They look very nice and healthy to me
You must have taken good care of them ~
I try to collect new (to me) Pyrrhulina and Copella species and I have successfully bred Copella nigrofasciata and one of the Pyrrhulina rachovia complex species.
Now I have recently acquired three pairs of a species which resemble Pyrrhulina siplota but I am not comfortable calling them that quite yet.
These Tetras are closely related to the well known Splash Tetra but it is the only known species which places its eggs above the water on a leaf.
The rest breed on a stem plant leave like Ludwigia and the males take care of the eggs for about 36 hours. That is when they hatch and are no longer guarded by the male but it is still more care than most Tetras provide.
I have three pairs in a US 20 gal long tank and I am hoping to breed these soon.
I wanted to share a few photos for comments.
Old fish breeder. SA Dwarf Cichlids, Hypancistrus sp L260, L333 and Peckoltia L134 breeder. Also Sturisoma, Dwarf Corydoras spp, wild Discus and Killiefish. Like breeding Characins and wild Betta spp too.
They look very nice and healthy to me
You must have taken good care of them ~
Old fish breeder. SA Dwarf Cichlids, Hypancistrus sp L260, L333 and Peckoltia L134 breeder. Also Sturisoma, Dwarf Corydoras spp, wild Discus and Killiefish. Like breeding Characins and wild Betta spp too.
Wow !! I envy you !! >_< In Singapore, if i have mosquito larvae lying around , i will be in trouble, hahahas
Those are some healthy looking fish you have there. It's hard to id pyrrhulina. My LFS has a tankful of what appeared to be Pyrrhulina, but I couldn't figure out the species. Maybe some variation of p. filamentosa (assuming this picture on German fishbase is representative). The LFS calls them 'splash tetras' of course.
I agree it is very hard to identify the Pyrrhulina and Copella species exactly.
They have such a large range and there have been eons of time for speciation to occur that it would be a tough project to review tjem.
I lost 3 of my P spilota but managed to get 6 more. I put them all in my 125 gal planted Tetra tank so I could use their former home, a 20 US gallon long for a young wild pair of Apistogramma cf. agassizi Variety "Tefe". Stunning even at their young age. Female is bright yellow. I have begun feeding Artemia nauplii daily for my Dicrossus filamentosus, Tefe Aggies and I am also breeding some Killiefish that are old favorites of mine; Aphyosemion australe Orange and Fundulopanchax scheeli.
The fish in the linked photo was different. Not sure if it is a larger species or just that close but it reminded me of Copella guttata which it definitely is not and yet had some colored fins similar to Pyrrhulina cf. rachovia. Seemed chunky but maybe that was an artifact of pose when the shutter snapped.
Old fish breeder. SA Dwarf Cichlids, Hypancistrus sp L260, L333 and Peckoltia L134 breeder. Also Sturisoma, Dwarf Corydoras spp, wild Discus and Killiefish. Like breeding Characins and wild Betta spp too.
Aha. I did a google images search on P. rachovia and came across a picture of a fish that was a much better (and less chunky) match for the one I saw in the LFS. Turns out the picture was posted in this very forum back in 2006.
Participants in the discussion mentioned p. rachoviana, but mickthefish was pretty sure it was a p. brevis. Here's the thread.
I also found some pictures of a chubbier, more coloured-up version of a fish id'd as p. brevis here.
Now I'm tempted to get some. Are pyrrhulina aggressive feeders? I've never kept them before. The ones I saw looked a bit hyper to me. I was concerned they'd outcompete my crenuchids for food.
P. cf. brevis is the one I meant when I used the name P. rachoviana. I have bred these and they are very good community fish and a pretty one. I would love to find them again.
Old fish breeder. SA Dwarf Cichlids, Hypancistrus sp L260, L333 and Peckoltia L134 breeder. Also Sturisoma, Dwarf Corydoras spp, wild Discus and Killiefish. Like breeding Characins and wild Betta spp too.
They just went on sale here. Two for $4.00. They're the ones labelled (and illustrated) as 'splash tetras' in the ad. Probably not worth it when you factor in the plane ticket, though.
I ended up deciding not to buy them. The ones in the store just looked a little too antsy to me. However, I found six copella nigrofasciata across town that were labelled 'redline pencilfish' and bought them on the spot. My first copella species. They're very much like their pencilfish cousins, but with more elegant finnage.
Too bad the first splash tetras were run down but the other was a nice find. I have raised a large number of Pyrrhuliana nigrofasciata and I like them.
Old fish breeder. SA Dwarf Cichlids, Hypancistrus sp L260, L333 and Peckoltia L134 breeder. Also Sturisoma, Dwarf Corydoras spp, wild Discus and Killiefish. Like breeding Characins and wild Betta spp too.
Turns out they are copella nattereri. The Internet says c. nigrofasciata, but Axel Zarske says they are c. nattereri. A much nicer photo than mine is on page 24 of Zarske's article. It also has some comparison images showing the differences between c. nattereri, c. nigrofasciata, and c. meinkeni toward the end.
Here's one of mine...
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