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Having been looking around for some Badis species to have a go at breeding, I was able to buy 4 fish at an auction. These had been brought in by a fellow aquarist friend, John Dean from Preston & Dist. A.S. He had been over to France and seen these fish in Charly Eons in Bordeaux. They were sold under the general title of Badis sp "Bhutan" which doesn't really convey very much! After checking with my good friend and fellow aquarist David Marshall, he thinks they are (rather unimaginatively named!) Badis badis badis. All four fish were around 4.5 cms with the males slightly bigger. I put all four in a planted tank with some hideaway hollows under the bogwood as well as two plantpots, so they could lay early claim to their own niche. The assumed dominant male soon took up residence in the largest half-plantpot and showed little inclination to venture out of it. At this point I was pleased to see that I had two pairs.  When one of the females (colours had now settled) came near, he really coloured up, flared his fins, faced her and saw her off. However this didn't put her off, as she still loitered in her "calm" colours, just outside his plantpot. Obviously still intent on attracting him. Only the second day in their new home and things were looking promising!  Things soon got even better by the evening of the second day. The female's patience paid off as she was, as shown by his body language, "allowed" into the pot. (She wasn't "jaw locked" and pulled in, as is sometimes reported).  At this point, (as can just be seen in the above photo), her body pattern, due to the imminent mating, had changed to much bolder markings. The female's markings certainly varied according to the activities when interacting with the male or aggressively with the other female.  They then embraced on the gravel, towards the back of the pot. After the mating, she briefly left the pot but came back into his "domain" three times in total while I was observing.  After the mating session, the female kept her distance while the male, within minutes, started to spit out bits of plant debris etc which were lying on the gravel near the eggs. This clearly showed his intent of care of the eggs from the very start, or so I thought! However, two days later and I just happened to see him mating again! Did this mean he had eaten the eggs (?);- as this was my first Badis attempt I would have to simply record each incident and continue my observations. Female aggro! In the meantime, while the male was guarding the eggs, one female had become very aggressive towards the other female. The dominant one was driving her off almost constantly and had taken pieces out of her tail. I had to rescue her and temporarily house her in a half 24" tank using a divider, as tank space was limited. On Day 7 of caring for the second spawning, the male came out of his pot for the first time in a week and ate some frozen bloodworm. He also drove off the female when she came near. Not sure of the significance of this and, (resisting the temptation of constantly peering into the pot!), there was no sign of any fry near the front. The day after, I feared the worst as the female was in the pot with him, but not mating, as she was soon driven off! Despite this, he continued to stay in the pot and later I saw him spit out a fungussed egg. Perhaps all was not lost? Battle scars! A few days later and all wasn't lost, but certainly all was not right! The two males had obviously had a battle and were both worse for wear with with their caudal fins ripped to bits! I have to say I saw no signs to warn me of such aggression happening. The male was still in the pot so I decided to chance a photo to see if his injuries were the result of defending his fry. I was delighted to see fry inside, with many clinging to the roof, but sorry to see this beautiful male's tail so shredded.  Counting on from the observed mating and allowing for the fact that the fry hatch after about 3 days, those in the above photo were around 6 days old. I was surprised how small they still were. Strategy re-think..... Despite a well planted tank, three pieces of Bogwood with plants on and hollows underneath, as well as a plantpot at each end of the tank, I didn't avoid the aggression! I would think that the solution after spawning (tank space permitting or using a divider) , is to immediately leave the male on his own to care for the eggs/fry. Fry development On Day 9 after the approx. hatching, the male was swimming round the tank. The pot was empty which meant the fry were "out" or eaten! After half an hour of seeing no fry, I removed the male just to play safe. I then decided to lightly syphon part of the tank where the Bogwoods were (ie no plants to disturb). I looked in the tub and was amazed to see over 50 very tiny fry. They mainly lay very still on the base and briefly did a quick dart. Even though they have left the pot, the term "free swimming" doesn't really seem appropriate yet!  These 9 day old fry were only 3mms in size and had a distinct pattern to them, with a dark head, a surprisingly transparent body and a dark spot near the caudal peduncle.  Obviously others must still be in the tank, where they would feed on the natural infusoria that they could find, as well as my feeds of Walter worms. Surprise observation! While I was watching for more fry in the tank, I saw one free swimming (rather than "gravel hopping") which was much further developed than all the ones I had caught. Could I have had two spawnings, perhaps the sub-dominant male had some under the Bogwood or were there a few from the first mating, which I thought was a failure? For the next two weeks growth was extremely slow despite regular feeds of Walter worm to those in a plastic tub, as well as the seldom seen fry still in the tank! They were now approx. three weeks old and still resting on the jar base (or gravel) for much of the time. It was only when they were approx. 1 month old that they began to briefly swim mid-water and take Walter worm or microworm which was floating down. Even now they were still only around 5 mms in size, but the body had a little more depth and a few markings. When searching for food at gravel level, they were very difficult to spot as they are stationary for quite a time.  For the next few weeks the only food, considering their small size and slow growth, which I kept offering them was a variety of worm cultures. During this time, I have to admit that losses were high and it almost felt like I was feeding them just to keep them alive, rather than growing them on! In fact, growth was almost at a standstill, so I was just pleased to see some fry keep appearing at each feeding time. However after 3 months (although it seemed longer!) some had at last reached around 1 cm and I began to feed chopped up frozen Bloodworm. This brought about a very welcome, more significant, growth spurt. Juvenile Badis... At around 4 months, there were still very big differences in size. Up to this point all the young fish had the same markings as in the photo below, including the often occurring darker stripes when the fish is in some "agitated" state. If you have the chance to buy a young pair, it is possible to sex a them at this age;- there are significant differences in the body shape. Put simply, the male has a straighter tummy (some even say, slightly concave)and is a "longer" looking fish, while the female is stockier and much more rounded in appearance.  Also, the male Badis was now around 3.5 cms and was just beginning to show a hint of blue in the caudal fin, but not in the dorsal. This was particularly clear just a few weeks later, when his body went darker as he showed an early inclination for adopting a plantpot! Early days yet, but the sex ratio seemed to be very acceptable for selling on as pairs or trios.  Summary These are certainly a fascinating species to keep, breed and observe as there is always some activity and interaction between the adults. In hindsight, the key to avoiding problems is to act immediately when the mating has been concluded, thus avoiding the aggro which my group suffered. Also I would have begun feeding chopped up frozen Bloodworm at an earlier stage, which would have aided growth. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the challenge and it's a species well worth having a go with, if any turn up in auctions or aquatic centres. Copyright Text and photographs; Ivor Hilton |