[Ted L. Dutcher]

Peter and Helena, thank you.

These Opallios are wild caught so I did inform the sender to take a bit more precautions in their catching and shipping. These little guys and gals have been through a lot. He did inform me that they have received approx 80 in their shipment. That is good for us but hopefully not ruining their secret collection areas.

Besides habitation destructions we also have the fish market destruction possibilities, and yet we need to rescue the species. If the shipper rec’d 80, hundreds + of wild caught must be being distributed to all markets.

I was able to work on a better deal (because of the rough shipping) so I will have a few more coming my way, which I hope to make available to others if the male to female ratio is good.

[Ted L. Dutcher]

DOA means “dead on arrival”. They are being shipped across the country in not so good weather, although they do use the heat pacs.

Getting one DOA is enough to put a bit of fear in me. I will wait til tomorrow to try to get a good count of survivors, usually I have gotten very healthy fish, so this is an alert!

The males are indeed beautiful even now, can’t wait til they get comfortable

So far they do fit the Opallios description very well, and more color than the pics, so I will try my best to get some photos for you all in a few days.

[Ted L. Dutcher]

I did not order the Blue Lines, the dealer ran a bit short and I did not want to buy few since the risk of male and female is low, so I ordered Opallios.

The Opallios will be arriving tomorrow, they say they are approx 1 to 1.5 inches.(I ordered 6 of them, hoping to get a pair)

How do they ever get a name like Giant Red Sparkling Licorice Gouramis?? A good retail name for sales I guess.

Maybe next Blue Line order they get in I’ll jump faster! or wait til I have some success with what I have…. I just hate to see them shipped off to general retailers.

[Ted L. Dutcher]

Hi Helene,

I know from breeding appistos, skewed sex ratios was mostly caused by temperatures. Since your tank is unheated it may be caused by tempurature fluctuations, maybe by just adding a heater to stabilize may solve the problem. Of course cooler water is a longer developement time and warmer water is faster. Which makes more males or more females I can’t remember. (I believe warmer makes more males but not sure anymore)

I realize appistos and Paros are a world apart, but both share the exact same sex ratio problems, including soft, acid and usually black water prefered systems.

[Ted L. Dutcher]

Nce pictures Helene ! Keep it up!

[Ted L. Dutcher]

Yes , I’ve seen it in pictures of fresh netted fish. Normally they are ok so it’s time to find the the aggressor… maybe dominant male? There are 6 in the tank only those 2 males occasionaly show that! I haven’t noticed any serious fighting other than just sparring off.

All water parameters good, I’ll keep a closer eye on them.

[Ted L. Dutcher]

Two new coloration patterns on my spec Ampah’s

Their body gets very pale and shows alternating rectangles on each side of the lateral line.

One gets very dark fins, the other has almost clear fins but with a bright border on the unpaired fins… or seems so. The palest one seems to be very aggressive??? Any ideas???

Maybe they are finally maturing?, I got them as very young fish in December 2012.

[Ted L. Dutcher]

It is bundled text from the species pages. There a few more different pictures. I find it much more handy to be sitting on my coffee table and viewed more often. Also have used it for neighbors and friends that are interested.

Basically it is a printed version of the Species section here on the Forum.

[Ted L. Dutcher]

I would like to renew this post.

Especially for all “new to Paros” members:
[b]I highly recommend the THE LICORICE GOURAMIS by Peter Finke.
[/b]
This is an outstanding hand book that has other pictures of species and information. Every menber should have a copy, I keep mine next to me and make notes in it as to when I buy new species, the dates, the source etc.

It is a great help with identification of species when used along with he Species section on our Forum.

It can be ordered off our main page… the booklet with the red text description… Get one !!

[Ted L. Dutcher]

Hi Gerhard, welcome to the Forum.

By viewing your first picture I can say that they are not filamentosus. Someone else more experienced will have to give you a better ID as which species you have.

When you open the Forum look under the the topic SPECIES, it might help you out.

[Ted L. Dutcher]

Yes Steff, Females are a problem usually not much in colors to flash, but by elimination you should be able to find which, is which.

I’m having a simialr problem with the Ampah. There is definately a female but none of the males are yet interested and she ignores them… now I’m wondering if maybe she is a female filamentosus. They were all sold as filamentos and I hope Ampah and filiments were not mixed (the dealers were/are unfamiliar with Ampah at all).

So now I must wait for full maturity and I haven’t a clue to there age (they were young and I’ve had them for 3 months) The males are easy by checking their color patterns, but she just seems different nd I would think young males would be offering some attention to her.

One thing I’ve learned about keeping fish…. patience…patience… and THEY know who’s a male and who’s a female. They will make you decions for you!!

[Ted L. Dutcher]

Wew! Glad I said just kidding ! You are right they are atractive in the their own way, and I wouldn’t part wih them.

[Ted L. Dutcher]

wow nice pics!! Based on those, i guess sp Ampah is one darned ugly fish!
Just kidding, but the Ampah has no coloration close to those, even in breeding colors

So Steff, you can see the differences how hard it is even to help you! Patience and wait to get to know your species. The areas of red really stand out, my Ampah has no red and compared it is dull anyway. The parvulus does have red and it does show well on the dominant male but never as bright as breeding… the sub male only gets grey on his lower half and fins, the dom male is black.. when they are sparing off….the sub? he just can’t compete yet.

[Ted L. Dutcher]

I my limited experiences the dominant male gets dark but not the bright flashy breeding colors, although those colors are present, just subdued.
Sometimes the coloration works and a lesser male will flee and sometimes it takes a nip or 2.

With my spec Ampah I have observed 4 different distinct colorations with males.
1. Dominant, dark with some color
2. Normal stripes imitating female coloration
3. a very drab coloration all over not even distinct stripes and not dark, the current loser
4. full bright Mating colors accompanied with dancing and courting a female

No there no photos of all this, if they are not in the mating colors then then are in some level of the social scale. Each species of course is different and imagine that would be a very tough photo prject even because of variation in each species.

[Ted L. Dutcher]

have noticed with my spec Ampah that the males spar off frequently. They take the head-down stance and the dominant male gets very dark, but not breeding colors.

There are occasionaly displays from dominant females also, they more do a side by side stance with a nip here and there, and a dominant female has a litle better colors for a female. This is also true with the Parvulus but usually the dominant female gets close to having mating color just not as intense. With the Pavulus, the sub dominant male is very hard to tell from a female except the blue edging on his fins is more intense, but the lower half of his body does not turn dark, his anal fin slightly darkens. The dominant male Parvulus gets near breeding colors and flashes then chases the the sub-male to the back of the tank.

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