ID Schistura cf. balteata and possible fry?

[olivin]

Hi all, long time lurker here who finally got around to register and post a question!

Today I found some fry in one of my tanks that holds a small group of 3 fishes which I believe are Schistura cf. balteata. They have a single Sewellia lineolata and a lonely Siamese Algea Eater as only company.

I'm quite excited over the fry's since they seem to resemble the larger Schistura even at their small size, about 10 mm. I have been looking around here and on the 'net but can't seem to find any later breeding reports since chris1932 posted here in 2007.

So, I would be very happy if you experts in here would help me with ID'ing these fishes!

I took these pictures with my mobile so sorry for the quality. I can try to get some better pics done later on but I only have a compact as alternative.

I used to have these fishes in a community tank with high circulation until the end of last year when I moved all my tanks and fishes to a new place, a basement where I am setting up a lot of new tanks for breeding and so on. In the new tank setup I use a air driven sponge filter system, so it's about as far away from a hill stream tank as possible. I had actually been thinking of selling them off since it will be difficult to set up a river tank in the new place.

In this tank (110 liter) the only decoration are some potted plants and the internal DIY sponge filter canister, the temp is 21-23 C. They have been fed with algea wafers. Water quality is tap water with pH just below 7 and water hardness is around dH 5-6 (I dont measure regulary, these are just the typical values of the tap water here after a day in the fish tank).

I have spotted 3 fry's in the tank so far. They differ from the adults in that they seem to be swimming around a lot in the water and do not seem to be as bottom dwelling. However as they stop moving they seem to start sinking so they dont appear to have a swim bladder, similar to the adults.

Since they are rather large fry I guess they have spawned some time ago. I have no idea on how the spawning took place but I noticed that 2 of the 3 adults seem to have gone missing this last week or so. My guess now is that they have dug a cave under one of the plant pots.

I gave the fry's some freshly spawned artemia today which they seemed to enjoy but they have clearly been doing well without fry food so far.

Here is a picture of the adult (taken after purchase last April):


This is the tank setup, in the middle of a water change:


And here are pics of the fry:

[Graeme Robson]

Congratulations Olivin! They sure do look like Schistura cf. balteata fry. Superb!!

[Emma Turner]

Thanks for sharing, olivin, and many congratulations! The photos of the fry are great.

Emma

[NancyD]

Congrats! Very cute fry

[olivin]

Thanks for your reply's

The frys seem to be doing well so far, but I haven't been able to see more than the three. I have seen glimpses of the 2 other missing adults, they seem to have parked behind the plastic container I use as internal filter. I'm thinking of moving out the other two odd fishes in the tank, the Sewellia and an Algea eater, in case more frys are on the way. Other than that I dont want to mess around too much in the tank at the moment.

[JonasBygdemo]

Härligt med yngel! Var i Sverige bor du?

[olivin]

Hi Jonas, I live in Västerås in Sweden.

[Katy]

Oooooh! Cute! And color me jealous! We have one sumo, and I lov e him because he has so much personality!

Congratulations!

[olivin]

Thanks Katy! They are indeed fishes with a great personality. I like the fact that they dont seem to be shy at all when they are in a community tank. It's a loach you get to see a lot I mean

The fry's have now doubled in size, and by now I'm sure they are only three. I'm just guessing here but I think that they lay their eggs in the cave that they have been hiding in and there they care for the eggs.

However, since they live in water with strong flow the fry's would scatter as they hatch, and so they dont have any instinct to guard the fry = lunch for the adults. That could explain the low number of surviving fry's.

Of course, for all I know they do care for the spawned fry but only lay 3 eggs at the time ...

Now that the first fry seem to be doing OK I think I will start moving around the fishes a bit and see if it's possible to repeat the breeding in a better setup.