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I am not sure whether other aquarists suffer from a "lull"?! Put simply, I can't get the fish that I am hoping to breed, so when I am browsing round the tanks, I find something that catches my eye. This happened at my local aquatic centre when I came across some Vietnamese Mountain Minnow (a name which was loosely adopted in some areas) or preferably, Cardinal Minnow (Tanichthys micagemmae). Having bred the White Cloud Mountain Minnow (Tanichthys albonubes) a few years previously in quite good numbers, I decided to have a go with these beautifully coloured little fish. As I wasn't looking for a long term project, I just bought a pair which I found were quite easy to sex;- the male is a slimmer fish and has a stronger red colour in the caudal fin and especially in the anal fin.  The female is nevertheless still an attractive fish and when both fish are adults, they have an added attractive feature;- both have bright red lips.  I put the pair into a well planted 24" tank, pH around Neutral and the temp. at 75F. I added a new clump of Java Moss in the centre of the tank, specifically for them to use when spawning. Ten days later and I saw 2 "clingers on" on the aquarium glass. I put some fry food in and saw 3 tiny fry swimming and feeding in the current, in the top third of the tank. By the time they were almost 2 weeks old, the fry had a very bright blue sheen on the body and just a show of red below. They still had this simple colour appearance at just under 1 cm in size. I have to say I can see where the preferred name comes from, as the fry really were very "Cardinal Tetra-like" in appearance!  Egg trap I then decided to put a little bit more effort into it and set up an egg trap in one half of a divided tank;- half a plastic sweet jar with a bunch of Java Moss over a plastic grill, with 2 mm holes for the eggs to go through. I left this in for 2 nights and then removed the jar to the other half of the divided tank.  It was now a simple case of repeating this every few days and waiting for any pinhead fry to appear. Using this method, the numbers built up slowly and steadily, as probably quite a few of the eggs didn't fall through and were eaten. This was clearly evident before setting up the egg trap, when the female below was captured snacking on an egg!  Fry I found them just as straightforward to breed as the White Clouds previously and being in a mature planted tank, they found plenty of micro-organisms to eat, supplemented soon after with Walterworm and Microworm. Growth was steady and by the time the fry have reached 7 weeks they are around 1.5cms and fast approaching the coloured markings of the adult fish. They accept crumbled flake food readily and enjoy snatching at any small daphnia from my pond.  Summary Having beautiful colours and a peaceful nature, I found that they were very easy to move on to aquatic centres or sell at auctions. I have to admit it's rather a basic report, because soon after getting these fish I became distracted with two Badis breeding projects which required more of my time! However, as they are an ideal fish for a community aquarium and as I only did this as a little challenge, I thought perhaps seeing these lovely little fish might also tempt you. Copyright; Text and photos;- Ivor Hilton. |
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