Galaxy tiger update plus Red Hat and Green Jade Neocaridina!

 In december 2013 I bought 15 Caridina sp. Galaxy Tiger from a German webshop. What arrived was apparently a mix of at least 2 species; the Galaxy Tigers and some other similar sized shrimp with a backstripe.
So far I only have a couple of Galaxys left. Perhaps my water parameters are wrong for these and rainwater would have been a better choice, but you never really know until you try! No berried ones spotted so far.
The other type has been berried a few times. I haven't seen any young shrimp yet, but they could well be in there. There is a big pile of leaves in the tank and also the filter-mat to hide in.

These are the types "in the mix" now:

Caridina sp. Galaxy Tiger...

"The other shrimp" with eggs...

...and what are these?

In my Neocaridina davidi "Blue Carbon Rili"-tank a lot of funny things are going on. Of course there are a lot of Blue Carbons, but also Carbon Rili, light blue shrimp of various intensities and a few completely black ones have come out from there...and some with a "Red Hat". Perhaps not the most exotic pattern, but still very different from all other types from that tank. So far around 10 have been transferred to another tank just to see how they develop.

Red Hat Neos...

Regarding my other shrimp, a lot of Green Jade shrimplets have been spotted. It will be exciting to see how they develop. So far they look green(ish).

The adults are green, although not the same green colour as shown on the webshop they were bought from.

All but one were females. All the females had a very prominent yellow backstripe, the male were more anonymous.

A few shots taken with my phone in the tank they share with some Poecilia wingei. The youngsters look like they will be green.

And then again; there's a few orange ones as well! They are taken out and put into another tank.

Shrimplets have also been spotted in my N. davidi "Yellow Fire Neon"-tank and in the tanks with red and deep blue Caridina mariae. The C. cantonensis "Tangerine Tiger" continues to produce shrimplets too.

Poecilia wingei - Campoma No. 45 variations

One of my favourite phenotypes from Phillip Voisin & Co.'s Campoma-collections in 2011-2012 is No. 45. A nice metallic green fish with colours in the dorsal. I have a large population in a single-type tank and have observed a few developments in there...

My original fish looked very alike:

Now, after some time a few variations have popped up:

Bodycolour variations - some are more blueish than green...

 Like my originals...

More blue...

Mesh-pattern in the caudal, like I have seen in some Blue Stars as well...

Longer swords...

It is really rewarding and fun to see how a strain develops if left alone! Already there is basis for selection of future new strains if desired. However, the plan for these fish is to combine them with one or two other phenotypes to free some tanks for other purposes. This approach will probably be used for many of my fish over the next year, especially the Campomas. It is easy to make a seperate strain again, as the Campoma females seem not to carry much colour and everything works more or less like copy-paste from the chosen male.

Breeding Barbus hulstaerti "Lompole"

I finally found time to breed an old favourite of mine - Barbus hulstaerti. In my case with location "Lompole".

There is some discussion if the fish from Lompole are hulstaerti or something else. In any case, they are similar in behaviour and spawning.
I bred them first time in 2007 (the "original" type with small side-spot) when they appeared in Denmark again after a very long abscense and have been breeding them regularly since then. I had a short break after losing my original fish to an exeptionally warm summer and later I purchased some "Lompole"-fish. They display a larger, elongated spot on the side conpared to "real" hulstaerti wich have a rounded spot. Males have nice yellow and black fins while the females doesn't.

Barbus hulstaerti "Lompole" displaying the typical elongated spot. Males left and middle, female to the right.

Actually it is quite easy to breed them if you can obtain the fish. For a small fish they are relatively expensive, so you might have to go to a specialist shop to find them or have the local shop order them from a wholesaler if no breeders are found near you.

I use a 16 litre tank for a small group of 4-10 specimens. As you can see in the videos, even in a 16 litre tank they don't take up much space.

Spawning Barbus hulstaerti "Lompole" 1

Spawning Barbus hulstaerti "Lompole" 2

For conditioning I seperate males and females and feed them newly hatched Artemia, bananaworms, various granules, flaks, tabs and whatever the other fish in the tank is having.

The spawning tank is prepared with rainwater straight from the barrel in the garden and some peat moss that is allowed to settle on the tank bottom. A clump of moss (javamoss or any other moss) added along with some leaves. Oak, beech, cattappa, it doesn't really matter.

The tank. As you can see, the fish (left side) are very small.

Temperature around 19-20C.

The fish are added and left in the tank for 4-5 days and then removed. 

If all works out, you will see the males shake around the females, trying to get them to spawn.

While they are in the setup, I only feed small amounts of live food. I find that live foods seem to affect the waterquality less than prepared foods. Some people leave the fish in with the fry. They don't seem to eat the fry, but I find it easier to be in control without the adults in there.

A few photos from the tank:

Notice the pink belly on the female; eggs ready to get out!

In the beginning, the fry are hanging in the glass, leaves etc. before moving around. They are difficult to spot, but you can see one on the left side of the leaf:

After some days, if you are lucky (with these it is easy to be lucky) you see tiny spotted splinters moving through the tank:

For feeding these small fry I use JBL Nobilfluid and bananaworms. I haven't found Paramecium etc. necessary for these fry.
After a week or so I slowly introduce newly hatched Artemia. If you see the fry eating, they are turned onto a diet of Artemia, bananaworms and eggyolk and other powdered foods. If not, I wait a few days and try again.

JBL Nobilfluid and bananaworms.

Already from the fry are free-swimming I start making daily waterchanges with tapwater. Only one or two cups a day and after a couple of weeks they are able to be in pure tapwater.
Some people have a lot of problems with sex ratios, but I get roughly 50/50 by this method.

Two years ago I tried keeping the species outside in a barrel for the summer, but I lost all the fish. I think it might be because I put the barrel in direct sunlight. I think the water simply got too warm. This year I will try in a spot with shadow from overhanging trees, It should definately be possible.

Phallichthys tico!...and Danish events!

Apart for my obvoius focus on shrimps and Poecilia wingei, I also keep other smalle livebearers. One is Phallichthys tico from Lake Arenal in Costa Rica. Mine are from the David Macallister collection.

Really nice little species wich seem to thrive in my tanks when it is not kept with Poecilia wingei. Actually keeping any other livebearer with P. wingei seems to end in P. wingei taking over completely and the other species suffering. 

The males of P. tico are nice and golden with black edged on the fins. The female is a little more discrete, but in the right light also very pretty.

They like lots of plants and live food and seem not to eat the fry.

A few photos I took while feeding live artemia; the tank is quite dark, but I managed to take decent photos I think.

I would also like to advertise a couple of very recommendable events taking place in Denmark over the next months!

Vejle Akvariemesse 2015

The link is in Danish, but the place is well worth a visit.

This event is held as a fair/marketplace with shops and breeders from Denmark and Germany selling equipment, plants, shrimps, fish etc., and you really never know what you will find here.

At the end of the first day there will be a presentation about small livebearers by myself (in Danish).

Another event to look out for is this:

Aqua Auktion Viborg 2015

An auction with somewhere between 600 and 1000+ lots. Fish, plants and equipment from breeders all over Denmark. Noone knows what pops up. There are sometimes very nice surprises!

Caridinas!

Apart form the Caridina mariae "Red Tiger" I showed a while ago I also keep these species and types...

The Caridina cantonensis "Tangerine Tiger" is a really nice shrimp and easy to keep and breed too! The yellow/orange colour stands out really well in most environments and they don't seem particularly shy. In my tanks they are always out and about even if they share tank with a group of Corydoras C90 and some Poecilia wingei.

Another old favourite of mine that I recently reaquired is the C. mariae "Blue Tiger". I got some from a Danish breeder and some from Germany as well, to get a mixed genepool if that is possible...

So far there has been a few berried ones but still I haven't seen any young. They share the tanks with Poecilia wingei wich should not be a problem, but also with Danio margaritatus and Barbus hulsterti. I am more worried about those being shrimplet-eaters...I have set breeding tanks up for both Cyprinids, so if they are a problem, the problem should be gone soon.

I used to breed a lot of Blue Tigers about 5 years ago. I hope to be succesful this time too.

These I got at a Börs in Braunsweig, Germany around 2006 and they have been breeding in my tanks ever since, no matter what conditions I have presented them for.

They were bought as "New Bee" without any further identity other than they were a Caridina sp.

Members in the Facebook-group Shrimps and mosses suggested either Caridina cf. tumida or C. cf. trifasciata. I can see the resemblence with C. tumida. Time will tell if anything else indicating another ID shows up.

At last there are my Caridina sp. Galaxy Tigers...aquired from Germany in December 2013 and arriving looking like 2-3 species! These pics are from the arrival - new ones are to be taken soon. So far one of the "oddballs" is berried. Looking forward to shimplets!

The Caridina spp. page is here.

Neocaridinas and the fishroom!

I photographed my various Neocaridinas. Easy work compared to livebearers, just waiting for them to be in the right place.

There are some really nice (although common) ones and I hope I can keep up the quality and colour.

A link to the Neocaridina spp. page here!

Also, if missed ealier, I have added a page about my fishroom here.

Topas blue is a favourite of mine!...

...along with Yellow fire neon!

My fishroom and a few new pics!

So, 2015 is here...

I have added a page with short info and pictures of my fishroom here.

There's also some pictures of my previous fishrooms. The one I have now is probably going through a rebuild sometime in 2015.

I also updated the Cumana-area phenotypes with the newest photos, among others a decent shot of my Green Top Sword:

I have taken some photos of my other livebearers, but have not been able to find time to resize them etc., but hope to do so soon!