Phallichthys Tico

[dwarfgourami]

My newest acquisition, arrived by post yesterday. They are VERY beautiful in a subtle way; they look greyish yellow until they move and the light falls on them, then the fins are revealed to be luminous blue and there is blue irridescence on the flanks.
Fed them again this morning, and they seemed to want it but were too shy to go up to the surface to get it, so ended up all pushing each other in the furthest corner, like a bunch of teenage girls. This is clearly a situation where "as much as they will eat in 2 minutes" is going to be of very limited value, so I'll just have to use my judgment and powers of observation- and lots of patience. At least we're not going to be going anywhere for the next few weeks, so I'll be able to take my time with them.
It fascinates me how they are so totally different in character from the other livebearers I have- those tough danio-like portholes, the jolly piglike platies, the swordtails I used to keep; there is so much variety in the poeciliids!

 

[nmonks]

Sound nice. A quick look at Fishbase revealed this little bit of information, which might be useful: Feeds on unicellular algae, diatoms, ooze and sometimes insect larvae. Anyway, good luck with them, and keep us posted on how they get on.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[dwarfgourami]

Sound nice. A quick look at Fishbase revealed this little bit of information, which might be useful: Feeds on unicellular algae, diatoms, ooze and sometimes insect larvae. Anyway, good luck with them, and keep us posted on how they get on.

Cheers,

Neale

Thanks, Neale. Ooze sounds like something I might be able to supply It's an old tank and not exactly spotless. I thought I had observed them picking at the plants. I'll see if I can get them to eat Jellied Bloodworm Mush, a speciality of mine that my guppy fry seem to enjoy. And gradually I'll see if they can be got to take some crushed flake as well.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Well, they are certainly eating TetraDelica mush and mashed pea and picking algae off the plants. Tiny quantities though; I have to rethink my catering habits for this lot. And they are VERY timid. Four of them are sort of around the tank (when they think I'm out), a fifth I caught a brief glimpse of yesterday and as to number six, he may or may not be lurking in the plants. The ones that are out regularly are 1 male and 3 females, so maybe the unsuccessful rival is sulking in the plants.

It is a bit nerve-racking to be dealing with such very sensitive little plants- both tiny and timid. And such subtle colouring that they are hard to catch sight of. Perhaps I should have gone in for Malawis instead

 

[nmonks]

Do you have a garden pond? I wonder if bringing in some green gunk from a pond would be just the thing for them. I remember how much my scats _loved_ hair algae. Strange thing was, it came out the back end exactly how it went in. And scats, being scats, were more than happy to try something twice, if you get my meaning...

Cheers,

Neale

 

[dwarfgourami]

Do you have a garden pond? I wonder if bringing in some green gunk from a pond would be just the thing for them.

No, but I'm sure we could replicate pond conditions in some smaller container. And bring algae in from the other tanks.