Dicrossus filamentosus - sexing and advice?

[Cooder]

VERY different! Get $95 for a pair! The F1 A. baenschi im getting along with them are $35 each!

Spend as much as I do mate, and you would have 3 times as many fish as me! haha

 

[Mol_PMB]

Wow! Well good luck with breeding them and selling the youngsters for a fat profit
Let us know how you get on - I'm hoping that in a few months mine will be at a breeding age too!

 

[Cooder]

Just ordered 2 pairs, hopefully they come safe and sound. I'll post a pic of them and the baenschi + there tanks when they arrive.

 

[Mol_PMB]

Great

 

[Mol_PMB]

Until this weekend, my Dicrossus were in a busy tank with 35 fish including Rummies, hatchets and plecos. Tonight they're in the same tank on their own, after a major move-around involving my new 4' tank.

I would like to try and breed them.

I am considering adding some new tank-mates in this 120L tank. Options in my mind include:
- Farlowella twig cats
- beckfordi pencilfish.
Any thoughts?
Cheers,
Mol

 

[Cooder]

Gorgeous little fish, and love the tank! Bet your keen for them to mature!

 

[Mol_PMB]

Thanks
I'm looking forward to seeing pics of your adults!

 

[Cooder]

My 2 Pairs of D. filamentosus came the other day, and have been settling in very nicely. Unfortunately i cant say the same for the F1 baenschi trio... The male and a female died, leaving me with 1 lonely female.
The flight was delayed and the box reached my door 12 hrs later than it should have... Im surprised that the filamentosus werent worse off.
This is the largest male (apologies for the dirty glass!):







In this photo you can see the difference in tail size and colour between the 2 males. (couldnt get a decent picture of the other male haha)


And their tank:


Its got a pinkish light on it, so the tannins look worse than what they are, although it is quite heavily stained haha! Weirdly though i cant get the pH below 6, even though im using pure rain water that comes out of the tank at 5.5. Ill have to see what i can do.

Hope you enjoyed

 

[Mol_PMB]

Sad news on the baenschi

But those Dicrossus look lovely, and the tank does too. Thanks for sharing.

I've found that mine aren't shy at all, so I've decided not to add any dithers, but I may put a couple of twig cats.

You may find that the pH drops a little over time, or try filtering some of the water through moss peat. There is also the option of adding phosphoric acid. I haven't tried that myself and obviously you need to be very careful in a soft-water tank...

I suspect that the hardness (or lack of it) may be more significant than the actual pH, as far as the fish are concerned.

 

[Cooder]

Well, the largest female is looking plump and her ventrals have a slight reddish tinge. The dominant male also seems to be sticking around her and displaying more than usual (gorgeous sight to see!) Im waiting for her to start cleaning a site.

If i do end up with a batch of eggs, can anyone offer advice to help keep them alive? i dont have any fry food at the moment, might have to order some brine eggs...

Its looking hopeful!

 

[Mol_PMB]

Exciting times

I have a micro-worm culture which I am feeding my Cory melini fry with. I think that would be a good food for Dicrossus fry too, brine shrimp eggs would be good as well.

I have a dominant male developing filaments on the tail, which is nice. There is also another male but the filaments aren't so developed. I nearly bought 2 more fish yesterday on offer for £3 for two, but I decided I had enough already.

I've added some Farlowellas to my tank and they're keeping the place clean and tidy while largely ignoring (and being ignored by) the Dicrossus.

 

[regani]

with the decaying leaves and driftwood there is usually some biological material like infusoria for the fry to graze on but it wont be enough to keep them alive over time without anything else. I haven't kept Dicrossus but from what I have read BBS and/or microworms are suitable for the fry.
If you can't get anything locally, pm me your address and I can mail you a starter culture for the microworms.

 

[Mol_PMB]

As the Dicrossus grow up, there is a little bit more gentle aggression between them. I've still seen no actual contact but I have seen a face-off between the male with the longest tail and one of the others. I assume the one with the longest tail is becoming the dominant male and is hence now named 'King' ('Pawn' is the runt)

I have also recently seen two of the fish hunkering down against a twig and fading their colours out, hiding. They might do that for 10 minutes or so, then decide to go for a swim at which point they brighten back up to normal colours and act normal. They don't act sick or anything, it just seems to be a way of hiding in plain sight. Maybe hiding from the dominant male who seems to spend more time around the bottom of the tank where most of the proper hiding places are.

Here is a nice pic of the dominant male plus two of the others in their hiding places (each one has its own place) Also a couple of pics of one of what I think are underdog males on the prowl for a challenge!

 

[Mol_PMB]

last 2 pics from previous message...

 

[Mol_PMB]

My Dicrossus are growing up. I'm away from home quite a lot at the moment and came back to find them with long tail filaments and red/cyan colouration. Very pretty!
But, I'm rather worried that all/most of them are turning out to be males.

There are 5 larger ones of which I think 4 have definite tail filaments and bright colours. The fifth is the one on the right side of the third picture, not so colourful but looks like it is starting to get a pointy tail - so probably also male?
The runt of the group is still smaller than the rest so could go either way.

These came from 2 different shops about 5 months ago when they were all small. Have I just been very unlucky to get so many males?

I've seen a lot of chasing and occasional lip-locking. Can I get away with keeping them all together or should I separate / re-home some?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Mol_PMB]

I've attached a few more pics of my maturing Dicrossus. I now think I have 5 boys and a girl. Hope she doesn't get too much hassle!
I love the colours and behaviour of these little fish

I've been away from home a lot recently and got more trips planned soon, but these guys seem to be doing really well without me.
Hoping things will get back to normal in a few weeks time and I can enjoy their antics even more

 

[Mol_PMB]

I've attached a few more pics of my maturing Dicrossus. I now think I have 5 boys and a girl. Hope she doesn't get too much hassle!
I love the colours and behaviour of these little fish
View attachment 3550
View attachment 3551
View attachment 3552
View attachment 3553
View attachment 3555

I've been away from home a lot recently and got more trips planned soon, but these guys seem to be doing really well without me.
Hoping things will get back to normal in a few weeks time and I can enjoy their antics even more

 

[Mol_PMB]

I'm seeing a lot more chasing between the males now, but no obvious violence except perhaps the odd nipped tail filament (I guess, because one fish has one filament a lot shorter than the other which I hadn't noticed before)

I have seen a different behaviour between the sole female and at least one of the males - it looks like she is trying to bite his flank - she usually has a few goes while he rather half-heartedly moves away (nothing like the speed that they move when being harassed by another male).
Is this fish-flirting or is she trying to warn him off?

Would It be a good idea to remove four of the males to another tank? I like watching the six of them interact but I'd also like to see if I can breed them.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Mol_PMB]

This is my dominant male, with the sole female visible in the background. Aren't they beautiful?

 

[Mol_PMB]

There's more aggression between the 6 fish this evening, including lip-locking, and attempts to nip the side of another fish (or maybe ram the swim bladder?).
This is spectacular to watch but I'm worried they will get hurt.

The solitary female is involved in the aggression too. She looks plumper than she was, and there's a small protrusion from her underside that might be an ovipositor? I'm not really sure what I'm looking for!
The female does seem to spend quite a lot of time fighting off the males.

Should I try to remove some of the 5 males from the tank? They will be hard to catch but I could put some in my big community tank if I can catch them.