Rivulus agilae "Mont de Maheury"

[stormhawk]

This is a new addition to my tanks courtesy of a fellow keeper. A very beautiful species indeed.

[Piscesgirl]

Beautiful fish, congrats on getting them!

I did notice the first one looks like the tail is a bit damaged?

[stormhawk]

Hi Deborah, thanks for the comment. Indeed I am lucky to have them. I hope I have better luck in getting them to breed. Was seeing the male try to drive the female into the mosses to spawn. Not sure if it was successful but the female isn't too interested.

Yes you're right, both the dorsal and caudal fins are slightly damaged. I guess the two males had been sparring. Have a reverse trio in my care. The larger male is more orange and does not show the blue colouration on the flanks. Strangely however it is the smaller male that is more colourful and has been the subject of my photograph and it is the more vigorous of the two, having been the usual suspect in trying to drive the female to spawn. They're sharing a tank with some Simpsonichthys fulminantis. I will be moving them to a new tank all for themselves. So far they're behaving themselves.

[stormhawk]

This is the picture of the second male, much larger and much redder. This fella does not show the blue colouration on the flank that well. His blue is very much subdued.

[TyroneGenade]

Hmm... I wonder if there is a genetic basis for the colour difference. You want to try some selective breeding? Maybe produce an all blue or red/gold strain?

Regards

[stormhawk]

I'll probably let both males have a go at spawning with the females. Probably two different batches fathered by both males to compare the result. I hope I don't get some odd result because I really like the bluish tones on the flanks. This isn't a very shy species for a Rivulus.

[stormhawk]

To the one who gave me my original trio, good news, I found the larger male spawning with the female in the java fern thicket. It seems they prefer to spawn on broad-leaf plants.

Another point I noted, this species is a nipper. I saw the smaller male take potshots at the Simp. fulminantis's fins. Taking the fulminantis out soon before serious fin damage occurs.

[zmzfam]

Here's a picture of my male:



Jianyang, drop a mop into the tank. How about removing the thicket and see how's the number of eggs?

[stormhawk]

Hi all, unfortunately I found the female dead last night when I returned from a friend's home. Her body was found in the fulminantis's (sharing the tank) spawning bowl.

I checked the fern thicket and the mosses for eggs. Didn't find any. They were very stingy on eggs. I found just one egg on the mop and it was fungused.

Feeling really lousy now.

[stormhawk]

Zul, let me know if you want the two males back. They're very nicely coloured up already and less inclined to fight each other.