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I'll summarise my Dicrossus filamentosus story to put the latest development in context:
I originally bought 2 juveniles from Rare Aquatics, I wanted more but they only had 2.
Soon after, I bought 4 more juveniles from Aqualife Leyland, so a total of 6.
These 6 grew up in my 120L Lido tank, and as they matured they turned out to be 5M1F.
One of the males died in a tank-cleaning accident
and I moved two other males to my 240L community tank where they have prospered as lonely batchelors.
The 3 remaining in the Lido became a breeding pair and a non-dominant male, and the first of their brood to hatch produced 7 juveniles, which are now about as big as their parents were when I got them. The only other tankmates in the Lido are the Farlowellas (also breeding).
While I was waiting for the breeding pair to actually have some success, I bought 4 more juveniles from Aqualife, picking small ones in the hope that I would get females. These lived in my QT for several months, but in a big shift-around a month ago I put them in the 240L community (which already had the 2 older males). At this stage the smaller fish were of indeterminate sex although one was starting to show the red pectoral fins that indicate a female.
This evening, I glanced over at the 240L to see one of the little Dicrossus up near the surface. This is unusual - they normally hang around on the substrate. And on closer inspection, the pics show what I saw...
So I now have two breeding pairs of Dicrossus filamentosus, in different tanks
I don't know how long the eggs or fry will last in this busy community tank, but no hungry mouths have found them yet.
Now this is interesting! I've had A. agassizi spawn near the surface. Will have to keep an eye as I have 1 female and 2 males in a community tank. I'll keep looking higher up for eggs now! Do you know whether yours are Colombian or Venezuelan? Also, do you know what the water parameters were when they spawned?
Congrats by the way. How do you get to Aqualife?
My 240L community tank has lots of catfish (29 Cory, 2 L244 and 2 Brachyrhamdia) and the big shoal of rummy-noses tends to hang around near the substrate. So the surface is probably the safest place, just a few marble hatchets and the ever-present snails to contend with.
I've seen Cories place eggs up there in the frogbit roots too.
I'll test pH and hardness tomorrow, it's not as acidic as the tank withy other breeding pair (pH4.5-5.0) - it can't be because the snails are still alive!
No idea whether my D.filamentosus are Colombian or Venezuelan - it's possible I have a mix as they were bought in three batches.
I get to Aqualife on the train. It's about 25 minutes walk from Croston station. I picked up a pair of D.warzeli on my most recent visit.
Cheers,
Paul
Cheers. You can tell from the tail patterns which are which. TomC has a good diagram on his site. I was just looking at Aqualife and it's looking good. I was looking into the train and it's about 16 quid from here and takes about 2 hours, but may try and make it over. Suppose I could take my bike on the train to cut the journey time down.
Brachyrhamdia eh? I saw some in Pier last week - they weren't cheap!
Thanks - I'm not sure I've seen TomC's site - could you send me a link?
If you're taking the bike to Aqualife, then you could go to Leyland station which is a bit further from the shop but has a more frequent train service.
There is also an infrequent bus service along the road past Aqualife, but I've never used it as the times weren't convenient.
My Brachyrhamdia also came from Pier a few months back, they are the more common B.meesi and they had come in as odd fish in another shipment so they were quite cheap. Very much cheaper than those B.thayeri they've got recently!
It's been a week since I last did a water-change on this heavily stock tank, and I add micro and macro ferts (though not to full EI quantities) so that will have contributed to the GH and NO3.
This afternoon's challenge is to do a water change without upsetting Mrs Dicrossus!
I've found TomC's site now, and the diagrams. This is the best pic I have of my dominant male, and based on the diagrams I think he's a Rio Negro fish (which is good - it's meant to be a Rio Negro tank).
I'll have a look at the other males later when the tank lights are on, and see if the others are the same. They don't all show off such spectacular finnage so it might be hard to tell.
Cheers, I'll have to have a close look at mine as I have forgotten which they are. They were all hiding in the leaf litter last night so couldn't see properly.
I'll look into going up there as wouldn't mind looking around and their list of apistos looks good.
If I can catch mine I'm tempted to put a pair in my lido 120 to try to get them to breed, although I'm also tempted to put my A. barlowi in there as the female was holding fry last week but none survived.
I've done my water change by siphoning out water as the new water was pumped in - perhaps not quite so efficient but Mrs Dicrossus stayed at her post throughout and the eggs are still intact
Examination of my males suggests that both the dominant ones are both the Rio Negro variant. The others are impossible to tell.
A pair of Apistos labelled up as A. pertensis. They're quite young and one is definitely male. Not sure about the other yet.
Saw lots of fish I'd like but pretty limited as to what I can fit in at the moment. Was tempted by the Dicrossus warzeli but couldn't justify the price when I don't really have much space.
I took my juvenile Dicrossus and some Moanda to Aqualife today, to trade them in. The Dicrossus were sold to another customer before they were even out of my bag!
I've had a bit of a move around with the adults, so they're no longer in with the Farlowellas. Hopefully they will breed again in their new tank.
Thanks the Farlowellas have spawned again this evening too!
Yesterday I also had my new shoal of coffee-bean tetras spawning, though the eggs got gobbled up by Cories. I'd quite like to try breeding some characins - need to get a tank set up for it really.