I have just inherited a pair of these but cant find anything about them on the internet? Can anyone help please. Can i mix them with any other fish? I have them on their own in a 4ft tank at the moment. What can i feed them? are they aggressive? Thanks in advance.
Brachyrhaphis Terrabensis
- Thread starter Bonedaddy
- Start date
helterskelter
Livebearer Specilest
LOL your got a loverly fish there 
Firstly the thing to remember is these fish are a nightmare to keep, as soon as the females drop her babies she will turn and eat them.
Growing masses of java moss will help a great deal and and old trick is to use a gold fish bowl, as the female will corner the fry and eat them, so a bowl wit5h no corners and masses of java moss in it can give their fry a chance to survive.
When pregnant these fish dont put on much weight unlike guppies, so what u need to be able to do is view her from above, when she puts on the slightest amount of weight she's very close to dropping.
A 4ft is a big tank for these, their be just as happy in a 2', as for mixing then there is little you can do, any other livebearers other than hardy goodieads will never be happy although Priapella should be fine as them from similar locations.
They love the surface area's mainly and like a good turn over of water as their from rapid flowing streams,
Foods, quality flake foods are fine, but they love blood worm, grindel worm, dapina and brine shrimp.
Anything else?
P.S. fine a photo on the link below
Fishark pages
Also check out David McAlister at the top he's the UK leading colector and breeder in barcy's and Xiphophorus
Firstly the thing to remember is these fish are a nightmare to keep, as soon as the females drop her babies she will turn and eat them.
Growing masses of java moss will help a great deal and and old trick is to use a gold fish bowl, as the female will corner the fry and eat them, so a bowl wit5h no corners and masses of java moss in it can give their fry a chance to survive.
When pregnant these fish dont put on much weight unlike guppies, so what u need to be able to do is view her from above, when she puts on the slightest amount of weight she's very close to dropping.
A 4ft is a big tank for these, their be just as happy in a 2', as for mixing then there is little you can do, any other livebearers other than hardy goodieads will never be happy although Priapella should be fine as them from similar locations.
They love the surface area's mainly and like a good turn over of water as their from rapid flowing streams,
Foods, quality flake foods are fine, but they love blood worm, grindel worm, dapina and brine shrimp.
Anything else?
P.S. fine a photo on the link below
Fishark pages
Also check out David McAlister at the top he's the UK leading colector and breeder in barcy's and Xiphophorus
Thank you very much for your help. So there isnt anything i can put in the same tank as them? What about plecs would they be ok with anything like that. I do have a 3 ft tank which i use as a breeding tank for my BNs but i could swap them over i guess. We got them because a friend I work with went to an Auction in Redditch and brought them me as a present. He knew i had this tank free and i like rare fish.
helterskelter
Livebearer Specilest
I could not get there but was going to try, think gill was thinking of going as well.
As for fish yes cory's, pleco's are fine you can keep other fish but it's just my way of working with these fish, if your working on something special like these then you need to wirk at it if you just want to look at then then you welcome to try gentile community fish
As for fish yes cory's, pleco's are fine you can keep other fish but it's just my way of working with these fish, if your working on something special like these then you need to wirk at it if you just want to look at then then you welcome to try gentile community fish
Thank you. I would like to breed them? I will put them in the 3ft i think and just put a few of my baby bristlenose plecs in. We have some swordtails that breed in our 8'6"ft tank though and the babies get through to the background that houses the pipework and then we lose them. I would like to put the swordtails in with them. Then we could save the babies maybe. I dont want them breeding in our big tank.
helterskelter
Livebearer Specilest
swords will be ok, but the brack's will eat the sword fry.
Hi Guys,
I am new to this forum, but thought I would wade on in.
I have been keeping terrabensis for around a year now and they are a cracking fish. I have been keeping two pairs of them in a 125 litre aquarium, but have recently placed them in two 50 litre aquaria (1 pair in each).
Alan is right and the adults chase and eat the young with gusto, however the young are very agile and able to escape so the key to success is providing plenty of hiding spaces and not overstocking the tank. At the moment, I have a gravel substrate, some rocks, a koi spawning rope and a plastic grass mat which is floating on the surface of the water and this seems to work quite well.
Since I have reduced the size of the aquarium, I am seeing far more young and am getting around 20-30 per brood as opposed to the 6 or so which used to survive.
As far as tank mates are concerned, you will get away with plecs and corys but would not worry too much with any other species and at all costs avoid mixing with other brachys as they will probably hybridise.
My aquaria are quite cold and I am keeping them at around 64 degrees without too much trouble.
I am new to this forum, but thought I would wade on in.
I have been keeping terrabensis for around a year now and they are a cracking fish. I have been keeping two pairs of them in a 125 litre aquarium, but have recently placed them in two 50 litre aquaria (1 pair in each).
Alan is right and the adults chase and eat the young with gusto, however the young are very agile and able to escape so the key to success is providing plenty of hiding spaces and not overstocking the tank. At the moment, I have a gravel substrate, some rocks, a koi spawning rope and a plastic grass mat which is floating on the surface of the water and this seems to work quite well.
Since I have reduced the size of the aquarium, I am seeing far more young and am getting around 20-30 per brood as opposed to the 6 or so which used to survive.
As far as tank mates are concerned, you will get away with plecs and corys but would not worry too much with any other species and at all costs avoid mixing with other brachys as they will probably hybridise.
My aquaria are quite cold and I am keeping them at around 64 degrees without too much trouble.
Where abouts are you based? I may be able to put you in touch with someone who wants them.
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