C. Pygmaeus: Sometimes it's easier than we expect.
Posted: 30 Mar 2010, 20:31
Hello everyone,
About one month ago, I made my first post on this forum. In that post, I asked for information to help me determine if my (24) C. Pygmaeus were sexually mature. (At that time, and still today -- I believed that they were not full grown, but thought that they might be "mature".) I learned a few things from some of you, and that was great.
Here's a quick update, that I hope someone will find to be informative, and perhaps a bit entertaining.
They are in a 10-gallon/37.9 liter tank, with a bare bottom.
This is a list of the decor and equipment in that tank:
--one airstone, running on "low",
--one 4" x 4" sponge filter,
--one small Stealth Pro heater,
--one small piece of driftwood/bogwood,
--two Marinbo Moss balls,
--one Java Fern plant (free-floating or hung up on something else),
--one 4" mat of floating Java Moss,
--two coconut shells, with Java Moss attached.
Needless to say, this is one CROWDED tank. There is only one small open space on the bottom of the tank, and that is right in the front. I try to drop the food in that spot.
Here are some parameters:
--Ph = 7.2
--Temp = 75 degrees F.
--Water is "very soft". I don't have a measured value.
I had planned to give these fish at least a few more months before attempting to trigger a spawn. So my husbandry amounted to doing water changes, and feeding.
I've been using RO water, with Kent Marine "RO Right" added. With regard to how MUCH of this product I use, I follow the chart on the back of the container, and use the amount that is labelled "discus/very soft".
With regard to feeding, I have used some live foods and frozen/meaty foods, but not very often. I simply rotated through every food that I have in my house, except for those that are too big for the Pygmaeus' tiny mouths. That included several types of crushed flakes, New Life Spectrum .5mm pellets, brine shrimp nauplii (in a jar), and frozen blood worms. I had intended to switch to a steady diet of live and meaty foods, as a spawning trigger, when the "proper time" came.
Most of you can probably see this coming... Last night I approached that tank, to give their last meal of the day. That's when I spotted some "little invader" in their tank. "What's that invader doing in that tank?", I said aloud. "Hmmm... that's no invader, that's a Pygmaeus fry!" Boy was I SURPRISED. From what I could tell, (having never seen one previously), it appeared as though the little guy was just about to run out of yolk sac.
So there you have it. I didn't witness any spawning activity. I saw no eggs. I saw nothing. But we all know what happened inside that tank.
I wasn't able to find any siblings. I don't know if he is an "only child", or if it's just too easy for them to hide, due to the large amount of vegetation that I have in that tank.
I hope someone can get a helpful idea from this. Cheers!
About one month ago, I made my first post on this forum. In that post, I asked for information to help me determine if my (24) C. Pygmaeus were sexually mature. (At that time, and still today -- I believed that they were not full grown, but thought that they might be "mature".) I learned a few things from some of you, and that was great.
Here's a quick update, that I hope someone will find to be informative, and perhaps a bit entertaining.
They are in a 10-gallon/37.9 liter tank, with a bare bottom.
This is a list of the decor and equipment in that tank:
--one airstone, running on "low",
--one 4" x 4" sponge filter,
--one small Stealth Pro heater,
--one small piece of driftwood/bogwood,
--two Marinbo Moss balls,
--one Java Fern plant (free-floating or hung up on something else),
--one 4" mat of floating Java Moss,
--two coconut shells, with Java Moss attached.
Needless to say, this is one CROWDED tank. There is only one small open space on the bottom of the tank, and that is right in the front. I try to drop the food in that spot.
Here are some parameters:
--Ph = 7.2
--Temp = 75 degrees F.
--Water is "very soft". I don't have a measured value.
I had planned to give these fish at least a few more months before attempting to trigger a spawn. So my husbandry amounted to doing water changes, and feeding.
I've been using RO water, with Kent Marine "RO Right" added. With regard to how MUCH of this product I use, I follow the chart on the back of the container, and use the amount that is labelled "discus/very soft".
With regard to feeding, I have used some live foods and frozen/meaty foods, but not very often. I simply rotated through every food that I have in my house, except for those that are too big for the Pygmaeus' tiny mouths. That included several types of crushed flakes, New Life Spectrum .5mm pellets, brine shrimp nauplii (in a jar), and frozen blood worms. I had intended to switch to a steady diet of live and meaty foods, as a spawning trigger, when the "proper time" came.
Most of you can probably see this coming... Last night I approached that tank, to give their last meal of the day. That's when I spotted some "little invader" in their tank. "What's that invader doing in that tank?", I said aloud. "Hmmm... that's no invader, that's a Pygmaeus fry!" Boy was I SURPRISED. From what I could tell, (having never seen one previously), it appeared as though the little guy was just about to run out of yolk sac.
So there you have it. I didn't witness any spawning activity. I saw no eggs. I saw nothing. But we all know what happened inside that tank.
I wasn't able to find any siblings. I don't know if he is an "only child", or if it's just too easy for them to hide, due to the large amount of vegetation that I have in that tank.
I hope someone can get a helpful idea from this. Cheers!
