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On visiting my local aquarist centre some Celebes Halfbeaks (Nomorhamphus liemi) caught my eye, simply because of the colour in the male's fins, plus his "chin" was in good condition. ("Chin" being his lower jaw which curls back under itself). This particular species were originally from the island called Celebes which is now called Sulawesi. There had been some other Halfbeak species in previously, but much plainer in appearance. I got the best male out of the group and a healthy looking female and put them in a quite well planted 24" tank. At this point, the female (around 6 cms in size) showed no sign of being gravid even in the early stages. The plants included some good surface cover of Indian Fern.  Once they had settled the male's colours became much bolder;- his fins had a pale red tinge to them with a strong black edging especially on anal and dorsal. These colours became bolder as he sidled up alongside her and repeatedly did some very gentle wafts as part of his early courtship. They were getting regular feeds of livefoods (Daphnia and Glassworm) which they were quick to snap up. I also gave them frozen Bloodworm which was readily eaten. After 4 weeks together I could see that the female was now getting a little rounder and plumper.  Isolate the female.. Coming up to 6 weeks together and the female has really filled out and it was now a case of preparing in time so that the fry aren't eaten. Using a divider, I decided to isolate the female in slightly less than half the tank and added more Indian Fern for fry cover. I hadn't bred these before so it was a case of trying out an approach.  As it turned out, my decision to isolate her wasn't a bad estimate! Three days after the above photo, she dropped 10 fry. They were around 1.5 cms and on their release, went straight into the Indian Fern. In fact, some were almost lying on top of the plants while they came round immediately after their birth. I gave each birth a few minutes to settle and then netted and glassed them and put them temporarily in a half toffee jar. As they were born, the female paid them no attention whatsoever;- a nice calm process! The young lady in the photo below is not shy, nor does she wish to remain anonymous! Simply a photographer's error due to concentrating on one end!   A good indication of the fry size can be seen in both photos. I then gave the female a four day break (which she wouldn't enjoy in the wild!) before removing the divider and re-uniting her with the male. The fry.. After giving them half an hour in the jar, I released them into a 24" tank with some Corydoras venezuela. I gave them some tiny fry food floated on the surface and a few microworm realeased into the current. At this point all 10 fry were shoaling together, mostly facing "upstream", just below the surface, to get whatever came towards them.  On the second day they fed with much more purpose on the fry food (Bio 2) which was reassuring to see. Towards the end of the second week, the fry were just over 2 cms long, a plain pinky/bluish shade with no finnage colour. At this point, it was a pleasure to feed them! No fuss, no messing about - they easily coped with crumbled flake and small pieces of frozen Bloodworm. By now they were also searching more for food, bloodworm especially, at gravel level.  A surprise drop.. On the day when we decide to enjoy some February sunshine in Southport, I came home to find 6 fry scattered around the tank. Although she was getting plump I didn't expect this drop, a mere 26 days after the first brood! Two days later and just by chance I see two more fry still in with the two adults, obviously survival instincts were good! Were any eaten?.... I'll never know. However with a final total of 8 fry, I suspect that they all survived. I put them in a half jar for one day and then put them with the original ten youngsters (now just over 3 weeks old) where they were fine. Fry development At 2 months old all the fry continued to feed well and by now they were just over 4 cms in size and their fin colours were appearing. At 3 months old, a juvenile male had developed his lower jaw and gained some colour and was by now quietly cruising round behind a particular female who had caught his eye! He was also driving off any other suitors with their eye on the same female. These, however are really token exchanges and a group of these fish seem to co-exist very well together. Conclusion Despite, at first glance, their almost pike-like appearance these livebearers are very straightforward to keep and breed. The males have good colour and the fry are very easy to rear, but remember to have a good cover of Indian Fern (or similar floating plant) in case you aren't around at birth time! I also found them easy to move on, with sales to both individual aquarists and aquarist centres, where they were welcomed. Copyright Text and Photos; Ivor Hilton. |
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