Peacock gudgeon and norman lampey, advice appreciated

[Beastije]

On saturday fish fair I saw two fish that I have so far never seen before, at a fair or in a store, maybe on import lists. So ofcourse I had to get them, but now I am looking for tips

They had peacock gudgeons, quite large, seems like the guy is getting rid of his colony, he was very old, and entertained me with the stories how they used to illegally import this fish through germany, back when USSR was a thing I got three fish, their bellies are BULGING and orange, most likely well fed due to the fair and shipping? They are quite large, around 4cm I would say, not juveniles by far. I think I have one male for sure, one female for sure, third I am not sure though two days later, I think it is also a male. One male took residence in my sava pod that was a leftover from previous setup, so I ran and put in my second sava pod and some bamboo pipes I had. They have to soak first though, still the female will hapily reside in the sava pod on the surface. The fish are curious, maybe a bit too curious in regards to other fish and shrimp. They also do NOT see microworms that I fed yesterday. They do see frozen cyclops and I also did put like 5 mosquito larvae (frozen), seems that will work.

Second fish I have never seen before at any store here was Norman's lampeye. I am sucker for small fish, especially fish with bright blue eyes. They had to be mine. This seller, had he not have such a rare fish for me, I would not buy of him. At least half the group he sold me is juveniles, barely out of the fry stage. I wonder if they will survive the stress. Some are larger fish, all are adorable. They acclimated well, fed microworms, hide in the hornwort, try to not get eaten by the gudgeons.

I had an empty 40 liter tank, well not empty but I recently removed my least rasboras to a 25liter and the clown killifish, which are around 2 years old, to my 54 liter to my pseudomugil and pygmies. There are a bit fewer plants than I would like, since I took out A LOT of them during the fishing out. But it is established, shrimp colony, scuds, microfauna,... Will see if any of these fish remain here or if I will move them to other tanks, reshuffling is happening a lot with me lately.

Now in regards the gudgeons and their bulging bellies. The females belly is super bright yellow/orange, the male had less yellow, more of a white bulge, and the second male lost some of the bulging yesterday. Anything to worry about or when should I be concerned? Long term, will 2 males 1 female work? or should I get more? Is the 40 liter ok for them? A lot of conflicting info on the net. If they "pair" I could move the other male to some other tank. Still too early to speculate, I have had them two days now.
Can they work with the lampeye? They seem to be so damn small. I was considering putting the lampeyes into my 75 liter tank, that could also house the gudgeons perhaps. But there is a higher flow (though mainly for the bamboo shrimp) and the mango loaches, that are just SO DAMN TINY!! adult shrimp is the same size they are. I would ofcourse have to remove the wcmm that I still have in this tank. They would not work at all with the gudgeons (damn slow feeders) and I doubt the lampeyes would appreciate being chased by the WCMM either. Or will they work in the 40 liter. A mosquito larvae is about the size of the lampeye fry I have. And given the gudgeons eat the larva, I am surprised they havent eaten the lampeye fry yet. That is mainly the reason I am feeding now even though the gudgeons could use a feeding break.

Hence tips and tricks appreciated!

The tank

lampeyes

Gudgeons

female

male 1, lives in the sava pod

male 2, less of a bulge

The 75 liter possible tank

 

[GaryE]

Ah, two fish I love, one of which drives me crazy. I've kept Tateurndina ocellicauda a few times, but have never been able to breed them. They are rumoured to be easy, but they just have never liked me. They are ideal companions for Pseudomugils, as while they may not come from the same habitat, they come from the same region. Yours look fine.

Here, they have never been aggressive.

Poropanchax normani is a favourite. They come from coastal West Africa. I started keeping them 35 years ago when I would find 2 or 3 of them mixed in with fish ordered from Nigeria or Guinea. I built up a shoal that way, and these hardy little killifish proved easy to breed. Here, they have bred in medium hard water to quite soft, but showed a preference for temperatures around 22-24. Warmer, and their lives shorten. This is an issue with most of the ones sold now, because I find the farmed ones live about 1/3 the lifespan of wild caught or home bred ones. Something in how they're raised is damaging them. I suspect crowding and too high temperatures at the farms.

Once, when I had too many, I put some in a tub on the floor while I waited for a friend to come to get 50. It was unheated, and hit around 18 degrees (Celsius for the Americans). After the adults were picked up, the tub was full of babies, at least as many as I'd had adults.

You're lucky if they're small, because that means they're probably locally bred.

In a well planted single species tank, they are prolific. You can also use spawning mops and collect the eggs. Incubation is around 2 weeks, and growth is fairly fast. I bought a small group of farmed ones last Spring, and while all the adults have since died, I have a lovely shoal of 20 or so in a 150 ltr tank, in with Angola barbs (Enteromius fasciolatus). They should live 2 or 3 years, since they were home bred.

I have found them to like moving water, well filtered, with 30% weekly water changes. They eat any small food, though mine get a lot of live artemia, with daphnia and mosquito larvae in season. At times, I have had a lot of them, and they lived well with similarly sized tetras that were happy with the temperature range. I also had them with Pseudomugil gertrudae in one tank, and P. luminatus in another.

It's an easy, low maintenance fish. If you adjust the lights so the come in angled, the eyes of these fish are spectacular. Under direct overhead light, they aren't as nice looking. In some local varieties, males (who have fin extensions) get very yellow caudals and dorsals.

 

[Beastije]

I think the lampeyes might be a great candidate for the 75liter. I was initially considering some other pseudomugil I didnt keep yet, but these will work even better maybe. I will give them a month or two in the 40 liter, sort of quarantine, chance for the youngsters to grow up. Then I will lift the wcmm and move the lampeyes. Either alone or with the remaining pseudomugil/clownkillifish I have that are aging out. Glad to hear they are much fun, will see how their stability/breeding goes. They are amazingly boisterous. Some sources state they like the flow, some state they dont. I will reduce the flow in the bigger tank when the time comes (and the bamboo shrimps are approaching their 4th year)
Exciting thanks for sharing

 

[Colin_T]

I think Rocky? from this forum bred them. One of the younger members on here bred them.

Big water changes, lots of food, soft water and pvc pipe for the gudgeons. The males have the rounded head, females more tapered. It looks like you have 2 males and 1 female. One of the males appears to have a deformed mouth/ head, bottom jaw sticks out too far.

Re the lampeyes, Have lots of plants (especially floating plants like Water Sprite), feed them well, keep the water clean and they do the rest.