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Borellii Colony

Samala

Active Member
Messages
99
Location
Oviedo, FL
A little update from my fish room on the Borellii colony I started about year ago.

This is a US 40gal (roughly 120x30x40cm) with a handful of Nannostomus beckfordi and originally one pair of Borellii. My last good count is closer to 15 Borellii (one pair, one young adult male that I'm keeping, many subdominant/juveniles) plus a recent "super spawn" of which there are definitely too many survivors. I catch out juveniles as they color up and hit the 1" mark. It's harder to place them locally than I anticipated. Currently considering fry predator options given the dominant female's larger clutch sizes lately and increasing success with raising fry.

After a year of successive batches of fry I'm really surprised: a) that the blue/yellow color morph males always seem to grow the fastest, b) how small juvenile females are when they take on yellow breeding coloration, and c) how lucky I've been with aggression and sparring not leading to any injuries or deaths. Surely wouldn't get away with this with other species (?).

They are a joy to watch as a colony with all the multi-layered behaviors and relationships that have sprung up.

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"Jefe", about eight months, along with a juvenile female that flirts with him all day that he ignores

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Juvenile male, seems he will be a blue/yellow color morph

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Another juvenile that looks to be blue/yellow along with a little female that dominates this part of the tank (she's maybe 1/2"!)

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Terrible quality but this little guy with beautiful pink markings is hard to photograph as his stomping grounds are in the back of the tank (he's up front for BBS and trying to hold his ground here)

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Cute little males that have started to show yellow throat markings with their sisters/clutch-mates going gold
 

Samala

Active Member
Messages
99
Location
Oviedo, FL
While I realize 25ish survivors from a spawn doesn't seem that big, this female usually lays about 30 eggs in a clutch. Recent clutches have been larger. She also only managed raising a handful of fry to the 6-week stage previously so she's clearly gotten better at the game! It's just too many little ones for me to manage in this tank.

The plan is to move them to a growout in coming days and look for fry predators for the main colony. Surely with all the Rotala, Sagittaria, Hygrophila, frogbit, and the magnolia and oak leaves I will still have some survivors but it will be more manageable long term.

That or its time to upgrade to a larger footprint tank. MTS for the win! :D

Specs on this tank:
Temperature ranges 67-82F / 19-28C through the year (no heater)
Twice weekly 30-50% water changes (targeting 100-150ppm TDS by blending rainwater or RO with tap)
Ammonia/nitrite never readable, nitrate kept around 10ppm by dosing KNO3 and also adding Fe/P for the plants when I remember
Powerheads with sponges for movement/filtration (on lowest flow setting)
Fish: N. beckford; A. borellii
Cleanup crew: Malaysian trumpet snails

Honestly, it's a pretty lazy setup!
 
Last edited:

yukondog

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
664
Location
N.W. Fl.
The plan is to move them to a growout in coming days and look for fry predators for the main colony.
I have one male and three females in a 4' tank and I was in the same boat your in, to many fry and nowhere for them to go, school of black neon's no more fry no more problem. When I want more fry I take the male and female and to the breeding tank they go.
 

rasmusW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
455
Hey samala!
Great to hear of the colony going well (-even too well… hehe).
I too have been in a similare situation with my bitaeniatas. Quite hard to find new homes for.
Do you have any pics of the full tank? -i would love to see it.

-r
 

rasmusW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
455
Ps… what about “red phantoms”. I believe they are natural congers too. If that’s a thing for you.

-r
 

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