four eyed fish (Anableps Anableps)

[Nick]

Hi

Is this species avaiable in the trade and has anyone kept them??

Do they breed in captivity??

thanks

Nick

[tyronegenade]

Hi,

I think Pretoria Aquarium may still have them. They were breeding them back in the 90s.

They can be bred in captivity but it is best to get a large group for this. Males and females have either left or right handed sexual organs and unless you get a right handed male to go with a left handed female breeding can be complicated (for the fish which will need to do back-flips to get the job done).

They are probably going to be a special import. I haven't seen these on sale on Aquabid so they are probably not very well established in the hobby. There is some info here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/foureyesfaqs.htm
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/Livebearers/index.html

I'm far more interested in Limia and the various Micropoecilia species such as picta and the Poecilia branneri and parae.

tt4n

[QualityAquariums]

it was available on a list last week, this week its sold out already!

these are also available:
Micropoecilia parae
Micropoecilia picta RED
Micropoecilia picta YELLOW
Micropoecilia parae melanzona BLUE
Limia perugiae

 

[Nick]

Hi Tyrone

Are these commercially available and are they family of the guppy??

Thanks

Nick

[Slagter]

Try googling them... They are most likely a relative of the guppy...

[shihr]

such cool fish! they'd look really cool in a quater filled aquarium with lots of plant cover!:)

[tyronegenade]

it was available on a list last week, this week its sold out already!

Looks like you were just too late, Nick. On the positive side, they are available.

Micropoecilia parae
Micropoecilia picta RED
Micropoecilia picta YELLOW
Micropoecilia parae melanzona BLUE
Limia perugiae

A friend in Germany says the picta and parae don't do well in captivity. While they are mass produced in ponds in the east they only last a generation or two in aquariums. The suspicion is a shortage of vitamin D. In any case, I can get from him. The Limia perugiae is another story... Expect a PM soon.

tt

[Nick]

Hy Tyrone

I googled the Poecilia branneri and parae. They are beutiful fish. Do you have any in stock that i can buy??

Thanks

Nick

[tyronegenade]

Hello Nick,

Not yet... I have a friend with import permits who regularly visits the little German town where my German friend lives. Normally only one species makes the trip to SA. I'm not sure which species will make the trip this year. I have some nice Rio Oro endlers (bottom picture: http://www.dgv-forum.de/t427f49-endler-pictures.html) growing up. I should have some spare in a few weeks time. Dirk has an aquarium strain (much like the 3rd pic from the top in the previous link) which is very pretty and I know he has more of them than he knows what to do with.

tt4n

If you haven't found nice pics of the branneri and parae look here: http://shouta.blog.eonet.jp/shoutablog/cat5439651/index.html and http://shouta.blog.eonet.jp/photos/parae/720.html My friend in Germany is breeding both species as well as picta.  If anyone is visiting Halle or Jena and wants to play courier let me know.

[Nick]

Hi Tyrone

I am interested to buy some Rio Oro Endlers from you when grown up.

Thanks

Nick

[Norio De Sousa]

What are the cances that my little "Skitzo" (that's his name - weird spelling on purpose! ) is actually not a guppy but micropoecilia branneri or poecilia parae? (I'm thinking more parae)

Skitzo:


Tyrone - your thoughts? We always thought he was "different" or "special" And it was weird when he never really caught up (in size) with the other fish. Even our guppy fry have outgrown him.

[tyronegenade]

Norio,

Your little fish bares a passing resemblence to these:
http://swampriveraquatics.com/db2/00160/swampriveraquatics.com/_uimages/test358.jpg
http://swampriveraquatics.com/db2/00160/swampriveraquatics.com/_uimages/ADRIANHD243.JPG from http://swampriveraquatics.com/_wsn/page2.html. There are some more pics at http://www.keller-unter-wasser.de/animals/endler.html and http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f19/endler-livebearers-119470.html of the blonde Endler (the previous pics were guppy-endler hybrids).

The small size of your fish says to me they are at least part endler but it impossible to know for sure. Endlers will hybridize with guppies, in fact the guppy females will choose to mate with them because of their brighter colour. Where did he come from?

[Norio De Sousa]

Thanks Tyrone

I got him from Pet Masters in Boksburg. This was more than 6 months ago, when I first got into the hobby. They had a tank with a couple of Skitzo-looking fishies. I didn't know anything about fish then, I just asked for some guppies and they showed me about 3 tanks with slightly different looking "guppies".

I've got another fish that looks like it could be a "special" fish. I'll post some pics of my guppies in my intro thread in case you're interested and want to continue the thread there? (Sorry for the hijack Nick!)