Popular Fish

[N0body Of The Goat]

My own preference for a breeding project is any of the goodeid species that need a champion who will produce fry for distribution. Many, but not all, of the goodeids are threatened or endangered species according to the IUCN red list of endangered species. Since I am primarily a goodeid preservation breeder as my personal hobby focus, I value the goodeid as a fish worth saving. As it happens, I have fish in my care that are "extinct in the wild" and others that are endangered or threatened species. If we could find people who are willing to provide the tank space to breed them, many of the goodeids are quite easy fish to care for. In my tanks they are kept in single species tanks with little more than the care you might give a guppy colony. My goodeids breed freely and increase their numbers quickly with very basic livebearer care. I am presently a participant in breeding A towerii as a part of the American Livebearer Association's species maintenance program and am finding these guys as easy to breed and spread as a guppy. They will be paid forward as should be expected with any SMP process. My dozens of new fry will go to hobbyists who are interested in maintaining the species in captivity. Most of the goodeid group are fairly easy to care for but require a dedicated breeder to keep them going. They are not threatened with extinction by anything as mundane as overfishing, breeding failures, predators, etc. Instead they are really threatened by loss of habitat. I have some Ameca splendens that are described by IUCN and others as extinct in the wild. The only problem these fish have has nothing to do with fecundity. Instead they have no water left in their natural habitat because Mexico has an agricultural system that finds their water necessary for feeding people. I cannot say that I prefer having fish habitat for tiny little meaningless fish is more important than feeding people, but without dedicated hobbyists the fish would no longer exist. For people like me that is a call to maintain that species as well as we can. Some day things may not be as dire a they are today and we might possibly be able to return some of the surviving Ameca splendens to its natural habitat. Meanwhile I will continue to work with similarly focused hobbyists to maintain A splendens as a living species. i have recently started to look at many of the wild Betta specie in much the same way. The IBC is trying to preserve the wild type bettas, not the stuff we see in pet shops, as an ongoing process much like I see with the ALA program. They even cite the situation of the goodeids as instructive in their cause for early intervention.

Must confess that out of all livebearers I'm aware of, its Amica splendens that appeals to me the most. After seeing them in the flesh at the Titchfield branch of Maidenhead Aquatics, it was their shape and the amazing vibrant colouring of the alpha male that appealed to me, along with their non-placid nature and then discovering these guys go nuts for hair algae!

the Amica splendens in the Titchfield branch of Maidenhead Aquatics) are in very good condition the young Amica splendens were born in thet thank and are growing on nicely the owner / staff. are doing a fine job looking after them i also keep and bred many of the goodeids

I was there this morning and there is indeed a great range of ages in that tank. What I found most odd was that out of all the males showing the barred caudial fin colouring, it was the smallest that appeared to be the current "Alpha male" and was harressing the other chaps!

Was a bit peeved that I drove over there following a phone conversation yesterday with a member of staff, who led me to believe I had a reasonable chance of exchanging my fiesty Barilius canarensis/ sp.2 bakeri for either some of those Butterfly Goodeids or some Mexican Blind Cave Tetra, only for the manager to point-blank tell me this is now never a Maidenhead Aquatics policy!

But at least it got me to drive out to Romsey's World Of Water, where I was shown the Blagdon Powersafe kits, the perfect solution for getting Nelly's old 5x2x2 operational in the garage!