Some Of My Small Cyprinids And Characins

[lljdma06]

I've been acquiring a few nano species in the past months, and some of them finally posed long enough for a few pictures.

Hyphessobrycon amandae in their first week, late June, I think. Pretty pale.

H. amandae now, sorry for the blurry pic, but it's the color that's important.

Boraras urophthalmoides

Boraras merah

Boraras briggitae. That is an amazing red. The camera does no justice.

Thanks for looking. Sorry I don't have more, but they are a pain to photograph.

I enjoy keeping these species. They are fun, extroverted fish that are already very tolerant of me poking and proding in their tanks with planting and water changes. Once acclimated, they are also quite hardy. Some really beautiful options for smaller aquariums.

Any body else keep them?

llj

 

[Syphoniera]

I actually don't have enough WOW!!!'s in my vocabulary because I'm semi-speechless.
You lucky devil, you!
I'm hoping to get a (low, wide) 30 gal. nano-fish (Walstad) tank going down the road, although getting hold of any of the fish I'd like will probably be tricky, as shipping to Canada seems to be an expensive and frequently impossible problem, although some people must surely have them here....
(And if tax refund doesn't do it, may have to wait for lottery win, lol)
May I ask how you obtained your various fish, if from anyone who ships widely?
I already knew I really, really wanted boraras merah, but yours all give great cause for envy, and the briggitae is, if possible, even nicer.
But it's hard for the ignorant to get any info on nano fish of any type - haven't seen much beyond drooling over Franks Aquarium nano section and a bit of frequently rather futile poking around, evidently lacking the right search terms.
A cut and paste google of some of these fish often produces little of use...
It's obvious you've provided an ideal environment and care - they're gorgeous, as are the bits of your tanks one can see.
And they're not shy: the sort of essential detail almost never found.
Are they taking any dry commercial foods? Frozen? Or just live?
Pardon my babbling, but

 

[Mikaila31]

Very Nice lljdma06! Love the Boraras briggitae. I'm still trying to get some, waiting till October now, I think? You still planning on getting some more?

Cheers,
Mikaila31

 

[lljdma06]

Very Nice lljdma06! Love the Boraras briggitae. I'm still trying to get some, waiting till October now, I think? You still planning on getting some more?

Cheers,
Mikaila31

Got them already, though I think I may order more. Some B. merah always creeps into the order. These fish are difficult to tell apart when not colored up. When they color up, easy as pie. One more order should bring both groups to adaquate numbers.

I feed a combination of prepared, frozen, and live. They love Hikari micro pellets but I also feed some other prepared foods, frozen daphnia, frozen BBS, and live BBS. I've been busy at the university, though, so they haven't had a live feeding in a while. I need to hatch me some BBS. It's the best way for them to fatten up. Books say they can be shy, but all these fish are kept together, and are of similar size. I moved the B. urophthalmoides out, though. They are now kept with C. pygmeaus in a separate tank. These little guys were just way too small, and the Hyphessobrycon would out-compete them for food. As a result, the B. urophthalmoides were a little shy, but now that they are just with the catfish, I consider them extroverted as well.

llj

 

[Mikaila31]

I'm guessing you got yours from Frank then? I may have to get them from there then, if they look that nice . How big are they when they arrived?

 

[three-fingers]

Lovely fish! I've been looking at nano fish as a possibility for my shrimp tank in the future to help keep the cherry shrimp population down if (when) it gets out of hand.

Ever have any of these guys spawn?
Love the second picture of the B.urophthalmoides, my favourite of them .

 

[~T~]

Someone after my own heart. I have also been searching for nano species. All I have at the moment is galaxy/celestials, lampeye killies and a lone pygmy rasbora but im in the process of tracking down more pygmies and some ember tetras. My lfs's dont really have a market for tiny species.

 

[lljdma06]

I'm guessing you got yours from Frank then? I may have to get them from there then, if they look that nice . How big are they when they arrived?

Yep, but you can't order yours yet, because I have to order my second batch. See, the problem with the B. briggitae is that B. merah can creep into the order. They are harvested in the same region. I ended up with about half of each species. Not anyone's fault. Literally, unless these guys are in a dim, planted tank, all the species look like teeny grey fish. They lose color when kept in undecorated, bare-bottom tanks, which is typical with most importers. They are like a half inch long when they arrive, but grow quickly on live BBS. I have nets covering the intake on the filters. They can get sucked up. Basically, I treat them like platy fry at first. The challenge is finding really small food.

Lovely fish! I've been looking at nano fish as a possibility for my shrimp tank in the future to help keep the cherry shrimp population down if (when) it gets out of hand.

Ever have any of these guys spawn?
Love the second picture of the B.urophthalmoides, my favourite of them .

That is the goal and why I setup the 10g nano breeder. I'd like to spawn some species. I've had some success with cyprinids breeding in my planted tanks with a good fry survival rate. The urophthalmoides are a sentimental favorite. I kept this fish in IL, where they were sold to me as briggitae. Toughies, they are, survived a heater crash, and several tank trashings when friends would watch my tanks over Winter Holiday. They can also out-run a betta.

Someone after my own heart. I have also been searching for nano species. All I have at the moment is galaxy/celestials, lampeye killies and a lone pygmy rasbora but im in the process of tracking down more pygmies and some ember tetras. My lfs's dont really have a market for tiny species.

These are extraordinary fish and kind of over-looked at times. Ideal for Nature-style, or your typical planted aquarium. They are very small, so you can have a larger school and they produce minimal waste.

llj