Scientific name: Xenophallus umbratilis
Common name (especially in the UK): Golden teddies
Family: Poeciliidae
Origin: Costa Rica and Nicaragua in small slow moving streams
Maximum size: Female up to 3.5 cm, 1.4 inches, and male up to 3 cm, 1.2 inches
Care: Need a minimum of a 5 gallon tank for swimming space although I have had success breeding them in a colony situation in a 10 gallon. My own are kept at 76F, 24.5C, but are reputed to tolerate much lower and higher temperatures of 71F to 83F. I am keeping them in water that is moderately hard with a pH of about 7.8.
Feeding: Omnivores that I feed on any food small enough for them to eat it. That includes spirulina flake food, frozen daphnia and freeze dried tubifex. Frozen mosquito larvae and frozen blood worms are eagerly attempted but are difficult for these small fish to eat.
Breeding: Sexed similar to other poeciliids with the female having a relatively triangular anal fin and the male sporting an unusual gonopodium with two hooks on the end. The fish both seem to display in a mating style similar to many livebearers. The female is inseminated and has a gestation period of about 30 days. The adults do not actively hunt fry but will eat some opportunistically. Better success is achieved with some bottom type cover since the fry are ones that seek the bottom after a drop.
Comments: A peaceful fish that I have only kept in a colony breeding situation. Unlike so many other livebearers, the females display with fins fully extended much as is typical for a male of the common livebearers. These fish are so small that it is difficult to observe the strong coloration and breeding habits with the naked eye unless you are willing to spend some time staring at their tank. The Xenophallus name refers to the strangely shaped gonopodium with a strange (xeno) tip with a Y shaped or split look to it. These guys also sport a gonopodium that is quite large for a fish their size.
A few pictures of my fish for you to study.
A male displaying.
A female in display
A male showing the unusual gonopodium while not displaying
Common name (especially in the UK): Golden teddies
Family: Poeciliidae
Origin: Costa Rica and Nicaragua in small slow moving streams
Maximum size: Female up to 3.5 cm, 1.4 inches, and male up to 3 cm, 1.2 inches
Care: Need a minimum of a 5 gallon tank for swimming space although I have had success breeding them in a colony situation in a 10 gallon. My own are kept at 76F, 24.5C, but are reputed to tolerate much lower and higher temperatures of 71F to 83F. I am keeping them in water that is moderately hard with a pH of about 7.8.
Feeding: Omnivores that I feed on any food small enough for them to eat it. That includes spirulina flake food, frozen daphnia and freeze dried tubifex. Frozen mosquito larvae and frozen blood worms are eagerly attempted but are difficult for these small fish to eat.
Breeding: Sexed similar to other poeciliids with the female having a relatively triangular anal fin and the male sporting an unusual gonopodium with two hooks on the end. The fish both seem to display in a mating style similar to many livebearers. The female is inseminated and has a gestation period of about 30 days. The adults do not actively hunt fry but will eat some opportunistically. Better success is achieved with some bottom type cover since the fry are ones that seek the bottom after a drop.
Comments: A peaceful fish that I have only kept in a colony breeding situation. Unlike so many other livebearers, the females display with fins fully extended much as is typical for a male of the common livebearers. These fish are so small that it is difficult to observe the strong coloration and breeding habits with the naked eye unless you are willing to spend some time staring at their tank. The Xenophallus name refers to the strangely shaped gonopodium with a strange (xeno) tip with a Y shaped or split look to it. These guys also sport a gonopodium that is quite large for a fish their size.
A few pictures of my fish for you to study.
A male displaying.
A female in display
A male showing the unusual gonopodium while not displaying
