[quote=”helene” post=2126]
It may be that he still needs some learning in order to become the perfect father 🙂 .. but there are good chances I think for some fry to occur, so good thing you are feeding.[/quote]Yes, I think you are right – he is still unexperienced.
Where do young paros usually hide after swimming free – near the surface in the drifting plants, or under the leaf litter on the ground?
[quote=”Teunis” post=2136]B)
what is the brown stringy stuff on the bottom?[/quote]It’s dried peat moss, Sphagnum. I originally have it as a substrate for my orchids.
But I tried to use it as fibrous part of the ground cover in paro tanks – and up to now am pleased with it (but have no long-term experience by now!!) The fish like it very much, mixed with leaf litter it is a soft, cloudy ground cover providing many possibilities to dive through, hide, look for micro food. Seems to come close to their preferred surroundings.
I first soak it in boiling water for a short while, max. half an hour. If you put it in cold water it needs at least three days to soak and sink. It often contains conifer needles and stuff from the forest floor, so I soak it also to clean it from these parts.
I opened a new thread on the questions mentioned above here in our forum. I hope this is of interest for the whole paro community. Richard, it would be great if you post your answer there.
Helene, in his German answer Richard Brode estimated your young nagyi as possibly being 6 weeks (+/- 5 days) old – due to the fact that the juvenile dress evolves from the 4th to 7th week of life.
I started a thread at the IGL-forum a week ago, the titel being something like “Ageing/sexual differentiation in young Parosphromenus”.
Richard Brode posted a very interesting and comprehensive answer. I asked him to post his experiences here in the corresponding threads of the Paro-Project, too. He agreed, but needs a little time.
(Helene, a bit Off Topic: He agreed – on the condition that I persuade you to come to the IGL-meeting in Aachen by end of April. And to bring some Danish paro-friends with you! Now you know 😉 ……. but I’m afraid I’m not too convincing – not coming myself although living much nearer to Aachen than you….)
[quote=”helene” post=2128]
The tank for the quindecims, I wonder, do you not have a background ? I think the paros will not appreciate the fact that there is light coming from all sides. Is it standing in the window ?
I think I would put some dark, black paper on at least one, maybe three sides of the tank.[/quote]I know what you mean, but I think it’s a kind of wrong impression. First, the tank is situated directly beside another tank on the right, and I put a sheet of dark paper between the two panes. So it’s a reflection you see at the right side of the tank – it’s really dark there.
The back of the tank – from the perspective of the photographer – faces the window. The daylight picture seems to show bright light shining through, but it comes only through small “holes” in the plant curtain. There is Fontinalis hanging down (which will close the remaining gaps in vegetation quite fast), and on the right side – on the photo totally concealed by the wood – is a dense Cryptocoryne in a pot. So most of the “back” of the tank is hidden by a plant curtain – the photo does mainly show the gap ……….[quote=”helene” post=2122]
So if I were you, I would feed as if there were fry in the tank now.
Its unlikely that he ate them, – they are of course in danger from other fish in the tank, or the female, – but some will probably survive if you have enough shelter for them.But you say you controlled the cluch two days ago and all seemed well … how did it look at that time ??[/quote]
Thank you, Helene.
Yes, I thought I would take no risk if I feed now as if there surely where fry …… I did.I couldn’t see well enough at my last controll, he was sitting in the entrance of the cave and wouldn’t move …….. I saw some eggs behind him at the ceiling, but it’s a dark brown cave with a narrow opening, and I don’t think that it was possible to see fry at all. I just can’t say.
Very pleasant observation, Helene! Nice to think that they feel better, having something to do now ……….
(and somehow surprising for me – I would have thought that it might increase aggression to give them caves to guard ….)Next attempt – since yesterday:
The last clutch was guarded by the male for at least a week – then he left the cave, which was completely empty then ……….. I had controlled the clutch two days before, it was ok then ………. I don’t know what might have happened………….. Has he eaten the eggs? I think it’s been too early for fry to have hatched and left the cave, isn’t it?
[quote=”parosphr” post=2114] At any rate if you cannot catch your glassworms yourself from the next fish-free pool (what is best) you should keep them for quite a time in a big container with much new water; best is to net them and give them without old polluted water into it.[/quote]
Hello, Peter,
yes, that is completely right: I would recommend this for every kind of life food bought from the trade.
In winter I also have to buy the glass worms – and I pour them as soon as possible after buying out of their plastic bags, into a sieve, which I then hang into a pot with clear, fresh water. You can say – I wash them first, to rinse off every trace of the fluid in which they are sold. After that I wash the whole lot of larvae out of the sieve into – again – new clear, fresh water, put it all in a glass and store it in the fridge. You can feed the glass worms now and then with freshly hatched artemia.
Before feeding them to my fish I again pour them into a sieve and rinse them. I put nothing of the water I store them in into my tanks (although this is fresh water, which I fill up regularly).I do this washing with every kind of life food I have to buy – in Artemia it is additionally necessary because of the salt water they are sold in.
Until now I have made no bad experiences with feeding these glass worms to all of my fish – not only paros. But I am always afraid – I heard about this desaster you spoke about, too.
I am no breeder of paros (by now – as far as I know. Depends on how successful my constantly courting pair of nagyi is …. 😉 ), only a keeper – but my fish seem to be healthy and really doing well. So I allow myself to tell my way of feeding.
My paros get small lots of freshly hatched Artemia every day, they are eaten within half an hour. Every second day I regularly feed glass worms (in winter, because you can store them in the fridge for quite a while), or, if available, Daphnia or bigger artemia. I feed approx. 5 – 7 glass worms per fish. They are eaten within two days and do not die, if not.
There regularly is a pause in my artemia production every three or four days (= once a week). Then I am able to offer micro or vinager eels alternatively.
In summer I can offer a bigger variety of life food – I have a garden pond that supplies rich food. But also only every second day!
[quote=”Teunis” post=2093]
[/quote]Hi, Teunis,
I think it is Pangio I see besides you paros in this community tank. As far as I know Pangio doesn’t like pebbly ground with gravel and stones – they like soft ground, fine sand, mud and leaf litter to root around …….. And they like soft, acidic water too (not to the extent that paros prefer, but nonetheless) – and in my experience such stones as I see in your tank harden the water ………
In my opinion the tank shown on your first photo is neither suitable for paros nor for loaches………I have a pH between 5,0 and 5,5 – and Microsorium, Riccia, Ceratophyllum, Lomariopsis, Fontinalis, Ceratopteris and Cryptocoryne lutea and undulata are doing quite well …. which looks like this:
[quote=”helene” post=2082]They are under 1 cm – very small. And no, I really dont think you can tell whether they are male or female, – I am not sure, but I think most fry look ‘malish’ when in this size. [/quote]
So they really all have this iridescent colours in dorsal and anal fin – and lose them again later, if they are (or become?) females? When does the gender differentiate? As I understand, the gender of fish is not determinated at the moment of fertilization, but later, after hatching? When are the sexes fixed?
Can you estimate the approximate age of the fry at this stage?
