New Girardinus metallicus and Trinidadian poecilia picta

So I finally got the Girardinus metallicus and wild-caught Trinidadian poecilia picta after months of setbacks. And they're not like the Endler's at all. They're less out-going, and the picta is incredibly spooked. I've hardly seen her. Her fry at least are not scared of me and hang out near the surface. But they've refused to eat. The Girardinus metallicus have been quite nervous, though they don't jump at least. I had to help a Nerite snail that had gotten turned over, and the fish just stayed very still, their bellies just grazing the substrate, even though my fingertips were a scant inch from them. Several of them finally started to eat a bit this evening.

Here are some short clips I took on my cell phone:

I got two male Girardinus metallicus and 5 females. What's nice about the boys is that they're easy to tell apart. One has a black spot above his eyes, and I'm calling him Bandit.

An interesting detail about the picta--what keeps her from looking like a guppy girl is that her gravid spot has no melanin, so it's very hard to see.

 

They are all lovely Should be interesting to see their personalities as they get used to life in captivity.

 

I love the dark line on the male! Hopefully as the babies show the parents how great it is to be in your home, they will calm down a little and be more interactive.

 

The poecilia picta fry ate a little this morning, which is a relief. I think part of the problem is that they and the Girardinus metallicus ate so well in the lab. Out friend feeds them water fleas and brine shrimp on the table in front of them. Plus he orders food for them that he boils up and let's cool into a gel that smells a lot like southeast Asian fermented shrimp paste. Yum!

These picta babies will hopefully give me some males, so I can see their markings at last. I've been unable to find any pics of them on line. They're supposed to be a lot less colorful then their more popular, bright res 'swamp guppy' cousins.

 

Can't wait to see what the boys look like xD

 

The good news is that the picta are doing well. The fry hang out at the top and eat like crazy. It took a week, but their mother finally came out of hiding and hangs out with them, occasionally eating. She's getting huge and will probably give birth again soon. I'm probably going to have 50 more total in 6 months, not even counting how many the fry will grow up to have. I'll have to start figuring that out!

The sad, sad news is that I got overwhelmed with family issues and couldn't take care of a problem that turned into a nightmare for the Girardinus metallicus.

I have now done 4 (count 'em, 4!) 80-90% water changes in 9 days on that tank. Dead light, dead plants (due to dead light), dead nerite snails, wobbly fish that I had to euthanize. Then yesterday, after the latest water change, I tested yet again, and nitrate was 80 ppm. Huh? Checked my kitchen tap water: nitrate 80 ppm.

I dosed heavily with Prime and dumped more duckweed in that tank. Did the same with the other QT tank (got some Trilis in there). The heavily planted 40-gal tank and Evolve 8 with eco complete also have a nitrate reading of 80 ppm, so double dose of Prime there. All other planted tanks are at 40 ppm. I'm ordering some Purigen now.

Today, I'm watching 2 more wobbly Girardinus metallicus that will likely need to be put down. That will leave me with 3 out of 7. Sigh. I'm dreading telling my friend at the lab.

I'm trying to get a hold of the neighbors to get a water sample to test. Our nitrate was always 20 ppm, and I'd assumed that the huge work last summer on the water main near us wouldn't make things worse, but now I'm wondering about that.

 

So sorry to hear about the problems you have had with the light, plants, snails and fish. I hope that it all straightens up for you soon. :console: