Sphaerichthys vaillanti

**stormhawk** · 3rd Jul 2004, 07:25

Hi all, just obtained this beautiful pair of S. vaillanti from a shop. They're very lively little fish feeding well on tubifex. Currently housed in a 1ft tank with ADA Africana as the substrate and hornwort for decoration. Filtered by a Five-Plan Roka Boy S filter. So far they have stabilised and are enjoying their new home.

Anyone else here have kept this species or the other chocolate gourami species before? More information on this species would be greatly appreciated. :wink:

**ruyle** · 3rd Jul 2004, 08:28

Hi Jianyang, I've edited this:
I kept the chocolate gouramies (Sphaerichthys osphromenoides) back in
1980-1982 in Portland, Oregon. Portland's water (at least at that time) was
naturally soft and acid and I kept the tank at a steady 78-80F and fed
mainly live food: excess Colisa lalia fry (yes, some of Nature's lessons are harsh!) which they avidly went for. In their natural habitat, rasbora too,
are found and water quality must be very high: weekly water changes are
highly recommended. Fertilised mama fish should have their own abode
(something I didn't do, therefore no fry!) and promptly removed after fry
hatch in about 12 days. This is *after* the eggs emerge from her mouth!
One source says to wait 7 days after she's placed them in her brood pouch before moving her to her own tank. Young females may eat the eggs the
first few times, which is expected. She keeps the fertilised eggs in her
brood pouch for 3 weeks which sounds like a long time! I never measured water parameters back then but ideally: ph: 6-6.5, GH-0-5, Ammonia: 0,
Nitrite: 0, and Nitrate: <10ppm. If you are successful, the fry can take bbs straight off. I had 3 pairs in an old 15 gallon metaframe show tank that was heavily planted. Mama's private bungalow should be heavily planted, too, to give her a more secure feeling and for the fry to hide in, while you gather mama up to place in the adults' tank. You want even number male-female which you've done, to encourage pairing. I did several things wrong when I kept them, but I didn't kill them, either.

If you can keep them close to the above water parameters and feed them plenty of small live food, they should reward you with fry!

77-86F is their temp range.

Dave Wood, a friend of mine and KL's in England, has successfully bred
these fish. I could send an email to him if you want, for advice.

Bill
farang9

**stormhawk** · 5th Jul 2004, 10:15

Bill, I'd appreciate any precious information that would give me more insights on their captive husbandry. Surprisingly, its the male that does the mouth-brooding rather than the colourful female. Here's a picture of the female in breeding colour.

**ruyle** · 5th Jul 2004, 11:31

Wow, Jianyang! And I thought chocolates were pretty! When I bought my
3 pairs of chocolates, I had purchased them from the same LFS that sold
me my dwarf gouramies and dwarf honey gouramies. He told me the chocolates were just like the above, bubble nest builders!!???

Can't get over how brightly colored your female is!

I will email Dave and see what he has to say. :wink:

Regards,

Bill
farang9

**Dave Wood** · 6th Jul 2004, 05:22

Hi All....Hi KL,
My reply to Bill about choc gouramis was based on info from about 30 years ago......I may be wrong about the females incubating the eggs.Oh the problems of youth

Dave Wood.

**ruyle** · 6th Jul 2004, 06:56

Folks, Dave is way too modest! He has successfully bred an incredible
amount of killies as well as other species. Dave, welcome to killies.com!
I'm sure KL will be saying "hello" before too long.

Good to hear from you,

Best regards,

Bill
farang9

**whuntley** · 6th Jul 2004, 08:42

I tried to breed Sphaerichthys osphromenoides a few years ago with no success. I found a nice strain in a SF shop with bright red anal fin trim, and really wanted to keep them going. At the time I was doing lots of wild Betta species and may have tried too hard to emulate their conditions. IDK.

I gather that Sphaerichthys don't travel well, as Robert Nhan tried hard to bring some he caught wild from Viet Nam, but he couldn't keep most of them going until his plane left! Delicate Rasboras, yes, but chocolates, no.

Some day, I'd like to try them again, and the vaillanti look like a pretty way to do it. Hope you guys keep them in the hobby.

Wright

**ruyle** · 6th Jul 2004, 10:16

I agree, Wright, the vaillanti are a pretty way to do it. Dave said his
chocolate gouramies spit out about 8-10 live young, no yolk sac. All that
I've read thus far about the chocolates is the female is the mouth brooder.
He also used a 3foot tank for a dozen fish, which was heavily planted with
val and cabomba, and didn't remove the females to another tank. That
Dave certainly has a wet thumb!

Bill
farang9

**stormhawk** · 6th Jul 2004, 11:05

Wright, yes they're a pretty way to get back to anabantoids. Don't need much fuss with this species. I'm keeping mine in pH 6.0 and they're OK. Don't know much about whether my water's hard or not. Have never tested for hardness anyway.

Seems its much easier to handle compared to selatanensis and osphromenoides. I have no idea about acrostoma though. If you're looking for some I believe the US Anabantoid Society should have some available from the members. Mine have pretty much stabilised and are feeding well on tubifex and BBS at the moment. Haven't tried daphnia yet but I sure will.

I should be getting some small Boraras sp. as their tankmates. At least they won't be so shy. Giving them a small clay hideaway so that they'll feel more at ease in the tank.

**stormhawk** · 6th Jul 2004, 11:07

Bill, if i'm not wrong the females of the other Sphaerichthys species do the mouthbrooding whereas its reversed in this species. Even the colouration of the sexes is reversed where normally you'd consider the colourful ones to be the males. Really odd little fish.

**RonWill** · 6th Jul 2004, 11:21

Originally Posted by Dave Wood

My reply to Bill about choc gouramis was based on info from about 30 years ago......I may be wrong about the females incubating the eggs.Oh the problems of youth

Dave, welcome onboard and don't worry over the occasional memory lapse... it happens :wink: I love to breed fishes and if the S. vaillanti does well in a densely planted setup, it won't be long before I try 'em. Do you recall them being 'kamakazi pilots' like most killies? Will a open-concept tank suit the vaillanti or will I expect crispies?

Bill, I'm delighted that you managed to rope in another 'matured' wet thumber. Not only is this forum young, but so are most of the members and we can sure learn a thing or two from you folks.

Jian Yang, nice pics! Keep 'em coming and I'll be real tempted :wink:

**Slaigar** · 6th Jul 2004, 11:27

Jianyang, that is a beautiful fish you have there. I love anabantoids but there is not much of a selection here- or any other fish for that matter. When I saw some Chocolate gouramis at my LFS, I did not purchase them because I knew I would just end up killing all of them in my hard water! But I did a bit of research after that sighting. I have heard that they like warm temperatures, but I am sure you have that covered with the weather in Singapore.

Dave, Welcome to Killies.com!

**stormhawk** · 6th Jul 2004, 11:29

Ron, they're not very skittish fish. Not too shy either. If you don't make sudden movements they won't run around like mad idiots like the CON do. Now those are major skitzos.

Open tank concepts should suit them fine as long as they're not disturbed too much. Won't be going crispy on you I think. They're not adapted to jumping like the others. Of course I wouldn't know much on that aspect but I keep the tank covered. For security reasons I wouldn't want a crispie from my pair. :wink:

**hwchoy** · 6th Jul 2004, 14:18

Looks like Jian Yang is not doing a good enough job to get you hooked.

He shall be punished by having to look at the beautiful female Sphaerichthys vaillanti I'm going to post here.

ps: the fish isn't mine, and photo credit to MrTree.
pps: Ronnie, cheong NOW!

**RonWill** · 6th Jul 2004, 14:46

Don't I wish all females look this good!

One thing I don't understand is... why is the male so bland?? Not quite the norm for fishes, where it's usually the males that are brightly colored to attact potential mates.

**hwchoy** · 6th Jul 2004, 15:59

Originally Posted by RonWill

Don't I wish all females look this good!

that's not a nice thing to say about your missus!

hee hee hee.

**Dave Wood** · 8th Jul 2004, 03:58

Hi All,
I really must post my profile.
Bill's comments about my skill are too kind....like most "experienced" fishkeepers I have killed fish through mistakes. One thing I have learned ,however, is patience. I set out to breed Ctenopoma kingsleyae, and it took me eleven years before succeeding, and then it happened by accident.

A few of you know me already. Those who don't know me..."Hi". I will apologise now for my sense of humour, which occasionally appears in my emails.

I hope to become very involved with this forum.
Regards,
Dave Wood (UK)

**stormhawk** · 8th Jul 2004, 04:03

Hi Dave, looking forward to getting more information from you regarding the care of anabantoids. This vaillanti pair happens to be my ONLY anabantoid in my care right now. Will not be getting new additions until I've consolidated all the fish in my care. Juggling anabantoid, corydoras and killifish spawning plans can be pretty tight to squeeze in anything else. Attempting to spawn Corydoras pygmaeus, habrosus and paleatus. Hopefully I'm successful with those so that I can go on to other species. :wink:

**Dave Wood** · 9th Jul 2004, 06:25

Hi Jianyang,
I'm NOT an expert with anabantoids.....I have kept/bred a few of the bettas, plus Ctenopoma kingsleyae and ansorgei (whatever it's genus is now.) plus the usual gouramis. Most of these fish were attempted because of a bad habit of "impulse buying" which 99% of fishkeepers seem to have. My all-time favourite after the Ctenopomas is Belontia hasselti which I kept for around 8 years without breeding.
The corydoras you mention are rated as fairly easy (in books.) Strange that not many fishkeepers succeed. My best results with ANY cory was to keep them in permanent planted set-ups and feed them on live foods.It is amazing how often babies appear.
(Story time.) I was asked by a beginner a few years ago to help him breed dwarf gouramis. We set-up a small tank, added a few pieces of cabomba, and a pair of dwarfs. They spawned a few days later, female removed, eggs hatched, fry appeared,male removed,...all normal. A week or so later the gourami fry had all been replaced by corydoras fry which had appeared in the tank.Lesson...always check plants for eggs when removing them from a corydoras set-up.

Regards,
Dave W.

**stormhawk** · 9th Jul 2004, 12:38

Hi Dave, I had some Corydoras pygmaeus spawning for me some time ago but none of the fry made it. The fry tank had an infestation of some odd white worm that moves just like a flatworm but isn't a flatworm. I have no idea what that worm is but these cory fry are just ravenous feeders. Once they know what a microworm is, they go on and on.

There are people locally in Singapore who have found cory fry hiding in their canister filters and some who have actually found fry in their permanent planted setups. During a water change all of them will start trying to spawn. Especially if its cold weather at that moment of time. :wink:

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