Brachyraphis Roseni

[guppymonkey]

Just won an auction for some Brachyraphis roseni on www.aquabid.com! They should be coming in the mail tomorrow! I haven't kept this species before but I have heard they are fairly easy to keep. They are supposed to be very aggressive for such a small species but that should be okay since they going in a 20 gallon long tank by themselves. I have it fairly heavily planted so there should be plenty of coverage to calm them somewhat. I will post some pics once they come in!

 

[helterskelter]

These are lovely fish, their very difficualt to get fry from though.

This is partly due to as fact that as soon as the drop the fry they will eat them.
They done get very fat either when close to giving birth, Once a females is fat she's close to giving birth, you need a fry tank packed with Java moss and plants, almost to the point the fish cant swim around as this will allow the fry to get away from the mother and give you a chance for rearing some of the fry.

These was one of the very fish rare livebearers i had but it took me over a year befor i got fry from them, sp with a little luck your do better.

 

[guppymonkey]

I have read what I can find about this species and came up with a rearing technique exactly as you describe. They came in at about 1 inch in total length so I am guessing it will be a little while before I have to try to get a fry tank ready. I have one with a lot of java moss growing. Hopefully by the time the female are ready to give birth the moss will grow a little more to the point of almost choking the fish so some survive. All three pair of Brachyraphis roseni came in good shape and are already eating flake food. I was thinking of putting them on a basic livebearer diet as I can not find much on their dietary needs. I was thinking of rotating through my flake and small pellets and adding in some veggie flakes and frozen food. I have some daphnia going in a tank so they are also going to be added once or twice a week. Any other ideas?

 

[helterskelter]

i feed mine on flake, grindel worn and brine shrimp and they thrived on that.

The females get to 2-2.5" and are stunning, if u can get a pic I'll double check the ID as their are quite of bracky's now and not seen roseni for a long time.

 

[guppymonkey]

They are too small right now to get a good picture with my camera but I am fairly sure that they are roseni. I have checked with as many pictures as I can find online and in my personal collection of fish atlases and they look like roseni. I was surprised to see them available at an auction online and had to pay a fair amount for them but its definately worth it. They are quite beautiful even at a young age. Hopefully I will be able to get some fry to survive. Do you think they would attack cories if I tried to keep some in their 20 gallon long tank with the B. roseni? How many B. roseni do you think I could keep in that size tank before they they became too aggressive with each other? Also, do you think a typical livebearer configuration of 2 females to one male would be best?

 

[helterskelter]

more females to males yes, their be fine with corry's, in a 20g you get a good number there 20-30 fish happy, but they love to jump, and a tight fitting lid with no holes is the only way to be with them.

 

[guppymonkey]

They seem to be hanging right below the surface of the water, not in a bad way, but like they normally would have that type of behavior. Thats all I have noticed so far. They have only been here a day so I haven't had time to see any mating behavior so far. They are already eating flake and frozen foods without any problems. I have heard its about 6 weeks of pregnancy so I have a while to wait.

 

[helterskelter]

Yes their a surface fish and they will mainly stay there, gestation is slightly more than guppies, 4-5 weeks.

However knowing when their going to give birth is very difficult, it will be much earlier than you think, when going by size.