Anyone Had Experioences With Any Of These Fish?

[rocknurworld2006]

blue panchax-Aplocheilus panchax

and

Celebes Halfbeak - Nomorhamphus liemi

 

[Corleone]

I have a blue panchax. Used to have two, but the female died in an ick outbreak. They've got a reputation of being a bit aggressive for a community tank, but mine's been behaved fairly well (he took a chunk out of my male platys fin when the platy tried to mate with him, no other injuries). He's merciless with fry in the tank, and he's a suspect in the disappearance of an oto last month, but the others have been left alone, so I've stopped watching him so much. I like him a lot, and he's the main thing keeping me from getting overrun by livebearers.

One problem I had initially, he's a top swimmer, but doesn't like a lot of surface movement. If your filter is making strong surface movement, he might lurk in the bottom of the tank a lot. I've reduced the surface movement a bit (there's still a good bit, just not as much in front of the filter output) and he's much more comfortable at the top of the tank.

 

[Colin_T]

blue panchax are easy enough to keep. Just have some plants in the tank and feed them a variety of different foods. They are pretty tough and breed readily, but they do jump so a cover is recommended.

The halfbeaks are a bit more difficult to keep because they have small mouths and hang out by the surface. They do best in a tank with small peaceful fishes like pygmy cories and licorice gouramis. Once they settle in they are fine and eat most small foods. Have lots of plants in the tank if you want to breed them because they eat their young.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

hi can anyone show me a pic or a website which shows you a picture of male and female so i can see the difference

 

[BigC]

Blue Panchax. (Aplo. panchax)
[URL="http/www.elacuarista.com/atlas/images/Ap...kus_panchax.jpg"]http/www.elacuarista.com/atlas/images/Ap...kus_panchax.jpg[/URL]
are usually well behaved whilst juvenile but can be a bit troublesome/slightly aggressive when fully grown. The males are not tolorant towards each other in a confined space. Given proper husbandry they can attain a size of around 7-8cms. Problem lies in their predatory nature and their cavernous mouth is large enough to dessimate a shoal of small tetras over time.
They are very easy to breed, but should be conditioned beforehand by seperating the sexes and feeding a varied diet of livefoods coupled with a good staple flake. I give them a tank of around 18x10x10 for a male and two females. They are plant spawners so if you wish to breed these the a bare tank with a tight fitting lid/cover glass. I use dark green yarn for my spawn mops (see link for how to make a spawning mop)
[URL="http/www.aquarticles.com/articles/breedi...awning_Mop.html"]http/www.aquarticles.com/articles/breedi...awning_Mop.html[/URL]
I like to include a small air driven sponge filter to a tank that size. The temperature should be around 24'C and a neutral or slightly higher pH suits them just fine.
The male will chase the females into the mops and move along side he will cup the female with his unpaired fins and adopt the statatuory "S" position, then you will witness a violent jerk motion which will signify that an adhesive egg will have been deposited in the fibres of the mop.
The eggs are fairly large for a killi and are an opaque colour. I pick the eggs daily from the mops and place them in a large margarine tub floated in the parent tank with a water depth of around 50mm. The parents are very prolific and should lay a great number of eggs over a week. Discard eggs that go white (unfertilised) using a small eyedropper or pipette. With this species this should be minimal. The fry hatch after 12 to 14 days and they are quite large, transfer the fry out of the egg container into a similar tub and begin feeding, they will consume newly hatched brineshrimp and microworm from the outset. (be warned you may get a skewed sex ratio). Feed the fry 3 times a day (little and often) and keep the fry container clean and free from uneaten food.
The fry grow fairly quickly and can be introduced to crushed flake alongside the aformentioned. Then onto grindalworm and small whiteworms.
This species are fairly robust and fry losses will be minimal.
I may have omitted a few points from the above if you require any more info on Aplo. panchax then feel free to ask.
Regards
BigC

 

[rocknurworld2006]

thanks everyone!

how do yuou sex the halfbeaks and can anyone show a pic of male and female again so i can see the difference?

 

[Colin_T]

male halfbeaks have a little tiny gonopodium type extension (called an andropodium) to their anal fin. It is only a couple of mm long but sticks out backwards from the anal fin. The females have a normal fan or triangular shaped anal fin.

 

[rabbut]

I have experience of half beaks through work. They are liverbearers as I think Collin_T pointed out, and they have diseptively large mouths. A 5.5inch specimin ate a 2 inch harlequin rasbora whole, the second I let the harlequin's out of their bag. They caught me entirely by supprise, as like Colin, I had assumed by whatching them feed, that they had mouths nowhere near large enough to take them....
I'd avoind putting them in with small fish under 4 inches, as IME they would be at risk Clacking fish, that otherwise require a tight fitting lid as they are jumpers.

For sexing, think the same as sexing quppies, platties e.t.c

HTH
Rabbut