Campellolebias brucei

[MickeM]

Hi all ..

It might not be a real tank mate alternative, but for sure an odd South American Killi !!
Fishes of this genus are famous (infamous..) for being quite aggressive..
This old male lives in a tank with a female, but she often hides in the peat and plants..
I really like the size of his eyes...!!

Cheers
Micke

 

[themountain]

Beautiful fish...had myself some Hypsolebias fulminantis...real jewels!

 

[MickeM]

Oh yes they are.. And here you can find a few more!!!!

http://www.itrainsfishes.net/content/

 

[themountain]

great website...thanks for sharing!!

 

[gerald]

The head-on view is amazingly similar to some mouthbrooding Bettas, for example:
http://nicebetta.blogspot.com/2013/04/simple-mouthbrooder-betta-simplex.html

 

[MickeM]

Thanks guys!!

Yes.. Frans Vermeulens website really is one of the best!!

BTW ..!! I have been breeding some Bettas for the last year also.. (Betta miniopinna and Betta hendra) But no larger batches!!
I`ve kept the fry in the same tank as the spawning couples..
I actually moved out my last 4 youngsters of B. hendra from the breeding tank today!! (approx. 1-2cm)
The fry really grow individually fast.. And then I guess they might eat or fight with their siblings if given the opportunity..!!!???

I took some more pics of C. brucei today..
They got some new water a few days ago.. , unfortunately my camera was at home that day!!
(the male becomes almost black+blue when he woos the female!!!!!)

 

[gerald]

Is that concave belly the normal shape for this species, or is it because he is "old" as you stated in post #1?

 

[MickeM]

Yes, I`m afraid it is the age factor ..!
+ the lack of delivered live black worms since 2 months back!!. ( a seasonal product by our wholesaler)
now we/the fishes only get white mosquito larvae.... We will have to start the breeding of the black worms or else now I think!!

My friend stopped main feeding his fishes with tubifex and dry types of food several decades ago..... due to polluted tubifex+way to much restproducts just passing unprocessed by the stomachs of the fishes..! (Though many/all killies eat dry food as well..)
I feed my killie fry dry food approx. twice a week!!
I don`t think it is hard to make grown up to take it..??. in nature they eat almost anything!!

One other thing that might get us worried .. is the Glugea !!!.. "a genus of microsporidian parasites, predominantly infecting fish" !!!(Wikipedia)
..when we buy fishes/eggs !! It was a common problem in the 1970`s-80`s I`ve been told!!??
I don`t know if it is back in the hobby..or maybe always present, but not blooming/developing further!!??

We can often observe our killie males losing weight!!.. they often gets so occupied with the female/s in the tank that he hardly eat at all.
And consuming a lot of energy.. at least when having several males in the same tank!! (Which can be a good alternative sometimes..regarding to the terror balance!)
Due to their short life span they start spawning very early in their lives.. Some annual Nothobrancius (from Africa) are sexually active at the age of 3 weeks!!

We thought that this male would have died already.. months ago..!!! But he is struggling on...guarding his area!! The female hides in the peat most of the time!!
I was reading about that behaviour in one of Dalton Nielsens books if I remember it correctly..
http://www.aquariushobby.com.br/eco...-Cynopoecilini-Dalton-Nielsen-Livro-em-Ingles
Many females+young males of the genus(?)Leptolebias + other similar species lives like that.. diving into the substrate to hide from dominating fishes+ predators of course!!

BTW..here is a reeeeaally nice killi blog!!

http://killiworld.blogspot.se/

/Micke