blind cave fish

[wrs]

i was thinking about getting some as i moved the guppies an platties to a new tank. is there any information you can give me about them?

oops, i posted this in the wrong place, i feel so stupid, can a mod please move this to the right section )

 

[Never2Bknown]

My brother once owned one of these, and from what I know, it was a peaceful fish, good for the community aquarium. From what I hear, they can get a little more aggressive when they get older , but my brother never had a problem with that.

These fish get 3 1/2 inches when full grown; they are supposed to be excellent scavengers. Despite their lack of eyes, they apparently have some sensitivity to light and darkness, because they are always moving away from the light. I guess they seem to have some extra-sensory organ because they are so good at finding food etc. As long as my brother had one, I don't think I ever once saw it bump into anything because of its blindness.

 

[wrs]

they seem so nice. Do they need to be kept in groups?

 

[Lateral Line]

I'm going to assume you mean Astyanax fasciatus mexicanus, there are several species of blind fish from cave systems, but those are the most common.

I guess the quickest answer, is add water and food! They are really easy to keep and feed. Live in soft acid through to hard alkali water. From temperatures as low as 16C/60F up to 27C/80F, however best kept around 23C/72F. Will eat pretty much anything. They do like a large open swimming space though, so an uncluttered tank is best.

Females are deeper and fatter then males. After a few days of conditioning put a male and fat female in a breeding tank and drop the temperature 2-3 degrees, they rarely fail to spawn. Remove the parents as soon as spawning is finished. The fry are quite large and will take BBS or commercial fry food after a couple of days.

Nostalgia: These were the first characins I bred - back in about 1969.

They are a peaceful community fish, but do grow a little larger then many small tetras, easily exceeding 3"/75mm, so it is best not to keep them with tiny fish that will be frightened of them. Ideally kept in groups of 3 or more.

 

[wrs]

oh, I minght get some. I have a small kritter keeper, like 2 gallons I can set up to breed them in. Would that be an okay sized breeding tank?

 

[David]

No, I'm afraid not as even placing one mature specimen in a tank that small would be exceeding the "one inch per gallon" rule by at least 50%.

 

[Lateral Line]

Way back then, I used 24"x12"x12" tanks to breed. 2 Gal is too small for anything other then a betta really.

 

[wrs]

would fry be okay in a 2 gallon? Just for a few months or so? I have my guppy fry in a 1 gallon tank, and theyre doing fine. But theres only 6 of them. I need to wait till deceber to get another tank. And I think that will only be a 10 gallon for some shellies for my brothers birthday.

But Im not 100 percent sure Ill be getting them or not. I had to move the platties back because they didnt look so good in the 5. So I have to see if my brother will take the danios, or something else first.

 

[Lateral Line]

It is difficult to keep such a small tank's water up to standard. Egglayer fry are not the same as live bearers. They are small, they are not robust, you cannot easily move them from tank to tank.