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On a recent visit to *Holland, I found probably the best Nannostomus harrisoni I can remember seeing. There were only 7 in the tank so I bought them all. Also on the trip I obtained 5 Nannostomus unifasciatus, also the best I have seen for some time.These are mainly seen when they come in accidentally with Eques- not very often on their own. As well as these I was able to get Barbus jae, a favourite that I’ve not seen for a few years. All the fish I brought back have been fine, with no losses to date. The pencils were installed in my pencil stock tank, and were soon looking very good so my thoughts turned to attempting to get them to reproduce. There appear to be two males of each species, with one of the Harrisoni males looking quite brilliant. None of the females, of either species were particularly plump. As I have said in previous scribbles I have to date bred six species, and was keen to add to that list. With little or no information on these species, other than that they are both supposed to be quite difficult, and knowing that pencil fish differ quite considerably in their breeding habits, I knew this was going to be a learning curve. So with this in mind, and the fact I would be available most of the week, I decided to set them up. The set up I set up two 12x8x9 tanks with r/o water. The ph was reduced to about 6 and the hardness was zero, with a tds reading of 012. I poured some boiling water over an almond leaf, left it overnight, and then added this to the two tanks along with half of the leaf in each. This gave the water weak tea colour. Each tank had a peat box filter, an artificial plant (the kind I successfully use for all leaf laying species) and a floating wool mop. In the Harrisoni tank I also installed a grill. The tanks were set like this simply as an experiment, remember, as I was fishing in the dark here (forgive the pun). I introduced both pairs in the evening, and went for a couple of pints to contemplate what might happen. Any reaction? . . The next morning I was in quite early to observe what, if anything was happening. In the case of the Unifaciatus the answer was nothing. Both fish just sat under the floating mop, and remained like that for the next few days. The Harrisoni however were much more interesting in that both fish were quite active. The male was in brilliant colour and he was nudging and swimming around the female, a sure sign that there was something happening. They spent most of the time in the vicinity of the plant. I checked the plant a couple of times, and also under grill, but no eggs were seen. This continued the next day, but again no eggs were seen. On the 3rd day I removed the false plant and replaced it with one of my new mops that I have recently started to use. They are not wool, but a fine man made knitting yarn, a perfect substitute for java moss, with the added benefits that it doesn’t hold the dirt and can be used over and over again. It will also sink and can be spread over the bottom. The fish that I have previously tried, which normally spawn in plants, seem to accept this. Also they can move in it much easier than through wool mops. Back to the harrisoni -they now were showing a lot of interest in the mop. The male was doing all the usual dancing, nudging and trying to lead her into the mop, occasionally successfully. This surly was spawning - but unfortunately no eggs were seen under grill. The same behaviour continued the next day. Experience told me they were in fact spawning, but again no eggs were seen, or evidence of actual mating taking place. I was so convinced that I even disturbed the mop with a planting stick to see if any eggs were in the mops, (something that I would generally try to avoid), but still nothing was seen under the grill. I was a little disappointed. It had now got to Saturday and I went to my daughter and stayed over night. Success! . . When I returned on Sunday night I had a look with a torch and to my surprise I saw a free swimming fry. I immediately removed the pair. The next day I saw a couple more hanging under grill. The fact that there were fry at different stages of development would indicate that they did in fact lay eggs on more than one day just as I had thought. At the moment I don’t think I have many but am pleased that I now have plenty of information to be confident that I can do much better next time. As I intend to continue this experiment quite soon I have separated the pairs (not something I normally do) to see if I can get the females a little plumper. There are one or two points that I feel I still need to address and I have a couple of options to try. Hopefully I can report back with something more positive in the near future. Update Since my last scribble I have had further spawnings from Mortenthaleri, Espei and Eques. Unfortunately an attempt at the Purples has proved a failure. These were set up as for Mortenthaleri, but without any success, so a rethink is required here. Watch this space! Copyright Text;- Alan P. Vaissiere (* For anyone reading with interest about the superb quality of the fish from this visit, there is also an account to follow of the trip to Holland written by John Dean . This can be read in the "Places To Visit" section). |
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