Post by dave pauls on May 6, 2019 5:04:16 GMT -6
I got these guys as eggs three years ago and I had lots of fun with them. They are a brackish fish that I capable of living in a huge range of salty conditions. I found that they do best at around a salinity of 1.020 or so which is very salty.
They are TINY. One of the smallest Pseudomugils reaching barely an 1¼" and are very slim. They are also arguably the easiest rainbowfish to breed. They lay huge eggs that the parents are not capable of eating. the eggs hatch in about two weeks and a bit of a change in salinity (dump some fresh water in) helps them hatch. They grow very fast. My first round was laying eggs six weeks after they hatched! They eat baby brine shrimp from the day they hatch until the day they die. They seem to be very short lived. My oldest was maybe 18 months.
The display is amazing with fins flaired, they race around the tank at full speed. They flash the yellow and blue that seems to stand off the fish. When they aren't displaying, the yellow all but disappears. They tend to display all day though.
I decided to see what I could do with them and transitioned them to full marine conditions.... By transitioned, I mean I just put them in saltwater. They have a very unique ability to handle very fast changes in salinity with no visible effects to their health. They do very good in saltwater and breed freely. They seem to need that bit of fresh water dumped in to get them to hatch though.
I decided to see how they would do in a reef setting so I set up a nano reef for them. I had a blast with it and now have a full on nano reef. Unfortunately, I discovered that they are not really compatible with corals. They have no understanding of its potential stings. I had them spawning in some of the corals which didn't go well for them. They would last from a month to six months but eventually they would get stung and die.
I expect that they would do fantastic in a marine tank with macro algae and mangroves. Maybe even with sea horses or something, but I didn't try this.
The tank needs to be set up with them in mind. Normal saltwater tanks are too turbulent and they are absolutely addicted to jumping over an overflow. I guess they find the sound of running water irresistible. They are too small for virtually all coinhabitants. A friend had a cleaner shrimp eat one. 🤦♀️
They also require a constant supply of live baby brine shrimp to remain healthy. Although they will eat anything that fits in their mouth, they seem to crash very quickly without the bbs.
In my opinion they are well worth the extra effort and put on such an amazing display. One day I'll set up a tank with macro algae dedicated to them.
They are TINY. One of the smallest Pseudomugils reaching barely an 1¼" and are very slim. They are also arguably the easiest rainbowfish to breed. They lay huge eggs that the parents are not capable of eating. the eggs hatch in about two weeks and a bit of a change in salinity (dump some fresh water in) helps them hatch. They grow very fast. My first round was laying eggs six weeks after they hatched! They eat baby brine shrimp from the day they hatch until the day they die. They seem to be very short lived. My oldest was maybe 18 months.
The display is amazing with fins flaired, they race around the tank at full speed. They flash the yellow and blue that seems to stand off the fish. When they aren't displaying, the yellow all but disappears. They tend to display all day though.
I decided to see what I could do with them and transitioned them to full marine conditions.... By transitioned, I mean I just put them in saltwater. They have a very unique ability to handle very fast changes in salinity with no visible effects to their health. They do very good in saltwater and breed freely. They seem to need that bit of fresh water dumped in to get them to hatch though.
I decided to see how they would do in a reef setting so I set up a nano reef for them. I had a blast with it and now have a full on nano reef. Unfortunately, I discovered that they are not really compatible with corals. They have no understanding of its potential stings. I had them spawning in some of the corals which didn't go well for them. They would last from a month to six months but eventually they would get stung and die.
I expect that they would do fantastic in a marine tank with macro algae and mangroves. Maybe even with sea horses or something, but I didn't try this.
The tank needs to be set up with them in mind. Normal saltwater tanks are too turbulent and they are absolutely addicted to jumping over an overflow. I guess they find the sound of running water irresistible. They are too small for virtually all coinhabitants. A friend had a cleaner shrimp eat one. 🤦♀️
They also require a constant supply of live baby brine shrimp to remain healthy. Although they will eat anything that fits in their mouth, they seem to crash very quickly without the bbs.
In my opinion they are well worth the extra effort and put on such an amazing display. One day I'll set up a tank with macro algae dedicated to them.