Boraras from Bangkok

[NongOil]

Loh,

I did check with the shop owner for Boraras sp. and she said she still have some. Then, how many of them do you want? I will confirm wih her and collect them on Sunday and pass it to Gwee on that day.

There's any other thing you want me to pass it for you. Please let me know as soon as before Gwee go back. I will try to find for you

[RonWill]

I did check with the shop owner for Boraras sp. and she said she still have some. Then, how many of them do you want? I will confirm wih her and collect them on Sunday and pass it to Gwee on that day.

NongOil, I'm not sure how Gwee will manage with his load but if the Boraras sp. are what I see in Kwek Leong's 2feet cube tank, I would be very keen to have about 10 small fishes in my mini tank... they are tiny but look so adorable and yes, so cute!!

As usual, I'll try to breed them if I can (I'm one of those who love to look at fishes 'doing their thing'). Can't imagine how tiny the hatchlings will be, but that's one of life's little challenges!

However if Sia Meng already has more than he can handle, then I won't impose. Perhaps that ought to be a good reason to bring my family to visit Thailand too!

[timebomb]

However if Sia Meng already has more than he can handle, then I won't impose.

You're too late, buddy

I've already replied to Oil's question privately and in my pm to him, I asked him to tell Sia Meng to buy all the Boraras sp the shop is selling

I'm a greedy guy so you can't have any

Loh K L

[NongOil]

I asked him to tell Sia Meng to buy all the Boraras sp the shop is selling

He might shock if he know that

I did check again about the exact quantity of Boraras sp. but she can not confirm now. I will let you know and ask for your confirmation again. So, Ron, you might not be disappointed If she has a lot of them and Loh will change his mind and leave some for you :wink:

Loh, I wonder if you can let me know why you want to keep them in large number.

[RonWill]

He might shock if he know that

Hi Nongoil, Sia Meng might be puzzled but the LFS person will be quite happy... shocked? nah... I don't think so.

So, Ron, you might not be disappointed If she has a lot of them and Loh will change his mind and leave some for you :wink:

I don't disappoint easy because I'm an optimist and I never doubt Kwek Leong's generosity :wink:

Loh, I wonder if you can let me know why you want to keep them in large number.

I'm sure he has his reasons... and perhaps it might be to maintain, document, spawn and distribute them! Right... Kwek Leong?

hmm... on that thought, it's worth waiting for him to load the boraras page! (and to keep it killie-relevant, he can say that these boraras sp. are good killie companions!)

Personally, I think they're really cute and frankly, was surprised to know that whatever Kwek Leong has in his tank, were already adults!! That's small! (hence, to actually be able to breed them is gonna be tough!!)

Another reason why I'd have them in my tanks... urm... is to be tankmates to older killie fry of approximately the same size. It works with White Cloud Mountain Minnow (Tanichthys albonubes) and Spotted Blue-eye (Pseudomugil gertrudae), so I'm sure a boraras/killie combo will be a sight to behold.

... and before I drift too far off-topic, I'm sure they'll look nice in a mini tank full of moss.... whichever and whatever type of moss... (unlike KL, who's a moss-man, I'm a fish-guy... so pardon me if I don't get too 'mossed-up' :wink: )

[hwchoy]

Ronnie, if all you want is small fishes you can also try Boraras urophthalmoides and Boraras micros, both are available fairly easily. I know that Fish'n Fishes (that new killi shipment place) has them regularly.

Come on, admit it, you're just vain, you want to have something most people don't have :wink:

[timebomb]

Hi, fellas,

I split some of the messages from the other topic about mosses and moved them here because we were straying a bit too far off-topic. Let's talk about the Boraras here.

I initially asked Sia Meng to buy a hundred for me but when Oil asked me again how many I wanted, I thought I might as well buy more. They're very cheap and you have to have lots of them before they can make an impact in a planted tank. My request to Oil and Sia Meng was to buy all the fish available but I suppose there's a limit to the number Sia Meng can carry home.

I would be happy with a hundred fish but if Sia Meng can bring home more than that, I will distribute the rest to those who wants to keep them. First priority goes to Heng Wah and Ronnie, of course as these 2 were the first to express interest.

I have been checking out the Boraras in the local fish shops and I believe the ones in Bangkok are, as Nonn said, unindentified fish. They look quite similar to the Boraras maculatus except that they are smaller.

Heng Wah, I know you have the pictures so I will appreciate it very much if you can post them here. Thank you.

Loh K L

[RonWill]

Ronnie, if all you want is small fishes you can also try Boraras urophthalmoides and Boraras micros, both are available fairly easily.

FYI, I've never kept any of the Boraras species, so you can call me a 'boraras-newbie'.

Come on, admit it, you're just vain, you want to have something most people don't have :wink:

You call me vain??... heh, I think that's an understatement! If it makes you any happier, consider me pompous and gregarious as well! but hey... who doesn't want something 'new and rare'?

urhm... but seriously, I'd like a small peaceful, non fin-nipping, less competitive feeder and nice looking fish that's grows slow and stays small!

BTW, how many boraras species are there and do all the adults measure no more than 1cm??

[hwchoy]

hah, Kwek Leong I cannot understand how someone who can tell mosses and killies apart can't seem to tell Boraras apart does that mean I won't get my fish

Anyway Ronnie, gregarious if you wish this is Boraras mania and yes they are all about 1-2cm adult.

OK OK. The undescribed (not unidentified) fish from Thailand is named (rather uselessly) as Boraras sp. (meaning some kind of fish belonging to the Boraras genus but is yet undescribed formally). In appearance it look most similar to the Boraras micros which also hail from Thailand. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of the B. micros. However I do have pictures of ALL the other five species so you can see that it looks nothing like the others.

OK, I start with the three species found in mainland Southeast Asia, a common theme is their shorter, barrel-shaped body (compared with the other three maritime species)

• Boraras micros Kottelat & Vidthayanon, 1993 - swamp of Udon Thani province, Thailand.
• Boraras urophthalmoides (Kottelat, 1991) - swamp near Sai Buri river, Narathiwat, Pattani province, Thailand.
• Boraras sp. - believed to be somewhere in peninsula Thailand.

The three species found in maritime Southeast Asia (Sundaic) have longer and slimmer bodies and can be found from the Malay peninsula through to Sumatra, the Sunda islands, and Kalimantan (not sure if they range into the Malayan side of Borneo island).

• Boraras brigittae (Vogt, 197 - Bandjarmasin, Kalimantan Selatan (south), Indonesia.
• Boraras maculatus (Duncker, 1904) - Muar, Johore, Malaysia. note correct spelling is maculatus not maculata.
• Boraras merah (Kottelat, 1991) - Nataik Sedawak, Kalimantan Tengah (central), Indonesia.

Now for the pics… click on them to get a bigger version.

Boraras urophthalmoides




Boraras sp.




Boraras brigittae




Boraras maculatus




Boraras merah

[kennedy_ng]

Can I get some too, if you have extra

[timebomb]

Can I get some too, if you have extra

Sure you can, Kennedy. But we have to see how many Uncle Sia Meng can bring home, okay?

does that mean I won't get my fish

You'll get the fish, Heng Wah, even if Sia Meng doesn't bring any home. I will give some to you from those in my tank, reason being I think your photograph of the Boraras sp doesn't do justice to the fish. Your photography skills are never in doubt but when you took its picture, the fish was unsettled and skinny. Now, they are very healthy in my tank and have filled up nicely. If you can, I hope you will take their pictures again. They are beautiful Boraras and by virture of their smaller sizes, makes them great companions for other fish like killies.

Loh K L

[hwchoy]

yeeehaa

can you all see the shape difference now actually I plan to retake pictures of all the Boraras. these pics were taken very long ago when the equipment weren't up to scratch. now I have better equipment, though my skills haven't improve much yet

[timebomb]

these pics were taken very long ago when the equipment weren't up to scratch. now I have better equipment, though my skills haven't improve much yet

To think that those lovely pictures were taken with equipment that you consider not up to scratch Like I said, your photography skills were never in doubt but looking at the pictures again, I have to say you're a louzy fish keeper All your fish look like they are under-nourished

Loh K L

[hwchoy]

All your fish look like they are under-nourished

for the sake of laying my hands on some of your well-fed and sexy Boraras sp. I'll just pretend I didn't understand what you're talking about.

[RonWill]

can you all see the shape difference now

Choy, thanks for the pics! They're all very nice fishes but would it be possible to resize them smaller for faster download? Not all the forumers here have access to broadband. (average size of each pic was about 50Kb! and I think a 300~400 pixel is a nice size for large thumbnails).

I saved your pics to my HDD* for personal reference, since I'll be looking out for them at the LFS. Did a brief online research on them and I think you missed out the Boraras micros's pic.

Shape?? sorry... they still look the same to me!

In terms of color, I think the boraras maculatus, brigittae and merah has it going for them.

actually I plan to retake pictures of all the Boraras.

But could you feed them first? Kwek Leong's observation was quick and I thought these were just 'slim'

*Will not reproduce or link to your images without prior permission.

[hwchoy]

why online research? I did list the six species including the Boraras micros unfortunately I do not have a pic of it as mine died before I managed to get a pic. I hope you managed to read all the text

The three Sundaic species are all slim, the specimens in the pics are not particularly skinny except the last one (Boraras merah), they really ARE slim. In terms of colour, the B. brigittae are really stunning in a school. If you have a large lawn of hairgrass or glosso, a school of brigittae or maculatus would be very very nice as they like to pick around the lawn for food. The merah on the other hand appears to prefer swarming near the surface.

If you're going to keep the pics or print them, you can click on the pictures (in the thread) and you will get the 1024×768 version, print them and bring them along for shopping because many LFS can't tell them apart. Be very careful about the reddish version of the first pic B. urophthalmoides and many people confuse it with B. brigittae. Again the shape difference is very obvious if you have seen them in real life.

BTW you can link to the pics for forum discussion and so on.

[hwchoy]

Ronnie, these were linked to the photo-ID archive, so they're rather "better quality" so the details can be observed. There is supposed to be thumbnail in the species page, but unfortunately my webmaster have yet to get the site up

[TS168]

Thanks Choy, Nice fish here. i like those last 3 from indonesia. hehe. more colorful.
Just wonder are they abit aggressive as tetra? I used to have tetra with my shrimp and my shrimp sometime get disturb.

thanks

[hwchoy]

TS, they're about 1.5cm in size, how aggressive can they get?

[TS168]

TS, they're about 1.5cm in size, how aggressive can they get?

Thanks. So it much smaller than the tetra. Because previously i try guppies and tetra, they are so curious that they go near the cherry shrimp and stress until the shrimp die.

Have my pregnant shrimp kill by one of the small guppy(1.5cm).
think it saw the egg & keep chasing it until she cannot take it & die.

Maybe i have to try it out and i will know. haha. Thanks.

Cheers.