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Having read a while ago in a few reference books (obviously soon outdated) about this particular species being "the 7th smallest fish* in the world", I had often thought about having a go at breeding it. (* Not sure what position it holds now, but, (as of July 2006 when I started this article), it has certainly slipped down at least two places in the "smallest list" with two recent discoveries. One of these being Paedocypris progeneyica. which has been discovered in swamps in Sumatra. It is 7.9mm long and lives in waters with an acidity of PH3 which is at least 100 times more acidic than rainwater!) I'd seen some photos of Het. formosa which portrayed it as an attractive little fish. A size comparison can be seen in the photo below;- my female is about 3 cms long while the male is around 1.5 cm. Some formosa are a bit more colourful, having some red on the dorsal.  A friend of mine brought a pair to auction in a small plastic bag and I had so much trouble finding the male, I was convinced there was only one fish in there! It then made me realise how excellent some close up photos were that I had admired! (and which I can't match!) |
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My "rearing" tank (an 18" tank) was was temporarily vacant so I put in some loose java fern, java moss, as well as Ocean Rock and bogwood both with plants attached.
The early feeds were powdered flake, microworm, some tiny pieces of bloodworm and some sifted daphnia from my garden pond. Now it was a question of waiting for the "production line" to begin as this species produce young every few days over perhaps 2 weeks called "superfoetation", (rather than having a brood in one drop as Goodeids do). Put simply, this means that the female is carrying young at varying stages of growth from newly fertilised eggs to fry ready for birth. This also has the advantage that the fry dropped every few days are quite large when born. After 2 weeks I spotted the first fry;- approx 3mm long. I put in some microworm for its first food. It was swimming in the open part of the tank and seemingly ignored by both parents. Seven days later and I spotted a second fry. If the parents were ignoring them, this was a longer gap between births than I anticipated. By the time this second fry was born, the first one was now 4-5 mms long and the strongly marked lateral line (in both sexes) could already be clearly seen. During these 3 weeks in the month of May the pair had produced 4 fry . Although I had never seen the female even attempt to grab fry, I thought it best to put in some more loose Java Fern as the low numbers seemed to indicate that more cover was needed. Gradually the numbers built up and I could see more fry at varying stages of growth feeding on the microworm and swimming between the plants. The adult female would often hide away inside the hollow of the bogwood, perhaps to quietly give birth and also to escape the constant attentions of the male swimming round just behind her! I did this as a short term breeding project but if you have a small spare tank, they are attractive and lively little fish and an easy, enjoyable species to keep. Given plenty plant cover, you will have the interest of many fry of varying sizes constantly appearing on the scene. |
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