Loaches Online Forum

I took these pictures last night after seeing the first fry in the river tank. The following picturs are his parents dugout, parents, and some misc pictures.


This is the first born fry, it has been put back in the big river tank



This is the dugout and its relation to the manifold that provides flow



TaaDaa... Loaches



This one was too cute not to take.

I hope I can get a positive ID as to cf or non cf from some of the experts. I think leaving the tank alone and not getting my hands in there makes a difference.

Which ever they are they are stunning looking fish Chris

I would think it's far to early in the juvenile stages to tell the differences, Chris. Besides, no one has ever seen baby Schistura balteata and the cf's. Well at least not on here!

Nice pictures!

To me, the adult fish look like the Schistura cf. balteata that have been available over the last couple of years. Exports of the 'real' Schistura balteata have been sporadic and rare. I have kept Schistura balteata for 4 or 5 years (just the one left now) and they do look different.

Do you happen to know if the parent fish have different colouration to the rear half of the body? It is just that when the Schistura cf. balteata were first exported, it was clear that there were fish with both overall pink or yellow rear halves. It would be interesting to find out if this was likely to be a sexual difference, or whether it is regional etc.

And great pics Chris, the dug out is fascinating. If it's ok with you, we'll have to add some of your fry pics to the Schistura cf. balteata profile sometime soon.

Emma

Emma
I would be honored to have my pictures used for this site. I will have finally been able to give something back. And both of the fish have yellow rear halves, always have.

Emma

I have also observed that when the pair is ready to spawn they will take bits of food back to the dugout, fill in the opening and not come out for a few days. There have been quite a few times I thought they jumped or died. When they emerge from the dugout they are skinny and will freeswim looking for food. I am not sure if this is how it goes in the wild, but I can say that within two weeks of disapearing there have been freeswimmers.

Excellent Chris, at some point soon when you get a bit of free time, do you think you could e-mail me a few images of the fry, the adults & the dug out, along with any other relevant breeding info, and I'll add it in to the species profile (with full credit to you as breeder of course). It would be really helpful to have a permanent record of this hosted on the site.

If you could also remind me (in the e-mail) once again of the size of the tank, the amount of filtration/powerheads/water flow etc and also the water parameters, so that I can do a little write-up, that would be great.

Many thanks,

Emma

Emma I will get the info together and get it too you.

Lovely! Cheers Chris.