Leptolebias fractifasciatus Saquarema F4

[stormhawk]

Hi all,

Just wanted to show something new, courtesy of a fellow killie keeper. Very cute little fella and my very first Leptolebias. Larger of two males in a quartet (2M/2F). Not yet ready for breeding so I'll just have to pump them up. Pardon the pic quality the camera was working in low light so as not to spook them.



Ain't he cute?

[ruyle]

Jianyang,
Very cute indeed! Keep us posted and good luck with these!

Bill

[stormhawk]

Thanks Bill, I'll try my best. Its in the hands of 3 fellas locally in SG. Hopefully we 3 can do wonders with this species.

In a few weeks I expect to see its close relative, Leptolebias minimus, make its appearance in SG. I'll post the pics if the fish made it through.

[Piscesgirl]

Definitely a beautiful fish!

By the way, what fish is in your avatar? Is there a bigger picture somewhere?

[stormhawk]

Hi Deborah. Yes its definitely a beautiful fish. All thanks to one of the fellas here for having given me two pairs to start off with.

The fish in my avatar is my adult male Simp. flammeus Nova Roma AC-03. There is a bigger picture of the fish however but it is different from my avatar and I've posted it on the flammeus thread. Its a newly shot pic that I just edited.

The avatar shot was a lucky try as the bugger was actually about to turn when I shot the picture. I didn't realise it came out nicely until I took a closer look and did some editing.

[stormhawk]

So far I've found some eggs being laid by the female on the tank bottom but they're infertile. Probably the male isn't mature yet. For the Leptolebias breeders out there, how old are your fish when they begin to lay fertile eggs?

One is growing very well whereas the smaller male seems to be wasting away for no apparent reason. I fed them the same foods that I feed to my other killies but this male isn't growing. The larger male has formed bluish scales on the flanks interspersed with red jagged lines on the sides. The two females are growing much bigger though.

[Svein]

Hello Jianyang

I have bred these lovely jewels in 6 generations now, and I have found a system doing it.

I put a handful with peat in a corner when the fish are about 8 weeks. leptolebias is a panic fish, so I try to disturb they as little as possible, so I don't use any peat tank to these species.

I collected the peat every 14 day, and get normally about 100 fries.
By the way, it's always a challange collecting peat, because the fish get panic, and hide in the peat, so I use too much time picking out fish in the peat so don't squeeze the peat before you are sure that there are no fish in it

I think Leptolebias minimus (earlier fractifasciatus) is the most productive species.
Here is one of my Leptolebias minimus "Inoa" F6
Good luck

[RonWill]

Svein, you have good hands with this species but for now, I can do less with 'panicky' killies. Slowly but surely, I'm moving out of annual species again due to lack of time and with tired eyes, digging for fishes or eggs in peat ain't much fun.

The minimus is indeed very pretty and I wish you guys good luck with them.

[stormhawk]

Hi Svein, according to what I know, fractifasciatus is a valid species at this moment.

The location Inoa is under its geographical distribution therefore it is fractifasciatus Inoa, not minimus. Leptolebias minimus is located to the other side of the bay in Rio de Janeiro. They are separated by a mountain range I think.

The fish that are in my possession looks alot like yours. They are really small little jewels.

Map of Saquarema, RJ, Brazil.

If you look at the map in the link above, the city of Inoa is a little to the left of Saquarema.

[stormhawk]

Before I forget, I did intend to try the peat on the tank bottom like you mentioned but decided not to. I didn't want the tubifex to hide in the peat layer and contaminate it.

I currently have 3 pairs of which 2 pairs are ready to spawn I think. I will be giving them a shallow bowl since these are not exactly divers.

Let's see the results then.