[Cyprinodontiformes] Participação no fórum GWG - Characodon in a breeding cage?

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GWG Feb-26-11 19:22:10
Characodon in a breeding cage?

After all the more philosophical points i have a very practical question: 

I have a pregnant female Characodon lateralis in a "goodeid community tank". I very
much want some of the young to survive, especially because my only adult male is not
completely healthy and I suspect that he might not fertilize the female again. 

Would it be an option to transfer the female to a breeding cage (such a cage of fine
white cloth, I think around 14 cm long), with dense plants added (Ceratophyllum), or
would that mean so much stress that young will be born too early?

_________________________

Feb-26-11 23:42:26

Hi, I put Xenotocas Eiseni females in those cages without problems. 
Sometimes when I put the fish in the "cage" it dropped the fish in some ours, it
think that the stress acelerated the proccess but the fish didn´t have problems. 

Bests, 
Nicolás.

_________________________

Feb-27-11 18:12:57

Thank you for your reply! 

I once had a female Gambusia holbrooki giving birth in a small separate aquarium. The
female was OK, but the young died in a few days time. I suspect that the stress
induced an early birth. 

On the other hand: Xenotoca is much more lively than Characodon and Characodon is
naturally more at ease between plants / in cramped surroundings. So I decided to take
a chance and placed the female Characodon in a breeding net. 

A note on a species combination in a single aquarium: 
After last years xstensive discussion on "keeping species together or not" I decided
to try a combination of species and added Xenotoca eiseni "San Marcos" & Characodon
lateralis "Los Berros" to the aquarium in which I keep a breeding group of Ameca
splendens (aquarium strain). I figured that the relatively large and agile young of
Ameca would probably survive in the company of smaller species, which turns out to be
correct. Xenotoca young also survive, but grow poorly at room temperature + (= 22
degrees centigrade) so I caught some and placed them temporarily in a warmer
aquarium. I have several healthy females of Xenotoca so if some young are lost, there
will likely be more litters to come,.hence I can take a chance with this species.
With Characodon I am not having this luxury and intend to try to save young of this
litter. 

It is interesting to see how the adults of these three species deal with each other:
no serious problems, the dominant Xenotoca is also dominant over Ameca males. Some
fighting between males of these two species, but not more than between males of the
same species. A subadult Xenotoca male occasionally courted both male and female
subadult Ameca but the adult males limit their courtship to females of their own
species. Some minor agression occurs between Xenotoca and Characodon females. These
interactions would be an interesting study subject, but more so with
species/populations that also co-occur in nature.

_________________________

Mar-06-11 01:34:30


Hi Paul and Nicolás,

Yes, some hobbysts in Portugal had success with Xenotoca cf. eiseni " San Marcos "
giving birth in such breeding cases.
I am however absolutely against that procedure for a number of reasons, including
stress.
I also understand that many of us are dealing with a shortness of room, so extreme
solutions are sometimes the only ones.
By my experience with the 3 species together, mentioned on Paul's example, at least a
great number of Caracodon newborn were always safe and sighted on the vegetation
souroundings, at every litter born. 
This had happens on a populated community in the wintering indoor facilities. Off
course I am talking about a 200 litres and a dense vegetation tank, not a smaller
one.
Please make use of a little 30 litres planted aquarium with oxygenated fine quality
water and invest on an excellence diet for segregate females on the last period of
gestation.
If you can't have this "luxurious" solution, at least try to find a way to provide a
dense vegetation corner of your Goodeids tank and see if some of the newborn can
escape. If this option doesn’t work with the first litter, than search for an
alternative... but please avoid the breeding cage.
This is only my modest opinion :)


Best regards

Miguel Andrade 

P.S. Nicolás, I have to write you back but maybe next week I'll have a chance to do
it.
Forgive me for such delay.