Oryzias Latipes: The wonderful Japanese ricefish!

I just ordered some "snow white"s from AquariumFishSale.com. I've never ordered there before, but figured I'd give it a try, I'll let yall know how it goes

 

I just ordered some "snow white"s from AquariumFishSale.com. I've never ordered there before, but figured I'd give it a try, I'll let yall know how it goes

I hope it all works out well. These are pretty, irridescent Galaxy Medakas.

 

I'm so excited! I have located people selling eggs here and I've been spoiled for choice! I've decided I will be getting some Red King, Miyuki and Yellow Head Clear Scale eggs! There are a few other strains available, such as Tricolor, but I'll start with these. The Red Kings are the ones I most wanted! My only dilemma is deciding how many eggs to order. I was thinking 8 of a kind, but the breeder suggested at least 15 to have a nice beginning group. I don't mind, but it's a LOT of money to lay out all at once, and I have to really do it now, as eggs are not always available! I worry that if I somehow do it wrong, I will waste the money and the poor fish won't get to be! But I'm told by everyone it is very, very easy.

I can't travel to pick up fish, so I have to do it this way.

There are some gold Medakas in a not-too-far away shop and I could order Galaxy Medakas to be delivered to that shop for me also, should I become interested. Thinking about it. I have a small tank ready for hatching and once they are a decent size, I will move them either to my planted tank or to one of the porch ponds I am planning to create or maybe also to one of my outdoor ponds. EXCITED!

 

A video link (posted on a Facebook Medaka group today). It's in German, but even if you can't understand the language, it's pretty obvious what it's about and the pictures are nice.

Here's a really good video of mating behavior between Medaka fishes.

 

 

Got my fish from aquariumfishsale.com, it took a while to process my order (which the site clearly states) like 5-6 days. . . maybe more. . . But only took a day to get here once they shipped.

they are beautiful!!!! Super white (almost blue) and really shiny. I took some crappy photos but they don’t do them justice:





to make room for these guys I moved 9 of my oranges outside to one of the porch ponds. They seem to be doing fine even in the much colder water.

 

FYI aquatic arts has a few varieties in stock. Still pretty pricey but. . . at least they have some haha I just ordered 9 more oranges

 

FYI aquatic arts has a few varieties in stock. Still pretty pricey but. . . at least they have some haha I just ordered 9 more oranges

They are really expensive on your side of the pond! YIKES! I'm fairly certain that once they become more popular and more hobbyists breed them, the prices will drop. (Glad I'm over here in Europe, lol.)

 

My breeding set up. . . so far. . .

 

It looks like you've got them by a sunny window. That's my problem -- finding where I can set my tanks. And you've got breeding mops. How are your Medakas doing? You have some outside, too, right?

 

It looks like you've got them by a sunny window. That's my problem -- finding where I can set my tanks. And you've got breeding mops. How are your Medakas doing? You have some outside, too, right?

Nah they are actually in the back of the room, the tanks are like weirdly back/side lit by a long LED strip.

they all seem to be doing well (fingers crossed) I’ve seen females carrying eggs both in the tanks and in the ponds but not fry yet. . . I just added the spawning mops today and will get some breeder box’s set up soon to move the eggs

 

Hi guys,
I am following this thread with interest as I am just starting with these fish.
Australia has a very limited selection but what we do have are very cheap. I currently have just a handful in a male endler tank. They will get a tub on the floor soon . It seems like they might be ok with out a light of their own ?

What do you guys think of having them without live plants ? In a tank without a light as to keep them cool in the heated room they will be on the floor . Perhaps just slowly dying guppy grass? as a spawning mop.

Outdoor tubs are in future plans.

 

Hi guys,
I am following this thread with interest as I am just starting with these fish.
Australia has a very limited selection but what we do have are very cheap. I currently have just a handful in a male endler tank. They will get a tub on the floor soon . It seems like they might be ok with out a light of their own ?

What do you guys think of having them without live plants ? In a tank without a light as to keep them cool in the heated room they will be on the floor . Perhaps just slowly dying guppy grass? as a spawning mop.

Outdoor tubs are in future plans.

Light is important to induce spawning and raising fry, the hotter the better for breeding aswell.

 

Interesting thanks SnookusFish. I have tradesmen coming in a week to build a deck. I better start organising some outdoor tubs. Until then they will have to make do inside.

One thing my town are not short of is heat in summer.

 

Here's a beautiful video on youtube:

 

Yes Cattappa those are well made videos all right. I particularly enjoyed “ A story of two Medaka”
The final comment about how you probably shouldn’t give them names but he still does put a smile on my wife’s face.

 

PSA "Indian ricefish" available on aquaticarts:

I know these are not Japanese ricefish, however, I think they are cool and I never really see them for sale. I wont be buying any (if I can resist) as I'm out of room, but figured I'd share.

 

Hi there! I'm new to the forum and am excited to talk to other people keeping Japanese rice fish.

I'm in Australia so we don't get as many types, but I'm interested to see if I can crossbreed some. I currently have platinum, tiger, gold, orange and white types (those are the names they were sold under, I think the platinum is blue lame and the orange youhiki but I'm not 100%). But one of my platinums actually has a black body, with the blue white platinum sheen on the top.

This is my 100 litre pond that I have them in, I'm planning to set up more containers to hatch fry and selectively breed once it gets closer to spring. It's too cold here currently for them to breed outdoors, but I'm considering trying a few in one of my tanks inside too.

 

Another great video! You can enable the English subtitles.

 

Thanks for the video Catappa.

Just the two colours for me at the moment.

We got a dozen tigers from Queensland. They were delayed 48 hours in the post but arrived happy a fortnight ago.

 

advice on my eggs and fry. . . ? how to keep them from getting fungus? Ok to feed powdered foods (don't have live foods ATM)? how large should fry be before removing from breeder boxes? how large before they can swim with parents?

 

The package with my Medaka eggs just arrived! I am so excited!

 

I can’t help you with the best approach to a good hatch rate other than to suggest you try a couple of different containers.
Seriously don’t put all your eggs in one basket ?

 

advice on my eggs and fry. . . ? how to keep them from getting fungus? Ok to feed powdered foods (don't have live foods ATM)? how large should fry be before removing from breeder boxes? how large before they can swim with parents?

I've been told that hobby breeders usually send the eggs with a bit of Methylene blue with them. That works against fungus. You can culture your own brine shrimp for food. You can buy packaged infusoria (or make your own with eggs -- google). JBL Novo Baby and Hikari First Bites were recommended to me as commercial foods for feeding Medaka fry. I don't know the answers to your other questions.

 

Forgot to mention: in addition to the eggs arriving in a little Methylene blue-tinged water (only for travel purposes), in your aquarium set - up for hatching eggs, it is important to have gentle water movement. This also helps prevent fungus. A simple airstone, set to minimum bubbles, is sufficient. Medakas don't like moving water, but it is advised for the eggs. There should be small water changes every day.

I've just ordered extra plants for the two small tanks in which I have eggs. I have Red Kings in one and a mixed collection in the other. I plan to keep the Red Kings separated. Hopefully, they will hatch in a day or two.

Feed them food that floats on the surface. They may ignore food that sinks.

I've just read on one Japanese site that the young fish can join their parents when they are about half the size of adult fish, but the people on the Dutch Medaka forum keep all their fish in their outdoor mini ponds and they thrive and breed.

 

I know they aren't the same species, but has anyone kept Oryzias woworae? I managed to reserve a few at my LFS the other day. I'll be keeping them indoors though, as they aren't as temperature tolerant as latipes.

 

PSA: aquahuna has "koi" (looks like/I think they same thing as orange caps) for a decent price:

Medaka Koi Ricefish - 2 pack

I am NOT affiliated with this company in anyway, just wanted to give a heads up to everybody...

I may buy a few when I get paid. . . though I am running out of room haha.
Also, want to update you guys on my breeding projects.

I have been collecting eggs and hatching my snow whites and, to a lesser extent, my "youhiki". have probably 30+ fry of various ages/sizes at this point.

I had no luck getting my blue sparkles to breed, though admittedly they weren't of the highest quality/coloration so I'm not super bummed about it. I moved them into my "assorted" porch pond. I haven't seen any fry from either of my porch ponds, possibly do to lack of bushy plants. . . just added a few more plants so we will see.

I moved my orange sparkles to a breeding tank (technically a mix of "actual" orange sparkle and the "regular" orange variety that just happened to be a bit sparkly so I mixed them in). . . no eggs yet but only been a few days since I moved them.

 

I had no luck getting my blue sparkles to breed, though admittedly they weren't of the highest quality/coloration so I'm not super bummed about it. I moved them into my "assorted" porch pond. I haven't seen any fry from either of my porch ponds, possibly do to lack of bushy plants. . . just added a few more plants so we will see.

Are these "blue sparkles" a specific strain? or are they miyuki, or blue lame or something?
All of these naming schemes make it very difficult to understand what people are actually breeding and selling. Almost feels like the names are just made up for what the fish looks like.

 

All I can really go off of is the name they were sold to me under, which was “blue speckled”, though I’ve heard that name be interchangeable with “sparkling“. They are a blue, gray, white fish, with some iridescent scales. Though they are called blue, they’re blue coloration is much less pronounced than say my “snow white“ ricefish. I do apologize I don’t know a lot of the technical terms for these fish especially when it comes to the Japanese names. If anyone has a good source on such information I would appreciate it.

 

Trying to get my terms right, after some research I think. . .

my "blue sparkles" are just blue lame. . . but as I said above their blue coloration isn't super.

my "orange sparkle" would be orange (or red) lame

My "snow white"s are "miyuki". My reading indicates that term refers to the iridescent "glowing" back when viewed from above, which mine have. My reading also indicated that miyuki can be attributed to white or blue colored fish with the blue color being more desirable.

And my Yuhiki are. . . well yuhiki. . . though to my eye they look a bit like orange/red head clear scale (or a mix of the 2) as seen here Oryzias latipes - Medaka breeding forms - Aquarium Glaser GmbH however I have read that Yohiki should be kept outside in actual sunlight to promote the most vibrant oranges.

any of this sounding right?

Also I took a look at some Japanese fish stores online. . . and DANG there are some crazy ricefish morphs/varieties out there!!! All kinds of colors and fin types. . . blew my mind considering the limited variety I've seen in the states!

 

Sounds about right I think.

I just get confused when I look at the blue types on different seller's sites. Some of the blue sparkles look almost like pearl white with blue body/eyes and others have like dark lines through them and iridescent backs with sparkles mixed in. Almost seems like its just a bunch of different types that bred together or something and the offspring is all over the place.

I don't even know which qualities are most desirable.

 

Hey MoshJosh we have a pretty limited selection of colours in Australia. Just three that are advertised openly.

bootleg
I am going to work on qualities that are to my liking and breed from individuals that appeal to me first and foremost. Put it this way with the limited colours and limited species I have got to try for more colour.

This is still very much a work in progress, but I got some water in these flower tubs today.

 

Hey MoshJosh we have a pretty limited selection of colours in Australia. Just three that are advertised openly.

bootleg
I am going to work on qualities that are to my liking and breed from individuals that appeal to me first and foremost. Put it this way with the limited colours and limited species I have got to try for more colour.

This is still very much a work in progress, but I got some water in these flower tubs today.View attachment 802734

Cool to see someone down-under breeding these. Not sure if they're my kind of fish but they're absolutely not common here, should be an awesome project!

 

Hey MoshJosh we have a pretty limited selection of colours in Australia. Just three that are advertised openly.

bootleg
I am going to work on qualities that are to my liking and breed from individuals that appeal to me first and foremost. Put it this way with the limited colours and limited species I have got to try for more colour.

This is still very much a work in progress, but I got some water in these flower tubs today.View attachment 802734

Yeah that is sort of my plan as well. I want to refine the lines I have while also mixing and matching traits I like. . . well see how well I do haha.

I really like those flower tubs. Do you have a link to the exact ones you are using? I have been looking for rectangular tubs for a while now.

 

Hey MoshJosh , to keep my wife happy and because these troughs are on the living room side of the house I paid heaps more than if they were around the back of the house. I hope to add any old buckets around the back of the house in the future for raising fry maybe?
These are not designed to hold water.
I got the Winston Trough in the 1 meter size.
Northcote Pottery | The Container Gardening Experts | Pottery, Fountains, Garden Art, Outdoor Furniture




Only time will tell if these are any good.

 

Those look great though! I have seen similar troughs at Home Depot, though I was worried about their ability to hold water.

I would love to get some of the apple/produce crates but haven't found a great source. I might try some of the sturdier storage totes. . . or maybe cheap coolers. . . I don't know but I feel like my circular porch ponds are really inefficient, they take up to much space for to little water volume.

 

Doing a little experiment to see if doubling up these Home Depot totes will make them sturdy enough to function as porch ponds. If so I will be able to replace my 3 circular ponds, taking up the same space but with about 25 more gallons of water:




I’ve used these before for summer tubbing but they had a wooden frame.

 

Got some koi/red caps, will try to bread them soon. . . Also made a polycarbonate tank divider:

 

finally have my ones breeding and out into the pond

 

finally have my ones breeding and out into the pond

Awesome video, love the pond, and love the tanks you showed in the video too. Great work!

 

An update. It’s probably no surprise to anyone that has kept these fish that I saw a female with eggs yesterday. It’s still early spring down under with the odd frost this week in my state.

As someone who has only kept indoor fish it’s interesting to see how much the water temperature changes between midday and midnight.

 

Flyfisha How's the medaka breeding going? I got sick over winter so left my medaka in their patio pond to fend for themselves over the Canberra winter. I tested the water a couple of times, used old water on my house plants and topped up pond as needed, otherwise I left them alone.

Unfortunately only 4 of my original 8 fish survived (2 females, a dominant male and a shy male). These 4 were the ones I'd always see after I bought them - the others remained hidden and may have even died before the cold weather set in.

The remaining females are both laying like crazy now, but I haven't done anything to harvest the eggs and create a separate breeding tank. For now I think I'll just wait and watch and separate any eggs/fry if I spot them.

I'd be really interested to hear how your setup is going.

Nedge

 

Hey Nedge.
I had to use rubber pond liners on the inside of the fibreglass planters to make them watertight, so that set me back some time setting up plants. Currently it’s a stable environment I hope?


Only two of the four planters have fish in them . Those fish from one source are very outgoing and always on the surface. The other fish from Fyshwick are always hiding. At first glance they are the same species. ? Not to sure but that my guess?
No fry yet . I have seen females with eggs but I guess I have not been concentrating hard enough because the 20 litre buckets with the spawning mops have produced no fry . I should have moved mops into the empty tanks but have not done so unfortunately. Always something to do when you have fish tanks. Feeding a few batches of blue acara and electric blue acara fry.
Edit = Breaking news.
Thanks for the shake up Nedge. I just went out and thought about moving some mops around. Found these 3 ish fry in a bucket that has got to be 4 or 5 weeks since removing the mop. The fry might only be a few days old?

fry at middle left.

 

Flyfisha that's so exciting! Sounds like it might take a while for them to hatch? And I love your setup; looks very professional!

I got my medakas from Fyshwick - the owner there had never sold them before and said "I probably should start reading up on these". Did you get your others from Belconnen? And do you buy or make your mops? Any recommendations on materials/styles?

 

My wife brought a handful ( 8 I think) from Queensland sold as tigers. They have very similar markings ( identical) to our other batch from Fyshwick. I brought 6 from MJ of CADAS but lost 5 in a few days.

Yes it would seem in our water in spring temperatures it does take more than 3 weeks for the eggs to hatch.

Making mops is a five minute job. You need acrylic wool any colour but probably green or brown?
I have a few but think rice fish might use the floating kind hanging from a cork more than ones that sink to the substrate?

First impressions is the tiny fry are eating dry food already. That’s 100 times easier than feeding tiny live Infusorea.

 

An update on the first batch of ( spring) fry.
By Australian standards we have had a cold snap. With the night time temperature dropping to zero and cold rain in the last few days I moved the buckets of fry indoors today. The fry had stopped swimming on the surface and where hardly moving In 10 degrees centigrade water. Perhaps I was to slow to react and as a consequence lost most of them?

An old saying “ if it was easy it wouldn’t be any fun “

 

So I sort of got the wife’s approval for keeping Fish in the shed, plan on getting the breeding tanks set up in the next couple months. I’m also trying to order some special spawning mops from Japan. . . Probably no better than my homemade ones but I want to be a true G!!!

I also may have found a source for some interesting, long fin varieties, fingers crossed.

The fry are doing OK, I lost some fry and adults when I had a run-in with worms. But I think I have 30+ juveniles/babies at the moment.

not rice fish, but I also ended up with a bunch of white cloud fry ha ha, didn’t take any real work but still can’t help but feeling proud!

 

Got some new fish today:

“Ginga” (think that’s galaxy) these are supposed to have yellow fins. . . Well see






these are “telescope eye”. Their eyes are definitely different (MAYBE bigger than normal, but definitely darker) but they are pretty small still so they likely still have growing to do. . . Also these are mixed with my other rice fish so gotta look close in the pictures






then some pictures of my Youhiki looking nice and orange

 

Even the pure wild Medaka from Japan, Oryzias latipes and O. sakizumii, has its own charm. On the islands in Japan, these species are in danger of extinction, and it is wild medaka who has given us all the colored strains and has a huge genetic variability and brings vitality and resilience to the breeding.

The loss of wild japanese rice fish would mean an irreversible loss of the potential that each sub-population has, each with its own specific variations in color, behavior and habits.

Anyone who appreciates Japanese rice fish should keep pure wild form and contribute to the preserve of this beautiful species.

It is sad that the natural habitat in an already small and limited area is irreversibly liquidated by the expansion of cities and the modernization of the way of farming in rice fields. In addition, Medaka is displaced by non-native Gambusia, which expands in the natural range of Japanese rice fish.

I personally fell in love with the pictures of wild japanese rice fish I hope that I will be able to get these non-domesticated forms soon and I will be able to contribute with my photos and experience.

 

I got some “dwarf medaka rice fish”/yellow tail Chinese rice fish (Oryzias minutillus).

I’m not sure the name medaka is appropriate as they don’t originate in Japan (I could be wrong)

regardless they are cool but TINY!!! I have to keep them in a breeder box at the moment cause even my smallest fish could eat them.