Heterandria Formosa

[karigupi]

I have a group coming tomorrow from Wildwoods & am getting the tank ready (its already cycled, has guppies in at the moment)

Any tips or advice for me?

Its a group of 6 going into a 50ltr, Rena filter, heater,light etc, I understand they like a heavily planted tank, does it matter if these are artificial plants? I do have a few live ones I can move over, along with a couple of big lumps of java moss, some moss balls & some floating plants.

For their diet I have read lots of different things, from frozen daphnia, crushed flakes, BBS, small worms etc, I have all of these to hand, any other foods I should consider?

I cant wait to get them, they look so cute.

 

[OldMan47]

I feed mine almost anything that I would feed any typical livebearer. They do like a meatier diet than my mollies but so do most fish. A real treat is frozen daphnia because it starts out small enough for them to eat it easily. I even feed mine microworms at times although the adults don't bother with them much. It does help bring along the fry though. We are talking about some very small fish. It is almost impossible to spot newborn fry because they are just that small. Reproduction is not the pattern you might be used to in guppies. When a female starts a drop it can go on for a week or more of dropping one or two fry each day. These guys are so little that they can't mature all the fry at once, no room for that.
As a perspective on size, this is one of mine being dwarfed by a pygmy cory.

I do run my colony with a large clump of java moss because the fish themselves can be a bit nervous when you walk through the room and of course there is no easy way to separate a female so that she can drop fry. My colony is in a 38 litre tank so your 50 should be plenty of room for them.

 

[karigupi]

Thank you, he is so sweet. It looks like I have everything ready then, will pop in a big lump of java moss & its good to go.

These are a really lovely looking, interesting little fish. But i've not seen them in the shops before, I wonder why they arent more common? Maybe because they arent as colourful as guppies or endlers?

I cant wait for them to arrive, the birthing pattern sounds very interesting.

 

[helterskelter]

Yes if they was more colourfull then they would sell
shame as i love these too

their is a gold form too, but you dont see often in the UK, but at the BLA auction Nottingham in Oct they may be there as i know a few people breeding them that sell fish at the auction.

They tend to sell for £3-8 a pair at auction, but their much better and stronger than shop fish.

 

[karigupi]

Yes if they was more colourfull then they would sell
shame as i love these too

their is a gold form too, but you dont see often in the UK, but at the BLA auction Nottingham in Oct they may be there as i know a few people breeding them that sell fish at the auction.

They tend to sell for £3-8 a pair at auction, but their much better and stronger than shop fish.

The gold form must be lovely, be nice if there are some at the auction, although I think I have run out of tanks now lol.

My little group of fishes has arrived this morning & they are lovely, the males are tiny. They are all very happy in their new home I think.

Not a very good picture, I need to nab hubbies camera later. But here's a couple of the girls.

 

[helterskelter]

Looking good, they will soon produce fry and they will not eat them either

just will need some micro foods fot them like newly hatched brine shrimp and micro worm or grindel worms

 

[karigupi]

Thank you, they are funny little fish & the males are so tiny, but chase the girls all over getting frisky lol.

I have a real bumper crop of micro worms, so good to hear they will eat some of those, the laminate from Wildwoods said they were feeding on a bit of everything from frozen brine shrimp to crushed flake, which is great.

 

[karigupi]

Just a little update from me, so excited, I have my first baby already Its not as small as I thought it would be, its like a perfect tiny copy of the adult, not like a guppy fry where its all eyes & tail.

Not a chance of a pic at the moment i'm afraid, he's too small & too quick, but will post one if I can.

 

[OldMan47]

When I got my first ones, it was at a club auction. My wife complained that I had bought a bag of nothing but water but when I looked very closely I could see one or two. The label called it 6 unsexed juveniles and they were being sold by someone that I trusted so I bid on them. She kidded me for weeks about feeding invisible food, microworms and daphnia, to invisible fish. When she asked me to get pictures of them for her friends at work to see I sent her these ones and she got very few laughs.

When I told my granddaughter that grandma couldn't see any fish in that tank, she just looked in the tank and decided that grandma was blind.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

I'm bumping this up. OldMan47 - I sent you a PM.