Hello!

I'm a newbie to aquariums. My parents had vast quantities of fish when I was much younger but have since left the hobby. Fortunately, the equipment and aquariums are still around and in good working order. I've had goldfish a couple times but am looking to expand a bit. Halfbeaks seemed like interesting fish that don't get too large.

I asked in my local aquarium shop and they said they can get in the common Dermogenys pusillus for a quite reasonable $2 per fish.

My understanding is that these fish are relatively easy to care for if the water is kept consistent and they are not spooked, else they damage their beaks.

I have some questions.

1) What kind of hardness of water do they prefer? I live on a very very good well. No chemicals, no bacteria levels that would effect humans, etc. I certainly plan on making sure the temperatures and pH levels are within bounds.

2) What kind of plantings do they prefer? Are rocks handy to have in the tank as well?

3) Substrate? Since they're top feeders, I take it doesn't matter too much which kind?

4) How is feeding these guys? I heard they can be picky and I've heard they aren't. What is the general consensus? What should I feed them and how often?

5) How many should I respectably keep in a 20 gallon tank? It's a proper horizontal one.

6) Should I go all males, all females or just a mix?

Thanks guys and I'm sorry if these are common questions!

Greg

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

Dermogenys pusilla is quite easy to care for, and make an excellent "beginner's halfbeak". They are fun to keep, very lively, and surprisingly easy to tame. My female specimens are all "hand fed", and come to front of the aquarium when I life the hood. I use forceps (long tweezers) to hold individual bloodworms, and they snap them up very eagerly. Males are not easy to tame, and are smaller and more into fighting. Anyway, I have a web page that covers my experiences keeping and breeding these fish.

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

To answer your questions:

1. They don't care about water chemistry. I keep mine in fairly soft and acid, but they are also found in brackish (to around 25% seawater) so frankly it doesn't matter. What they do not like are sudden changes in water chemistry.

2. They couldn't care less about rocks and most plants. Floating plants are enjoyed, but otherwise, these are open water fish that live in big rivers far away from shade.

3. Indeed, substrate matters even less than rocks.

4. Halfbeaks generally are less easy to feed than guppies but not so bad as, say, glassfish. They like bloodworms (live or frozen) and also daphnia (live). Flake is eaten, and it is a good idea to use "vegetarian" flake because in the wild these fish eat a lot of algae. So buy flake food made for mollies and guppies.

5. In a 20 gallon "long" tank you could keep half a dozen without any problems, but only one male. Males are tiny (~5 cm) but fight with each other. Females are bigger (~7 cm) and more mellow, though they sometimes fight with each other.

6. Absolutely DO NOT get all males... they will fight to the death! Frankly, the females are much more fun because they are bigger and easier to tame. Mine are so tame I can stroke their backs when they are waiting for food. The males also seem to be less hardy, and do not live for as long as the females.

You want to breed this fish. I have a bunch of baby Dermogenys pusilla in a tank with some Corydoras fry. Baby halfbeaks are very easy to rear, and shops seem to buy them quite happily. Your problem is making sure the female does not miscarry or give birth prematurely. That's happened with mine. Basically you have to avoid stressing her (e.g. by lifting her out the tank) when she is close to giving birth.

Cheers,

Neale

hi neale, you've been doing a great job with the TFH articles.

$2 a dermogenys pusilla?? wow... how many is the limit for ordering?? I might want to order a large quantity (some for my tanks, some for my friends, some to share at my aquarium club)

Thanks meepster! That's very kind of you to say so.

I agree -- $2 halfbeaks are a steal. For that, it's worth buying a "swarm" and keeping them in nice big tank. If there's space, you can watch the males wrestle without actually fighting to the death (the weaker fish swim away to safety, lower down the water column and among plants).

Cheers, Neale

Sorry for the late replies. School's been rough recently.

Anyways, when I first heard $2, I was rather surprised as well. It's Big Al's which is the place. They said that they don't get them in very often but when they do, they go like hotcakes. Don't know about the maximum order quantity.

I think I'm going to stay at 20G for now It would be fun though to have a school of like 50 in a 100G tank!

I plan on setting up a tank by the weekend and at least get the cycle going. It'll probably be a month or so to get the halfbeaks in.

Thanks again guys!

make sure your 100 g tank is long! they need surface area more as they stay near the top.