went to my lfs today to buy some new fish and saw these colourful little rasboras. they are to go with my scissortailed rasboras. they were only £1.49 each, so we got 5. got home to do my research on these only to discover they are now nearly extinct in the wild due to over fishing and should only be sold to breed from. i just thought rasboras.....they sound quite average, look very pretty. if only i knew how rare they were before! so..........has ANYONE on here got any of these and if so have you managed to breed them. anything i need to know about them. the lfs said feed daphinia, but from what i've read some people has used crushed flake, some have used frozen foods, some have used brine shrimp. any other suggestions? by the way it seems we have 2 boys and 3 girls.
I've never heard that. They were just recently introduced to the hobby and stay SMALL. Never read that they are extinct, I don't think they are either. I think breeding them are a bit more tricky than some fish. I believe they are egg layers so you need broad leaf plants, don't know anymore.
thats good to hear ATM! i just bought them thinking they were "just another rasbora". the lfs and what i've read on the web says they stay about 2 inches. they are just babies at the mo..about 1.5 cm/under an inch. i was thinking as these are all very small fish that leads me to believe these may be captive bred. surely if wild caught they'd be an assortment of sizes? the lfs tank had them all at under an inch...and there were alot!
tan
went to my lfs today to buy some new fish and saw these colourful little rasboras. they are to go with my scissortailed rasboras. they were only £1.49 each, so we got 5. got home to do my research on these only to discover they are now nearly extinct in the wild due to over fishing and should only be sold to breed from. i just thought rasboras.....they sound quite average, look very pretty. if only i knew how rare they were before! so..........has ANYONE on here got any of these and if so have you managed to breed them. anything i need to know about them. the lfs said feed daphinia, but from what i've read some people has used crushed flake, some have used frozen foods, some have used brine shrimp. any other suggestions? by the way it seems we have 2 boys and 3 girls.
tan
Those are beautiful fish, I've never seen them before but I guess that makes sense given their current state. I'd really love to get my hands on a couple of males & females. Can my friend in Wigan pick them up? lol.. if he weren't abroad now for a few months. I've not bred rasboras, but the protein & all of live/frozen foods seem to be good for conditioning most fish to mate.
I found this about breeding at http://www.aquariumfish.com/aquarium...cid=53&search=: Water chemistry varies according to the location of wild-caught fish, but in general, for breeding, soft and slightly acidic water is preferred. Fine-leafed plants over which they can scatter their highly adhesive eggs will also be helpful. Suitable fine live foods will also be an invaluable conditioner for breeding fish. Hatching time is very short. Fry will appear after 24 to 30 hours, and grow rapidly when given the correct foods.
But I also found this page on Rasbora dorsiocellata: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasbora_dorsiocellata.. The 'reproduction' section on this page suggests this is the more typical rasbora mating/breeding behaviour so might be the way to go with the Galaxy.
I hope this is of some help to you and would love to see pics of them and any breeding efforts that you undertake.
i'll hope they'll breed , but i cant even get babies from a guppy, so it seems i need more knowledge, experience and luck first!!! as they are still babies i have time yet!
i got them from leeds, west yorkshire. i'm sure it'll be a popular shop when people realise whats in there! it'd be worth the drive from wigan!!
at the mo they're getting daphnia every night. they get flakes every morning and night as do all my fish, but they dont seem to entertain them at all, so the other fish eat them. hopefully they'll take them some day! they didnt entertain the shrimp pellets either. i can guaruntee to have flakes in stock at home at all times!! live food is less reliable! got some brine shrimp eggs coming any day, so will be trying them on those. saves driving out to buy live food every few days (could get expensive ), so hopefully i'll get them to hatch and hopefully they'll eat them!
i will try and get some pics up on here tomorrow. they are tiny and i'm crap at taking pictures of fish, but i'll always try!! they look like leopard danios with red fins at the moment! they should get more colourful as they mature. the boys have more flourescent red fins that catch the light. the girls are much paler. they shimmer a bit like my dwarf neon rainbows i got at the same time. they are very skittish still and dart about in a panicky way. my new rainbows are like that too. hopefully they'll all settle down over the next few days.
will keep you posted on their progress. hope i dont bore you all, but i'm very excited but scared !!!! hope they do well! tan
What I do instead of live foods is get the frozen cubes, keep them in the freezer until i need one, then i drop a cube into a cup of cool water to thaw the food out and feed it to them. I can't get live food around here in my little town.
Perhaps they'd take to color pellets? Good luck with them and pictures of them.
What I do instead of live foods is get the frozen cubes, keep them in the freezer until i need one, then i drop a cube into a cup of cool water to thaw the food out and feed it to them.* I can't get live food around here in my little town.
Perhaps they'd take to color pellets?* Good luck with them and pictures of them.
i've seen frozen foods in the lfs, but to be honest had no idea what to do with it or what types are suitable etc! i know they'll eat daphnia, so i always get that. frozen would be handy though. any recommendations on what type to get? the live food is about a 20-30min drive away, so its not too far, but far enough to look at alternatives to avoid going!!
thanks
tan
i've seen frozen foods in the lfs, but to be honest had no idea what to do with it or what types are suitable etc! i know they'll eat daphnia, so i always get that. frozen would be handy though. any recommendations on what type to get? the live food is about a 20-30min drive away, so its not too far, but far enough to look at alternatives to avoid going!!
thanks
tan
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...2004+6120&va=1 - I love this site but you'll probably not want to order the frozen food from here (shipping would be HUGE because it would have to be overnight), but it gives an idea of what's out there and look for locally.
The frozen brine shrimp, particularly the baby brine shrimp, would be nice and save you having to setup a hatchery & all.. although fresh live ones are a treat for the fish. I wish the stores here would carry that for our Platy fry.
The tubifex worms or bloodworms might be good, but bloodworms would probably be easier for those rare beauties to eat.
You could also look for a 'formula' type frozen food like the Ocean Nutrition Formula Two.
You could get one or more to give them a variety, but they'll provide you with a convienient way to feed "live" food and are great for conditioning fish to mate.
What I did with our bloodworms cube is dissolve them in a container (just for the fish food) that had a sealable lid and kept it in the fridge for about a week or so, feeding a little from it each day. It's surprising how much food is in one of those little cubes.
oh.. They don't usually post this info online, but you'll know your fish are about to mate if the male starts going up to the female and asking "are you a goer? <nudge, nudge, wink, wink>"
Seriously, I wish you well on breeding them and should you decide to ship them abroad when you have a nice batch of adolescents, we'd love to talk with you about that. I really want some of those now that I've seen them. Not that we have room for more tanks, but that hasn't stopped me yet.
Common name: Galaxy rasbora, Fireworks rasbora, Rasbora toei, Celestial pearl danio
Scientific name: Microrasbora sp. "Galaxy". Currently being described and due to be placed in a new genus shortly.
Origin: Myanmar. The supplier wanted to keep the exact collection locality under wraps for commercial reasons. It was eventually discovered to be a micro-habitat wetland area east of Inle Lake.
Habitat: According to the exporter, his species lives among dense vegetation in a cool, high-altitude wetland region in a marsh area fed by a spring. It lives in sympatry with Danio sondhii and the undescribed Rosy loach, Yunnanilus sp.
Diet: Early reports suggested that the fish might only consume tiny live foods, so most people have been feeding theirs with live Daphnia, brineshrimp or microworms. However, most have reported that these will also accept small dried foods such including Tetra Mini Granules and crumbled flakes, as well as live Tubifex.
Size: A miniature species that is believed to be fully grown at around 1.5cm in length. However, there are some reports of the fish reaching up to 3cm.
Water: Lives in moderately alkaline water with a temperature of around 24C or less. Collectors have claimed that the water in the collection locality is at pH 7.3 with a hardness of 7 GH (235 microsiemens). They seem very adaptable. Some of the Singapore fishkeepers who were first to obtain the species reported success in keeping them in small blackwater tanks with a pH ranging from 4.5-5.7. In the UK, they've happily acclimatised to our harder, more alkaline water without problems.
Aquarium: Due to its tiny size, this beautiful little cyprinid would be best in a small aquarium, away from larger fish that might look upon it as a tasty snack. You could keep an impressive little shoal of these in a tiny desktop aquarium such as the AquaCube we gave away with last month's Practical Fishkeeping subscription. No details on the habitat are available, however, aquarium observations seem to suggest that the fish likes well-aerated or flowing water. Most fishkeepers are keeping theirs in small planted aquariums, in which the species is the only inhabitant.
Notes: New fish don't come much newer than this: the species was only discovered a few weeks ago (August 2006) and was first introduced by Kamphol Udomritthiruj of Thailand-based exporter AquariCORP. The first specimens arrived in the UK during September. Practical Fishkeeping was the world's first magazine to break news of the species.
Conservation status: Sadly, we reported in February 2007 that a supplier had visited the type locality and discovered that other collectors had gone to the area and fished it so heavily that catches were down to just a few dozen specimens per day. The conservation status of the species now looks bleak and we would advise all fishkeepers to avoid this fish unless they have the skills to breed the species in captivity.
Identification: Undoubtedly a new species but only tentatively considered a Microrasbora due to its resemblance with Microrasbora erythromicron. Unlikely to be confused with anything else, given its striking appearance. It is due to be placed in a new genus, along with M. erythromicron, later in February 2007.
Sexing: Quite simple to sex when the fish are in good condition. Males are brighter coloured and have bright red fins with squiggles of blue-black in the dorsal and anal, and the upper lobes of the caudal fin. The chests of males are also more orangey and they tend to be slimmer. Females are slightly less colourful, with less red and fewer dark squiggles and uncoloured pelvic fins. They have rounder bodies and a slightly paler overall colour. Both sexes have the same chunky appearance seen in Danio choprai and the hump-backed of Microrasbora erythromicron.
Breeding: Pete Liptrot and Paul Dixon of the Bolton Museum Aquarium were the world's first fishkeepers to spawn this species, and they managed to do just a couple of weeks after the fish first became available in the UK. Very little is known about reproduction. Paul says that he observed a brightly-coloured male attempting to drive females into a spawning mop and Pete found seven small eggs in a clump of Java moss a week later and spotted some fry which had already hatched. Said Pete: "The eggs have been laid over Java Moss and appear to be only very slightly adhesive, they drop out of the moss very easily. We've removed the moss to another aquarium to see what else hatches. As we were moving the moss one of the smaller males was very busy hunting around for eggs or fry."
Behaviour: Males can be rather quarrelsome with each other and often flare, spar and fight resulting in minor splits to the fins. Most people keeping these in groups of six plus have observed shoaling in their fish, and several have reported minor territoriality in males.
Availability: This species was first imported into Singapore in mid-September and arrived in the UK a week later. Both Wildwoods and BAS currently have hundreds in stock and the fish has also appeared on import lists used by other suppliers around the country, so the fish should be more widely available soon. One supplier was referring to the fish as the Fireworks rasbora and cited the name Rasbora toei, which is fictitious. As I predicted in early September 2006, a few weeks after this fish was discovered, I think this species has massive commercial potential for the small aquarium market. It has undoubtedly been the most talked about fish species of 2006, and the century so far.
Price: Prices vary, but currently around £6 each. We highly advise fishkeepers to avoid this species, unless they are capable of breeding it.
thanks guys!! looks like i need some frozen food and java moss then! got my baby brine shrimp eggs coming soon so they'll tide me over til i sort out some frozen food. they did take some flakes this morn, so thats good! just need to look on internet for java moss. any recommendations in the uk? still trying to get you some photos. they come quite close to the front of the tank but move so fast and hide in a plant! promise you i will get you some pics though! i wonder how old they'll be when they can breed....how exciting!
off to go and fix that spare tank now in case they do show any signs of breeding!!
tan
they are fuzzy cos my camera takes crap close-ups-not helped by the fish moving so fast! but you can the spots are like a leapord danio and the red fins are so much brighter in the males. will try and get better pics, be easier i hope when they're bigger! but these should keep you going for now!!
oh.. They don't usually post this info online, but you'll know your fish are about to mate if the male starts going up to the female and asking "are you a goer? <nudge, nudge, wink, wink>"*
Seriously, I wish you well on breeding them and should you decide to ship them abroad when you have a nice batch of adolescents, we'd love to talk with you about that. I really want some of those now that I've seen them. * Not that we have room for more tanks, but that hasn't stopped me yet.*
forgot to say how much you made me laugh! my fish havent started talking yet, but you'l be the first to know when they do!!! lol! - tan
Common name: Galaxy rasbora, Fireworks rasbora, Rasbora toei, Celestial pearl danio
Scientific name: Microrasbora sp. "Galaxy". Currently being described and due to be placed in a new genus shortly.
Price: Prices vary, but currently around £6 each. We highly advise fishkeepers to avoid this species, unless they are capable of breeding it.
this is the article i found when i first did my research on them. this was when i started to get scared and realised what i'd got myself into!!!!
oh.. They don't usually post this info online, but you'll know your fish are about to mate if the male starts going up to the female and asking "are you a goer? <nudge, nudge, wink, wink>"
Seriously, I wish you well on breeding them and should you decide to ship them abroad when you have a nice batch of adolescents, we'd love to talk with you about that. I really want some of those now that I've seen them. Not that we have room for more tanks, but that hasn't stopped me yet.
forgot to say how much you made me laugh! my fish havent started talking yet, but you'l be the first to know when they do!!! lol! - tan
LOL.. I guess it'd have to be in fish talk, but they'd probably know the line since they are British fish now. I wish I knew of some good suppliers in the UK for the frozen food & java moss, but I just know of those few sites in the US.. if your LFS doesn't have what you need, maybe google.com could help you find online fish stores in the UK. I know it helped me find a number of online stores selling British foodstuffs.
no worries! thanks for your help. ebay usually has what i want so i'll look there first! there's loads of fish suppliers on there. good job really since we dont have many "actual" lfs's around here :!!
tan
no worries! thanks for your help. ebay usually has what i want so i'll look there first! there's loads of fish suppliers on there. good job really since we dont have many "actual" lfs's around here :!!
tan
No prob, glad if i was of help. Probably not a lot of fish shops around there due to the number of fish AND chips shops? jk.. where we are has the same shortage and we only have 1 large chain pet store with a rather sorry fish department staffed by folks who seem to be Daleks to the fish.
Please keep us apprised of your efforts with those rare beauties and i hope it won't be too long until you have a fry tank full of little ones.
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, but i cant even get babies from a guppy, so it seems i need more knowledge, experience and luck first!!! as they are still babies i have time yet!
), so hopefully i'll get them to hatch and hopefully they'll eat them!
!!!! hope they do well!
jk.. where we are has the same shortage and we only have 1 large chain pet store with a rather sorry fish department staffed by folks who seem to be Daleks to the fish. 
