Nandid Possibly Pristolepis Fasciatus

[sandfire]

Hi everyone I am new to the Forum, I love my oddball fishies and had fish for about 17 years.

I bought about 4 months a fish called a Pineapple Nandid (wonderful name I know) I think it is actually a Tiger Nandid possibly Pristolepis fasciatus. I will try and take some photos. My LFS had several of them in slightly brackish water, but given mine has perked up and the fact he is doubled in size compared to the ones still in the shop I think it’s a freshwater Nandid. His colour is much improved as well.

It's a really wonderful fish, he was a pale grey off white, but within hours of being in my tank changed to a rich grey with dark mauveish vertical bars and has subtle green and purple hues to his body and mauve fins. Beautiful fish! Lovely cichlid character but the shape reminiscent of a Marine Damsel.

He is a greedy feeder and very tame, currently he is in 100gal planted tank with wood and lava rock, he has his own territory in the rock. Other fish in the tank include some juvenilely Severums I have been growing on (they were supposed to be red shoulders…but I think not) and some L numbered Plecs.

I have decided to dedicate the tank to him and try and breed them as the shop still has several left.

I was wondering if anybody had success breeding these great fish and how they did it? Plus any hints on best way to keep them long term, and eventual size, I have read they can grow to 7inches, mine is only 2.5 inches at present but growth is fast.

Oh and photos if you can find them, any extra info would be great, been searching on the internet but not a lot of information out there on them.

Thanks everyone.

 

[sandfire]

Just taken some photos, the Nandid was very camera shy and would swim for it, the second I aimed the camera at him. So sorry about the pictures they were the best I could get

They are so rubbish...sorry!

Severums in the tank, one I bought as a wild caught green, the others ( 4 in total) were supposed to be Red Shoulders, but I am not sure, what do you think?

 

[Gankutsuou]

Great fish, but this will be a mystery that either the cichlid section or the hybrid section will have to solve.

 

[sandfire]

I agree the Severums should be posted to the cichlid section (is there a quick way to post it to there?).

Has anyone any ideas's what the Nandid is or has anyone ever kept them before? I thought Nandid were the Perch family?

 

[Fruitbat]

Your nandid is, indeed, one of the Pristolepis species...and quite a nice one by the look of it. We rarely see those here in the United States so I can't really comment as to the species. From its general appearance it looks like Pristolepis fasciata but it could also be Pristolepis marginata. Luckily (I guess) there are only three valid species of Pristolepis (P. fasciata, P. grootii, and P. marginata) so you at least know it is one of those three!

All of the nandids are members of the Order Perciformes but keep in mind that is the largest Order of fish and includes a very wide variety of Families (including Nandidae, Centropomidae, Cichlidae, Badidae, Datniodidae, Anabantidae and dozens of others).

-Joe

 

[sandfire]

Thank you. I think they are pretty rare in the UK too, no other shop locally had even heard of them.

Plus how lucky am I, just phoned the shop and reserved the rest of them, the shop still has some of the so called 'Pineapple Nandid' after 4 months he has not sold any of them. He thinks they are Indonesian Pineapple Nandid, but he also has a Malayian Tiger Nandid, which he has unfortunately 'mixed' in with the others. If I want to breed them I am going to have to sort out which is which, I thought the Tiger was slightly brackish?

I adore this fish, so much personality.

Do you think they can be bred in captivity? I was going to try a mix of habitats in the tank, densely planted area as well a lava cave and bog wood areas, sand substrate. Lots of live food, and natural sunlight hitting the tank in the morning.

Seeing they were ok in the brackish I guessed they like hard/alkaline conditions. My local water is ph 8 and quite hard, the tanks well filtered by two external filers and a UV.

Nice to come across someone who knows about them! Been hunting for info for months and found very little.

 

[Fruitbat]

sandfire,

Since they're so rarely kept in captivity, I haven't read any reports of Pristolepis species being bred in captivity. It sounds like you've got a good set-up for them so with a little luck you might even be able to make an important contribution! Pristolepis has been known to eat algae and plant material along with insects and other meaty items so you might try them with a little plant material occasionally just to see if they'll take it.

Keep us informed!

-Joe

 

[kubora666]

.

 

[nmonks]

There's some more general info on the Nandidae at Fishbase, and you might want to review the species there as well. They're all much of a muchness, the main differences being variations in size. None are really "brackish water fish" in the strict sense of the word, though I daresay they tolerate a small amount of salt. Maintenance is otherwise similar to that of freshwater Datnioides.

In terms of aquarium books, my only references are to P. fasciata. Paysan says that these fish are territorial, impossible to sex, not bred in captivity, shy, and willing to eat various small invertebrates as well as dried food. Sterba describes the same species, and makes similar comments, though adds that it has a much smaller mouth than other nandids. Presumably, this reflects the fact these are omnivores in the wild rather than piscivores.

Sterba describes P. fasciata thus: yellow-green, 8-12 regular dark transverse bands most prominent on the young fish. Darker upper side, belly pale and yellowy. Several dark longitudinal lines beneath the eye from the mouth to the gill covers. Fins green, except the pectorals, which are yellow.

Cheers, Neale

 

[sandfire]

Hi, I picked up the others, so now I have 7! I was only going to take 4 more, but the shop owner asked I take the other two and said I could have them for free!!!! Not saying no to that!

Four are identical to my original, same colour and shape (grey/mauve/dark green), but my freebies are slightly different, one is the exact shape of my original but the colour being more like P. fasciata, i.e light yellow/green, with yellow fins but the pectoral fins are red/orange. The other is grey/white with a 'fish net' effect to the body scales also it's not as deep in the body and little pointier in the head area. It also displays what looks like an ovipositor and has dug a little 'pit' beneath some plants already, I hope she/he is the same species as the rest perhaps in breeding colours and maybe shape of a female? I am worried if I did get them to breed, they would produce hybrids, so I will split them up if I can determine they are different.

They are all getting on fine together, they seem to form a loose shoal at times and then take up various locations throughout the tank, they can show some territorial behaviour to each other buts it’s a half hearted attempt at chasing the other away and they still seem to share a cave when they fancy company.

A few display to each other by intensifying colours and quiver their body's, but there is no aggression.

Another thing I noticed, is they all have four very sharp, hooked spines at the top of each gill plate, two on each side, about 2-3mm in size, my original fish appears to be developing them since putting the rest in the tank…very odd. I guessed they were a defensive spine, but the fact my original fish has started growing them is interesting.

I think it pretty likely I have one P. fasciata and possibly five P. grootii, although not to sure on the last, have to see how they look after being a month in the tank. Hopefully the fact they cam from the same supplier at the same time means they were caught in the same location…or I can just hope...lol

I will try and take some more photos, but they all react to a camera like a monster is in the tank no matter how far I stand back!

 

[sandfire]

I just hit the jackpot of google hits:

http/www.ias.ac.in/currsci/jun102003/1468.pdf

from the photo's its my fish!!!!

 

[sandfire]

Ok, better photos of all the Pristolepis sp, Got seven of them now, the two largest have shown all the signs of breeding!

What do you think? I personally think image 3 is a different sp. the others.

 

[sandfire]

For those of you who do not have eye sight like superman...

 

[Fruitbat]

Exquisite fish! I've wanted to locate some of those for a long time because I think they'd go well in my 'oddball' Asian tank with my Belontia signata, Belontia hasselti and Anabas testudineus.

-Joe

 

[Gankutsuou]

astounding fish! post in the pics section too!