Unfortunately, one of my halfbeaks seems to have lost his entire lower jaw. It must have been recent because I only noticed it today and I was looking pretty closely yesterday.

I have no doubt that the jaw was lost. Its not like its one of the halfbeak with the shorter lower jaw. In this case the upper jaw is actually longer than the lower.

I'll try to get some pictures for confirmation if my camera decides to cooperate.

Since I doubt it will survive very long because of starvation, my question is, how should I euthanize it? My understanding is that freezing doesn't work too well. Would putting the halfbeak in alcohol do the trick? Should it be pure, or some percentage?

Thanks...
Greg

The one in the middle is the halfbeak in question. I can't determine if it is Dermogenys from the top because the "flaps" which are usually visible from the top could easily have been lost from the injury. I also took a closer look at the wound and can tell that it's not natural. It looks jagged.

I fed them and witnessed the injured halfbeak eating. So, I'll see how it does for the next few days. He's being his regular territorial self.

Greg

This happens... so long as it is feeding, don't worry about it. They heal very well. Add a little anti fungus to the water though.

Cheers, Neale

How easily do half beaks spawn? I am looking into getting some and dont know anything about them. I will probably look on google, but I want to hear from people on this website.

Thanks!

I was pretty surprised at first. I figure that it would get broken but just heal at a funny angle, not be lost entirely.

I'll make a run to the LFS Monday when I need to fill out the aquarium with more plants.

Greg

Freshwater halfbeaks don't spawn, they have babies, just like guppies. Breeding them isn't terribly difficult, and provided you can keep the mother happy and healthy, the babies, once born, are robust and easy to rear. I have a couple of illustrated pages on keeping and breeding halfbeaks, here:

http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/halfbeaks.html
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/halfbeakbreeding.html

If you want more info, post a *new* topic or flip through some of the existing topics here.

Cheers, Neale

Thanks! Would I be able to put three(1 male, 2 feamles) in a tank with 3 swordtails, 2 kribs( to old to breed), and 1 danio, and some baby platies? The tank is a 20g flat hex, which is about 20 inches tall.

Halfbeaks should be fine with platies and danios (have some with danios and neons right now) and kribs tend to ignore them though they will kill them when spawning if the tank is too small/shallow (that's a krib thing, not a halfbeak thing).

Halfbeaks couldn't care less about depth. BUT, they do care about width. I keep some in a 10 gallon tank and they are obviously not very happy about it being "boxed in" and tend to freak out or sulk. In big tanks, they're all over the place. I can't imagine a hexagon tank would be ideal for halfbeaks, though if they were small Dermogenys it might be worth a shot. But these fish don't swim "down" like guppies, so if the tank is very tall but has limited surface area, they are still going to feel trapped. Stressed females don't tend to breed well.

Cheers, Neale

Thanks, I think I will wait a while untill I get rid of my kribs, because recently they have started to kill my danios, so I hate to see what would happen to the half beaks.