C. eques keeping and breeding

[soltarii007]

Hi guys,

I got this group of C. eques that I'm really excited about, hope to keep them well and even try breeding. Any tips about temperature, habitat, water conditions like pH that are found to be best for their husbandry? Pls share a little with me, thanks..

[Acanthicus]

At first it is important to know where they are from. Is it the real C. eques from Brazil or C. cf. eques/CW043 from Peru? Last one should be kept by 20 - 22 °C, first one warmer, up to 26 °C. Both are usually sold as C. eques, but in most cases they are actually CW043.

All in all a pretty easy species. I didn´t have any problems with mine.

[soltarii007]

Thanks for your reply.

I read abt this difference in temperature requirements for the 2 similar species in L-Welse, although my German is a little rusty and I wasn't too sure I got it right. Is there any other way to differentiate between the 2 species? I got it from the LFS that this is a shipment from Brazil, but we all know about how iffy the origins of the fishes can be nowadays. I'm keeping them at 22 deg Celsius now and they seem to do ok, but my friend is keeping them at room temperature (27-29 deg Celsius)and they look alright too. That's the confusing part

[soltarii007]

This is a video of my supposed eques, can you id just based on the video?



[Mod edit: "un-disable" bbcode so the video can be viewed. --Mats]

[Acanthicus]

Hi,

if they are supposed to come from Brazil, and your friend doesn´t have problems keeping them at higher temperatures, I would keep them at 25 °C. But not higher than this.
I dont know if there are some special characteristics to differentiate between them. But I don´t think so, because than we wouldn´t have this problem. Yours look like mine did, and those were the real ones for sure!





Sorry, for the quality....

[soltarii007]

Very nice fish! I hope you still have them with you, and breeding too

I still can't tell about their water temperature preference after a week, my fish are active and eating at 22-24 deg C, but so are my friend's fish which you may remember are kept at 27-30 deg C. I'm anxious to find out which type are they because we all know how temperature intolerant some species can be, and I don't want either me or my friend to have to pay for the lesson with the lives of our fish

[Acanthicus]

As I said before, I would not keep them higher than 25 or 26 °C.
30 °C is even to high for the real ones! Keep the 25 °C and you are on a good way, I guess.