Blue Amur Taiwan Bitterling ( Paracheilognathus himantegus ) in with other assorted rainbow fish, or potentially some barbs???

[Magnum Man66 180]

preferred water parameters look close to what what I have here, just weather the temps could be averaged out to work???
thoughts???

fish looks interesting, & favors my natural water here... anyone have any of these??? other potential tank mates that would get along, & like the water a little cooler & harder... thought about potentially with my barbs, if / when I move them to a bigger tank... but I'm trying to soften that water a little for those fish right now

 

[GaryE26 24]

I have read about bitterlings as tank fish, but never seen it done. They had a blast of popularity in the 1920s to 1950s, before heaters were available. They fell out of the hobby rapidly after that. For info, you'd have to look up older sources. It's been a solid 70 years since they were popular in North America. Elsewhere, they may still be around.

I recall them being presented as peaceful but social - needing to be in groups.

 

[Magnum Man66 180]

I started this thread a few years ago, and ran across them again.... lots has changed for me ( namely soft water via RO unit ) but I still find them interesting...

Blue Amur Taiwanese Bitterling (Paracheilognathus himantegus)

This colorful, subtropical bitterling is known to tolerate cold temperatures and can be a great fish for controlling pond algae and mosquitoes, or it can be a superb fish for the planted aquarium!

aquaticarts.com

 

[AJ356]

When my dad got me into fish about 38 years ago, I remember we had about 4 bitterlings in a tank, and the females would have a long tube hanging down when wanting to lay eggs. My dad told me that we needed an oyster for the female lay eggs in. This is me going by 38 years ago memory, and not checking Google to see if this even makes sense. They were pretty and silver if memory serves.

 

[AJ356]

I just checked Google. It's a mussel, not an oyster https://www.google.com/search?q=bit...msung-gs-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

 

[AJ356]

 

[AJ356]

This is interesting timing this thread, as my dad passed away about 5 weeks ago

 

[Magnum Man66 180]

sorry to hear that...

 

[AJ356]

From Seriously Fish

Bitterlings (see ‘Notes’) exhibit an unusual spawning symbiosis in which the interlamellar spaces of the paired inner and outer gills of living unionid mussels are used as a spawning substrate.

During the reproductive period females develop a long ovipositor which is used to deposit eggs through the mussel’s exhalant siphon. Males then move in to males release milt into the mussels’ inhalant siphon in order to fertilize them while aggressively defending the area against other males. The embryos and emergent fry possess characteristic morphology, physiology, and behaviour, which enables them to remain in the host mussel until they swim free after 2-6 weeks, depending on species.

 

[AJ356]

Adult females tend to spawn in more than a single mussel during each spawning season, and multiple clutches from several females of one or more bitterling species may be hosted in a single mussel.

 

[Innesfan61]

From Innes: photo of Bitterlings spawning @1933.

 

[AJ356]

From Innes: photo of Bitterlings spawning @1933.

View attachment 373447

Nice one.

I started researching about keeping fresh water mussels alive in a home aquarium because of this thread! I know it's a big challenge. But what a fantastic project it would be to have a tank with breeding bitterlings, and fry living inside the mussels. There was a mad YouTube clip I watched last night. Someone in the UK was keeping mussels alive, for a decent length of time I think, in a standard cichlid set up, there was even a rope Fish in the tank who was initially interested in the mussels but then left them alone