Looking for your experience-reports about HARA JERDONI

[rabbi]

Good evening dear readers of planetcatfish.com,

at the moment I am looking forward to start my first tank. I would like to set up a tank with many plants and of course some of these fascinating little hara jerdonis as "solo players".

Since I did some web research, I found that there's only very poor information about h.j., therefore I am looking for your personal experiences with them.

Questions:

1. How long do your Hara jerdonis live?

2. How important is the ground of the tank? I've read that they are predatory fish, so I would guess it isn't as important as for other catfish.

3. I used to read, that h.j. shall be grown in groups, but in the other hand they don't seem to show up any social behaviour. - So would you buy a group or a single fish?

4. I've heard that they're (as lurking predators) mostly inactive all day long until they get fed. - And some people keep them in 4 gallons (12litre) tanks. Would you recommend that?

5. I've heard rumors that they can get used to accept flake fish food. Any experiences with that?

6. How often do you feed them? With which food? And: Which amount?


I am thankful for any information!

Best regards

the Rabbi

[Richard B]

Have you read

Hara jerdoni

and http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm. ... cle_id=350?

[rabbi]

Hi Richard,

thank you very much for your quick answer and these links. The first one I had read before, the second one I didn't know so far (so thanks again). The information provided is very close to that I've read on german websites.

Nitrates above 12.5mg/l are not tolerated, so close attention to water quality is a must. The first indication that there is something amiss with the water quality is that they appear to shed their skin; and usually upon carrying out a water quality check, a nitrate reading of over 12.5mg/l is more often than not found. -- source: http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm. ... cle_id=350

What I have read so far, this is a rumor. But to be absolutly sure I'll put the roots of Epipremnum aureum in the tanks water - which shall be, according to some guys I ve met on an other board, a very efficent nitrate-killer.


I am still looking forward to some more experience reports and apologize for my poor English. If something isn't understandable, please feel free to ask.

Kind regards

the Rabbi

[The.Dark.One]

I have kept them a couple of times.


1. How long do your Hara jerdonis live? - depends on how well they are looked after! The longest I had mine was about 2 years.

2. How important is the ground of the tank? I've read that they are predatory fish, so I would guess it isn't as important as for other catfish - They eat small live foods, they have very small mouths. IMO sand is the best substrate but they will also live on gravel, indeed they have spawned over gravel.

3. I used to read, that h.j. shall be grown in groups, but in the other hand they don't seem to show up any social behaviour. - So would you buy a group or a single fish? In my limited experience they tend to stay away from each other, but if your aim is to reproduce their natural habitat they would be better with a few of them, and obviously if you want to breed them you will need more than one.

4. I've heard that they're (as lurking predators) mostly inactive all day long until they get fed. - And some people keep them in 4 gallons (12litre) tanks. Would you recommend that? - They dont move about much, unless being fed, or on a night when they are foraging. A small tank is fine for these fish providing you look after the water conditions.

5. I've heard rumors that they can get used to accept flake fish food. Any experiences with that? Mine would never take dried foods but I'm not saying it wont happen. Most erethistids will only eat live foods, but you can never account for every fish's behaviour.

6. How often do you feed them? With which food? And: Which amount? Every night, when the lights are out, live bloodworm, tubifex, frozen bloodworm. As with any other fish, only enough to sate them. They have very small stomachs so dont tend to eat a lot compared to other erethistids.

You might be better also contacting medaka. He has bred these.

[Mike_Noren]

1. Unknown. Mine are still alive (one year).
2. I'm convinced it's not important. The few specimens in our collection database are listed as occurring in "very soft mud" in a shallow ditch, where they were collected by hand by fishermen for the aquarium trade. Mine are kept in an aquarium where the bottom is a thick layer of dead leaves, and they spend most of their time down in the leaf litter. For a while this summer they tended to hang out in the floating plants up by the surface, I'm still not sure what that was about.
3. I have never seen any social behavior from them.
4. I hardly ever see them except during feeding time.
5. Mine eats "Dr. Bassleer's Forte" pellets.
6. They get one feeding every day.

[rabbi]

Big thanks to you Mike and Steve for your experience reports!

You might be better also contacting medaka. He has bred these.

Wow so there has been breeding success. I didn't know that, but was wondering that a wildlife-import only costs arround 5,-€. There only was a note in an aquaristic magazine about a random bred in the end of the nineties. - So I'll contact medaka asap.

"Dr. Bassleer's Forte" pellets

Ok thanks a lot, I'll try this as soon as I get these little predators.

I was asking because I'm a weekend commuter (correct vocabulary?) and won't be able to feed them on weekends (bad Sabbath for them ;-( ).

I would be glad to get some more reports.

Kindest regards

the rabbi

[medaka]

Hi Rabbi

Report on my successful spawning of H jerdoni can be found here:

H jerdoni

[rabbi]

Hi Medaka,

thank you very much for this link and the great information you're providing there, I've already found it through google and now try to get my water (chemically) similar to yours as possible.

Best regards Rabbi

[exasperatus2002]

Hi Richard,

thank you very much for your quick answer and these links. The first one I had read before, the second one I didn't know so far (so thanks again). The information provided is very close to that I've read on german websites.

Nitrates above 12.5mg/l are not tolerated, so close attention to water quality is a must. The first indication that there is something amiss with the water quality is that they appear to shed their skin; and usually upon carrying out a water quality check, a nitrate reading of over 12.5mg/l is more often than not found. -- source: http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm. ... cle_id=350

What I have read so far, this is a rumor. But to be absolutly sure I'll put the roots of Epipremnum aureum in the tanks water - which shall be, according to some guys I ve met on an other board, a very efficent nitrate-killer.


I am still looking forward to some more experience reports and apologize for my poor English. If something isn't understandable, please feel free to ask.

Kind regards

the Rabbi

Thats Interesting. How do you have your Epipremnum aureum in your tank? I'd like to try it sometime. Can you post a picture of yours? My tank is by a south facing window in a sun room.

[rabbi]

I didn't do so, so far, cause my nitrate at the moment is lower than 1mg/l, which is acceptable.

So my knowledge is theoretical, but I can tell you what I have read: Epipremnum aureum is a kind of liana and very easy to grow, all it needs is water. Nevertheless it takes lots of nutrients whenever it gets them.

Putting its roots into the water of the tank, shall work (according to the german websources I have read) as a biological nitrate filter.

It's just important that you only put the roots and not the leaves into the tanks water, because the might decompose, which probably raises nitrate again.

I also wouldn't put fresh cuttings into the tank, because I am not sure what the plants juices would do with the water. Just put the cuttings into a glas of water (as I do)or a flower vase (as my fiance does ) and wait until the first roots appear.

Hopefully I could help you a little, feel free to ask for any further information (or if my english was too poor to be understandable)

[Deb]

Hello, Rabbi.
This is by no means an expert account, just some husbandry information for keeping Hara jerdoni which seems to work for me.
There's been a lot of great information on this thread already, so maybe my contribution is in excess. OTOH, you may find some of it to be helpful as you set up for these little guys.
This thread is where I obtain the tiny catfish, notice the challenge, and join it.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 5&start=40

Then, surprisingly, and unknown to me, the fish spawn, and a couple of fry survive.
"Hara jerdoni surprise spawning."
This is the actual spawning thread with information showing the set-up and circumstances.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =9&t=33636

After that experience, the 29 gallon (110 L) had to come down so I set up a new habitat for them.
This next link will take you to a thread which contains my detailed set-up information including information about compatible tank mates and some other details about decor, plants, waterflow, food, and one disaster.
http://cvas.forumotion.com/t123-setting ... ra-jerdoni

Most of my Hara jerdoni are about a year and half old and some are about nine months. Every other night they get either bloodworms or brine shrimp (all from frozen) to eat and on the other days they eat some of what the other fish get. In my early posts I describe how they don't eat prepared food but that has changed dramatically since the 10 gallon (38 L) set-up came to be. Now, they pounce on the flake food, especially Ocean Nutrition Spirulina Flakes. They get extremely excited at the prospect of food, regardless of what it is and even if they won't eat it.

Hope you found some of the above helpful. What works for me may not work for you; I believe my water coming out of the tap is almost ideal, which is why I've had no issues so far.

[rabbi]

Thank you very much for your report and the links, Deb!

Could you tell me a few more about the conditions they were spawning under? Especially temperature, GH, PH would be interessting. At the moment I am collecting these values from severaly successfull spawnings all over the world, hoping to find some parallels.

[Deb]

Rabbi, at the time I thought that the tank layout, decor, plants, roots, wood, leaf litter, privacy screen, very dim light and zero current were the important things. I didn't think about the specific water parameters because, except for temperature, they tend to be the same over all my tanks. So, this is what I can tell you - the water was 80-82dF at the top where the Boraras hung out, and about 73-74dF at the bottom where the Hara were. Despite the tremendous amount of leaf litter, the pH was about 7.2 - same as my other tanks. My tap water is usually 5-6 degrees GH and 4-5 degrees KH, with small seasonal fluctuations, so I assume those were the readings at the time.
Hope this little bit helps.

[racoll]

Hi rabbi.

I kept some H. jerdoni fairly recently. I wrote about it in this thread here. Have a read.

at the moment I am looking forward to start my first tank

Do you mean your first tank for H. jerdoni, or your first ever aquarium?

If the latter (first ever aquarium), I might suggest you try something a bit easier to keep? Perhaps move onto the Hara when you have a bit more experience? I found them to be hardy fish, but feeding was a problem, as mine would not take any dried foods, and they are easy to overfeed (uneaten food = bad water quality). Tankmates are also difficult to choose because the Hara are shy and do not compete for food so well.

Anyway, good luck whatever you decide to do.

[rabbi]

Hi Deb,

So, this is what I can tell you - the water was 80-82dF at the top where the Boraras hung out, and about 73-74dF at the bottom where the Hara were. Despite the tremendous amount of leaf litter, the pH was about 7.2 - same as my other tanks. My tap water is usually 5-6 degrees GH and 4-5 degrees KH, with small seasonal fluctuations, so I assume those were the readings at the time.
Hope this little bit helps.

Not only a little, that helps a lot, because it's a suprising report. Surprising, because I had never heard, that the haras ever spawned with such a high PH-level, the highest one so far was 6,8 dGH.

So thank you very much.


Hi Racoll,
well it's not my first tank ever, but the first for about 10 years. Once I had a large Pterophyllum scalare tank.

In the beginnung of september I set up a small 25litres tank exclusivly for the Hara Jerdonis (about 20 plants, including Echinodorus with large leaves and swimming plants, rocks, litter leaves, alder suppositories(correct word?) and a magrove root to hide) and since last week I am keeping two of these little fish in it.

I won't put any tankmates (except some shrimps maybe, to care for the water) in there, because I am especially interessted in these small catfish.

So far I fed them with frozen bloodworm (2 gram)and living tubifex (4 gram) every two days. About 15 minutes before I turned of the light. But to be honest I never saw them eating anything.

So, how many gram of living or frozen food would you feed them under the conditions I have described.