Congopanchax brichardi

[multifaciatus]

They are pretty easy to spawn. Mop spawners, I just fattened up the female and changed out the mop (christmas moss) every few days. Tough little fish, my female survived getting squished in the packing bag, thought she was dead at first, then she swam around in an L shape for a while. I had to hand feed her at the surface for a long time, and I was going to put her down but she managed to pull through. So I bred them in a one gallon with one L-shaped female and two males. I got about 40 babies. pH 7.0, temp 78

[SCOPE]

Glad to hear that. i am currently trying with 2 pairs. Will try to updates on any progress.

[h3ng]

Glad to hear that. i am currently trying with 2 pairs. Will try to updates on any progress.

hi, where you buy, or you got any pair can sell it to me .?.

[RonWill]

hi, where you buy, or you got any pair can sell it to me .?.

H3ng, you might want to take a queue number for F3 fry...

Joe, what was the landed mortality rate and did you drip acclimatize the newcomers? Sincerely, my best of luck with those little jewels and do keep us posted! [I've got my ears glued to this thread!]

[SCOPE]

H3ng, you might want to take a queue number for F3 fry...

Joe, what was the landed mortality rate and did you drip acclimatize the newcomers? Sincerely, my best of luck with those little jewels and do keep us posted! [I've got my ears glued to this thread!]

i handcarry back 10pcs...left 5pcs after 2nd day...lucky to got 2 pairs last till now. i will update further till the fishes are condition well.

[RonWill]

wah... that's 50% mortality man...

Joe, I'm curious how the Congopanchax were 'prepared' and packed for shipping, ie. did the fishes 'fast' to minimize waste produce during transit, any medication in the packing water, were breather bags used, etc.

I recall shipping annulatus to the UK a long time ago and had them packed singly in little breather bags. Arrived alive, hungry and stressed but otherwise healthy. Then again, these were home bred, home raised and were robust specimens (ANNs are also known to fair badly during transport)

Can you describe the setup these buggers are in? Plants? Diet? Spawing mops??? Mops are easy to do once you get the hang of it.

[RonWill]

So I bred them in a one gallon with one L-shaped female and two males

I just noticed the size of the breeding container... only one gallon? Gee... that's kinda small isn't it? Are you using sponge filtration or letting plants do the work?

78 °F is approximately 25.5 °C, which is possible during the year-end monsoon season but can be a challenge to maintain this range throughout the year without a chiller.

What are you feeding the reversed trio? BBS, grindals...?

[TyroneGenade]

Some photos of these guys, by Paul Wu of Taiwan, can be seen here: http://rb5killifish.blogspot.com/

Quite attractive little guys.

[rb5_wu]

Yes, as Tyrone posted, I have one batch of brichardi in my hand now., about 50 individuals.
According to importer, the survival rate was only about 25% after these fish were just newly imported.
Few days later when the survival fish were much stable, I was so lucky that the individuals I got were healthy and in perfect condition.
Few weeks later after I bought them home, they started to spwan without problem.
I use regular tap water to keep them with only an air-lift filter.
To avoid the infection of velet which easily attacks not only Nothos but also lampeyes in my experience, I add some salt into the tank.
I am not sure if this step is necessary for brichardi or not, but at least they are still in good condition now.
Like many of you guys said, a floating mop is a good way for them to spawn.
But the eggs were found not only in the upper region but also in the lower region of the mop.
Till now, I don't think brichardi a difficult species to keep and to breed, as long as they are in good condition after travelling in long distance and time.
They even can eat artificial fish feed without problem, as many lampeyes do.
The major difficult of breeding lies in the preparation of initial food for the newly hatched frys.

Paul Wu

[stormhawk]

Hi Paul,

Experience with the Poropanchax fry tells me that the fry are large upon hatching, but have pretty tiny mouths. Is this the same with the brichardi fry?

[rb5_wu]

Hi Paul,

Experience with the Poropanchax fry tells me that the fry are large upon hatching, but have pretty tiny mouths. Is this the same with the brichardi fry?

Yes the eggs and frys are large compared to their tiny parents (2-3 cm), but I still think they are small.
I feed the frys with water from my water lily tank (I think there must be microorganisms inside), vinegar eels, and green-algae powder.
I lost my stock of paramecium, or I think it should be a perfect food for the frys.
Don't even think about using BBS for the frys.
BBS is used as one of the major food for the adults.

Paul Wu

[stormhawk]

Ouch, no wonder people said they were a pain to breed (in this case raising the fry).

Time for me to restart my vinegar eel culture.

[RonWill]

JianYang,
From Paul's description/observations, raise the fry as you would for Dario dario and P. annulatus, and you'd do just fine.

[TyroneGenade]

For annulatus I separate the fry by size and keep 2-3 fry to a 2L plastic tub with Java moss and Riccia. This seems to work well. After about 2 weeks I can feed the annulatus BBS.

[WildPERU]

@SCOPE:

I tried looking up info for you, but there's zero info on this fish on a key West African killie site. I think it's known more as Poropanchax brichardi now, but taxonomy on killies keep changing constantly. In any case, they are apparently subsceptible to stress during moving.

If you're planning to ship them here from Taiwan, I believe your mortality rate might be fairly high. It is a beautiful little lampeye. According to breeding info, the eggs are large, but fry tiny. Similar breeding habits as per other lampeyes.

I remember something when I used to have P. normani fry. They'd be large but have really tiny mouths. If you're used to fry needing infusoria and smaller organisms for the first 2-3 days, then raising P. brichardi fry shouldn't be an issue.

An excerpt about this little killie I found on the web:



From here:

http://www.fishchannel.com/setups/fr.../new-fish.aspx

I guess just treat them the way you would with Clown Killies.

Your idea about treating them like clown killies is apt. They are very stress-prone, so once you have them settled and eating well, I would set them up in a quiet part of the fishroom with a tank ful of Java moss , dimly lit and moderate current. Be sure to screen the filter intake if you use a HOT filter! Peat and Oak leaves for a substrate are a good choice as the presence of tannins and the humic acids given off help mimic their natural condition. I kept then at 22C, and fed frozen rotifers, live BBS and powered dry food ( flake). a great first food for the fry is APR (powdered rotifers), this is the same stuff I was feeding Pantaodon stuhlmanni fry (these things make Betta fry look like whales) with good success. The parents ignore the babies. 5-10% water changes every 2-3 days worked well. The presence of a current really seemed to make a difference. THey became much more active and came out more IME. Not too much current though! Not like for Procatopus!!! I keep my Procats. like little trout in very strong current. THis would not be appropriate for these little guys.

Even with all this coddling they only lasted two generations. I don't know why??? I think they need huge swarms of fish with them to truly feel at home. And they may just be short-lived in the wild. Who knows!?!?! I waited nearly 15 years to finally see this fish. I am hopeful that we can someday find tank-raised ones bred like the Normani, but perhaps they are a bit like Discus in that the tank raised ones will prove to be hardier than their wild caught counterparts, IDK. Great fish though!! It was worth the wait.

Best,

[RonWill]

Congopanchax brichardi sighted @ GC. Guess who already dipped net into the tank??!!! Not many left orh...

[stormhawk]

Too puny for me!

[RonWill]

erm... puny??!! JianYang, you meant to say, "too challenging to keep it alive" issit???

Let's just say that whatever species that's slowly surfacing is just the tip of the iceberg... probably the same one that sank the Titanic!!

[stormhawk]

Raiding time I guess? I need some ramshorn...

[RonWill]

Ramshorn on Defcon 1. Since my last experiment blunder, I don't have enough of them. Will sms you when I have extra.