A bucketful of burdigala! About 40 young ones in the 20 gallon grow-out now. I combined about 30 that were artificially hatched with another dozen that were raised by the parents. Interestingly, the artificially hatched burdigala are VERY friendly - they come right up to the front and beg for food. The ones that were raised by the parents are shy, although not as shy as the parents. Luckily I caught them with a bunch of eggs in the film canister, so hopefully I have another big batch of artificially hatched ones on the way. These guys range from about a cm to 3-4 cm - not ready for new homes just yet! Although they are already fighting! Little stinks.
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Set up a new 2.5 gallon "grow-out" for my little ones! I had no idea I had so many Heterandria formosa and baby Elassoma. A little green in the water but I think that really helps the tiny fry. The H. formosa were hilarious - lots of sparring with the new territory!! I am hoping that co-habitating the friendly formosa with the reserved Elassoma will encourage the pygmy sunfish to come out of hiding. The juvenile Elassoma already seem to be much braver with the formosa out in the open, and were begging for food with them today. The adults are nowhere to be seen haha.
I finally got one of the species that I have been drooling over for almost 2 years - the Blue Gularis Niger Delta! (Fundulopanchex sjoestedti "Niger Delta"). These guys are incredibly large and beautiful killifish. I am grateful to Jim Kostich for sending me such a beautiful little baby boy. And what a ride he had! He was lost in the mail for NINE DAYS, and yet he still arrived safe and sound! A true testament to Jim's secure packaging!
I was getting frustrated with my male's apparent incompetence at raising large numbers of fry to free-swimming. I finally decided to bite the bullet and try artificial hatching. My first attempt was an abject failure! Despite picking out the obvious bad eggs morning and night, the entire spawn eventually dissolved into some truly disgusting smelling goop. It was so sad to see the eggs with obvious back bones and eyes just go caput over night. I'm happy to report that my next attempt appears to be a success! (So far). I bought some methylene blue and added one drop to a shallow cup of water floating in the parents' tank. Lots of little ones bobbing around today. It seems as if the larger the burdigala become, the BIGGER their spawns get...there must be at least 40 eggs in there. We'll see how many fry make it!
I am SO excited to try this new little species! I obtained them at the recent Bay Area Killifish Association BBQ, where the wonderfully kind H. Mack brought them specifically for me :) And when I say little, I mean LITTLE. Heterandria formosa is the 7th smallest fish in the world, and is the smallest livebearer. The males barely top out at 2cm, the females slightly larger. H. formosa are a United States native with a range from the Cape Fear River drainage in North Carolina to southern Louisiana . I am not sure what locality mine are from though. They are so tiny that the females superfoetation, where the females have kind of a conveyor belt of different embryos and then pop one out every day.
For more information on these little guys, check out the article at Seriously Fish. It is a great database that I often use for more unusual species.
These big mouthbrooders, often called the "Kings" or "Peacocks" of the betta fish world, are just a fantastic fish. I hope one day to be able to breed these guys :) Here is a wonderful video brought to my attention by Jolanda S.! I was *finally* able to take some decent pictures of my Betta burdigala spawning. They are incredibly difficult for me not because they are shy (mine are actually quite friendly), but because they like super dark, IAL-tea water. It is wonderful to sit on the edge of my bed and watch them spawn - they are so elegant and gentle, like a waltz - but trying to get photographs of them is another matter!! The pair tolerated me bringing over the tripod right next to their love nest, banging around their tank while hurriedly trying to clean the glass (in vain), and also be blinding them with different LED light configurations. I finally gave up and shot with flash, which sucked because I can't even see the fish while I am trying to focus, adjust shutter speed and f-stop, etc. Finally I hit upon the right settings and didn't touch the camera while I was shooting blindly at them until my camera died! My pair of Fundulopanchex sjoestedti "Loe" continue to grow :) Almost ready to attempt spawning them in a separate 10 gallon. As soon as the 10 gallons are vacated from betta spawns that is :)
At the Bay Area Killifish Association holiday party, I acquired a species of killifish that I have been coveting for the better part of a year now - the Blue Gularis! Their large size and impressive coloration were what initially drew me to them - combined with their aggressive nature and ferocious appetites, which could serve me well as a beautiful and reasonably sized culling machine.
I love my grandfather's fishroom! He loves wild bettas, particularly B. enisae, B. mahachai, and B. smaragdina. We also have a grandfather/granddaughter show project with the red and yellow plakats (see more here). Enjoy! |
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