My new Dario dario is colouring up very nicely

[Fishfur]

When I brought him home he hid most of the time & was very pale - I was beginning to hope he was actually a female - but he is male & is looking like one now.

His blue accents are starting to show up & he’s grown considerably, to mature body size.

He was out this morning hunting scuds so I managed to grab a pic that wasn’t either a blur or a dark shadow.

I think he’s been eating very well - I’ll have to put a lot more scuds in plus I lightly squash all the bladder snails I see in this tank for him - their remains are always gone by the next day.

 

[3Fishnight]

When I brought him home he hid most of the time & was very pale - I was beginning to hope he was actually a female - but he is male & is looking like one now.

His blue accents are starting to show up & he’s grown considerably, to mature body size.

He was out this morning hunting scuds so I managed to grab a pic that wasn’t either a blur or a dark shadow.

I think he’s been eating very well - I’ll have to put a lot more scuds in plus I squash all the bladder snails I see in this tank for him - their remains are always gone by the next day.
View attachment 916152

Where is the one in your picture?

 

[Fishfur]

Where is the one in your picture?

He’s long gone to wherever fish go when they die - I had him a long time ago.

It would be awesome if I could find a few females for him but it’s next to impossible - unfortunately it’s extremely rare for anyone to get females. If they manage to get a few they’ll be sold out in no time flat to all those on the waiting list ahead of me .

 

[3Fishnight]

He’s long gone to wherever fish go when they die - I had him a long time ago.

It would be awesome if I could find a few females for him but it’s next to impossible - unfortunately it’s extremely rare for anyone to get females. If they manage to get a few they’ll be sold out in no time flat to all those on the waiting list ahead of me .

What do you feed them?

 

[Fishfur]

What do you feed them?

Currently, scuds & lightly squished bladder snails mostly. There are some other microfauna in the tank and he no doubt snacks on them as well - there are a few very small leeches that I would really like to see get eaten .

I have a Black Tiger D.hysignon in another tank which had a pretty good population of copepods in it. I have no doubt that their numbers are much reduced by now but he also gets plenty of scuds & some lightly squished snails.

I say lightly squished because I try not to crush the snails - just break their shells so they’ll still be moving, so as to attract the fish.

I know that sounds mean but I can’t see that it’s any worse than feeding snails to puffer fish that either suck a snail out of its shell like slurping up a noodle or crush them completely.

Working on adding moina, possibly fairy shrimp & copepods, and Daphnia pulex to the mix and if I can ever get my hands on Dero worms, them too.

 

[3Fishnight]

Currently, scuds & lightly squished bladder snails mostly. There are some other microfauna in the tank and he no doubt snacks on them as well - there are a few very small leeches that I would really like to see get eaten .

I have a Black Tiger D.hysignon in another tank which had a pretty good population of copepods in it. I have no doubt that their numbers are much reduced by now but he also gets plenty of scuds & some squished snails.

I say lightly squished because I try not to crush the snails - just break their shells so they’ll still be moving, so as to attract the fish.

I know that sounds mean but I can’t see that it’s any worse than feeding snails to puffer fish that either suck a snail out of its shell like slurping up a noodle or crush them completely.

Working on adding moina, possibly fairy shrimp & copepods, and Daphnia pulex to the mix and if I can ever get my hands on Dero worms, them too.

Where do you get them all. Do you get cultures or something?

 

[Fishfur]

Where do you get them all. Do you get cultures or something?

Yup. I buy starter cultures & then do my best to keep them going. I have learned a fair bit about some species and others, I’d like to learn more. Some are far easier to culture than others - scuds being a great example of creatures that are extremely easy to culture.

I culture greenwater for the filter feeding species and a couple types of algae for the algae eaters & anytime I happen to find something like copepods, I’ll do my very best to isolate them & culture them too.

Cultures sometimes crash so having alternatives is very useful.

Few animals fare well eating exactly the same thing every day - variety is very valuable. Not all foods have the same nutritional value so variety helps make up for differences.

In the wild, animals generally eat the freshest, best quality foods, when they can find food. When they can’t, it’s a different story but wild food varies.

We often restrict our fish (or dog or cat) to eating the same thing day-in & day-out & it’s really not a good idea to do that.

Within the limitations imposed by real life & finances, I try hard to feed my feeder cultures as much variety as possible & in turn feed a variety of feeders to my fish & other wet pets.

I feed my cats homemade raw diets, so they get as close to what they’d eat by choice if they could too. It works really well.

 

[3Fishnight]

Yup. I buy starter cultures & then do my best to keep them going. I have learned a fair bit about some species and others, I’d like to learn more. Some are far easier to culture than others - scuds being a great example of creatures that are extremely easy to culture.

I culture greenwater for the filter feeding species and a couple types of algae for the algae eaters & anytime I happen to find something like copepods, I’ll do my very best to isolate them & culture them too.

Cultures sometimes crash so having alternatives is very useful. Few animals fare well eating exactly the same thing every day - variety is very valuable. Not all foods have the same nutritional value so variety helps make up for differences.

In the wild, animals eat the freshest, best quality foods most of the time, when they can find food. We tend to restrict them to the same thing day-in & day-out & it’s really not a good idea to do that.

Within the limitations imposed by real life & finances, I try hard to feed my feeders as much variety as possible & in turn feed that variety to my fish & other wet pets, and my cats too.

I did grindal worms and black worms for a while. Although i wasnt as successful with the blackworms. I couldnt get them to grow well. The grindal worms were really easy. I just feed my fish frozen and flake/ pellet now. Some live cultures would be nice if my L183 starlights would eat them. I think thats the only reason i would get live right now. I used to have a blackworm colony in my substrate at the bottom of my tank. They must have gotten eaten or died.

 

[Fishfur]

Blackworms are more challenging to culture than most anything else - growth is a problem. They never seem to get to full size. I would love to find out why that’s the case, but even undersized worms make good food - if there are enough of them.

The one thing you don’t want is to have a black worm culture crash - they reek like raw sewage if that happens. Just ask me how I learned that .

 

[3Fishnight]

Blackworms are more challenging to culture than most anything else - growth is a problem. They never seem to get to full size. I would love to find out why that’s the case, but even undersized worms make good food - if there are enough of them.

The one thing you don’t want is to have a black worm culture crash - they reek like raw sewage if that happens. Just ask me how I learned that .

Good to know. Its just hard to find blackworms around me. It would be better to try other things for me.

 

[Fishfur]

Good to know. Its just hard to find blackworms around me. It would be better to try other things for me.

There are a few alternatives to blackworms - notably white worms. Not aquatic but easy to raise & good food for fish.