Finally... Fries!

[900801]

Guess we all know the channodes buddy haha. Heard from him about the apple snails too. However in my opinion I feel that apple snails aren't the best, shrimps either. For cherry shrimps if the water is too dark and the ph quite low, they just die. Apple snails i used to keep them many years ago with betta smaragdina some live really long some just die off. Their optimal ph is 7-8. I feel that we should use Nerite Snail instead(never tried before but just gut feel. If i have time i'll get some and test). Or just do weekly water change. Usually the best option is just water change. Thats just my 2 cents.

[Emokidz]

Ooo, apple snails. Must go look for some. Right now, I'm keeping them...including the tank of babies. I count about 10 or so...so small, my eyesight is bad. LOL!

C328 brings in apple snails regularly, they can e found in the small tanks they store corydoras next to the stingray section. Not recommended if you have fine substrate in your tank though, the snails don't seem to like this and have a hard time getting about. Haha. From my experience, grow out tanks without substrate are much easier to maintain, and siphon out waste.

All the best! Channoide fry get cuter as time goes by, exact miniatures of their parents (less the colour though)...

[Emokidz]

Hello Bernard,

That's a pity. From what I see, almost all of the small bubblenesters are getting scarce in the hobby. A good friend of mine is returning from Germany to Malaysia over the weekend. Even he says the anabantoid scene is getting smaller and smaller even in Europe.

Yup, the need for these small species (or wild betta in general) to have species-only set ups, coupled with their prices is probably a barrier to entry for newer hobbyists who might not to take the risk. For the ones already in the hobby, it's a reason to get out. Haha. After reading Ronnie and your posts on Killifish, I would say both the Killifish and Wild Betta scenes here face the same sort of situation. Of course, I must admit that Killie keepers probably have it harder with most species coming from the West. Wild bettas are more of an Asian thing, centered in our neighbouring countries Indonesia and Malaysia.

[Emokidz]

Guess we all know the channodes buddy haha.

Eh... I think so too! Hahaha!

[stormhawk]

Yup. It's harder for us when the eggs and fish we want are concentrated in Europe and the US, with the US hobbyists least keen to share them. I wish you the best of luck in your attempts to get the Ayer Hitam strain. I just passed by Muar and Ayer Hitam recently. From what I see, the oil palm plantations have expanded. I guess the future is bleak for these persephone in the wild.

By the way, have you tried miniopinna yet?

[Emokidz]

Thanks Jianyang, nope I haven't seen or heard any news about Betta miniopinna, sadly. A few online accounts record successful collection of the species in Bintan, though not in high numbers. These include the NUS zoological department's academic reports, IBC, the team aquaholic expedition and other independent accounts. All these recounts and reports date back to 2005 or earlier, however. In fact, I haven't been able to find much news (or any for that matter... Haha!) on this elusive betta. IMO, chances the species will appear among our hobbyists remains bleak -- Unless news about their availability happens to come about.

I did however chance upon a small online business that deals with these fish. They seem to only ship in bulk (eg. 20 pairs) and prices are quite steep. Their last update was in 2007 though.

If the opportunity does arrive however, I'll definitely want to get my hands on them. Them and Parosphromenus tweediei -- the super-adorable liquorice gourami!

[Emokidz]

Just an update on the persephone fry, they are slightly larger than ANN fry and doing fine now in the free-swimming stage. Counted about slightly more than 20 before they left the nest. Will be updating as it goes along.

Will try to get some pictures up to share.

[johannes]

Hi Johannes, thanks! Yup I'm planning to leave them in with the parents. Do you separate the parents at any time or just leave them in the tank undisturbed to do their thing?
I've read your previous posts too on breeding B. persephone, very inspiring!

Hi Bernard, i do not separate the parents. They can live peacefully with the fry. The thing is when the fry gets a little to big, they will stop spawning. And anyway too many fry in the breeding tank also increases bioload, so i think max would be 20-40. Once you have reached such number, wait for the fry to be arouond 1-1.5 cm and do the transfer to grow out tank.

[Emokidz]

Thanks Johannes, I still got a lot to learn from all of you haha. Right now the fry are feeding on live daphnia and infusoria. Only see a few around the place, rest probably hiding among the salvanias. They are so you that the parents and older spawn could easily eat them during snack time. Haha! So beautiful, yet peaceful. Great fish!

[Emokidz]

Some updates on the persephone pair, the first batch of 3 fry have grown till about 2.5cm and are starting to colour up.

DSC04874.jpg
DSC04881.jpg

Some pictures of the father in action, flaring.
DSC04848.jpg
DSC04844.jpg
DSC04802.jpg

[Emokidz]

And here is the batch of fry I updated on earlier (38 days old, the first batch is 56 days). They are kept in a different tank with moss and a KTP leaf to grow out. So far, zero mortality with bi-weekly partial water changes. The 20-odd of them are about 0.8 - 1cm big.
DSC04887.jpg
DSC04870.jpg
DSC04864.jpg

Thanks for viewing!

[Mudskipper]

Very nice!! They do grow fast, huh? My stupid Channoides only about 1.5 cm, some are bigger and some smaller. Plus I now have 3 other batches...one batch is a week old and the other two a day old. *sigh*

[Emokidz]

Yup, same goes for my pers fry. Some grow much faster than the others. About 2 to 3 times bigger! I remove the bugger fry to another tank. The smaller ones start growing better after that. Once they are large enough, tubifex is the best diet IMO. I supplement it with bbs and daphnia as well as hikari first bites and frozen foods.

[Mudskipper]

I've been feeding boon daily...they can now eat the small sized bloodworms so I've been feeding that. Every week, two or three times a week, they get live brine shrimp which they just go nuts over. I did split them into two tanks...now the smaller ones are catching up in size. It's really interesting, but overwhelming to have five tanks of fries going at a time. Not sure where to put them all...maybe gotta get another rack.

[Emokidz]

Haha! I get what you mean. Perhaps you should separate te parents permanently to prevet another batch. Since you probably don't want so many fries from the same few parents too. plus with the Uninacs coming in, better to stop chan IDE production haha!

[Mudskipper]

Parents are in different tanks already. No more...no more. I think I will be putting the unimacs in the community tank for now. No space lah.

[Emokidz]

Yup, I think that putting them apart is better to prevent too many babies. Hope the Unimacs will be fine in the community tank..

[oddstamp]

Congrats on your spawn! some nicely taken pictures too

[Emokidz]

Thank you! They are currently doing well too. Will uodate with more pictures when they grow more.

[Mudskipper]

I can't wait to see them colour up. I bet the look amazing!!