my new peacock gudgeons

[succinctfish]

Here are some not very good pictures of my new wee fishies.   Please excuse the water spots.    They are settling in, I just got them Wednesday.  Today they figured out that the food is somehow connected to my presence.    At last.  I am hoping I have a pair.  I did my research in advance, and shared my gudgeon sexing info with the very nice fellow at the LFS.  But really, it is hard when they are so pale and small.  So maybe a male and female, or maybe two males.  Fingers crossed, as I am hoping for the swishy swish of little baby fishy fins. 

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[beowulf]

Very interesting little fishies. 

[plecoL83]

Cute fishes were'd you get them

[kennyman]

quite a fish. Mine did not make a recovery unfortunately 

I have had fish such as Chanda sp. in the past that require random feedings of live food to keep their vigour and I suspect that may have played a role in my gudgeons demise.

You are a good fish momma though and I am sure you will have better luck than I did. I hope they breed for you.

[succinctfish]

quite a fish. Mine did not make a recovery unfortunately 

I have had fish such as Chanda sp. in the past that require random feedings of live food to keep their vigour and I suspect that may have played a role in my gudgeons demise.

You are a good fish momma though and I am sure you will have better luck than I did. I hope they breed for you.

I'm so sorry your gudgeons died.     I hope mine make it. I'm feeding them frozen bbs, bloodworm and flake at the moment, as all my live food ceased to be so in the heat.  At least I know for sure that they are eating now. 

Cute fishes were'd you get them

I got them at Superpet Kanata. 
I think they still have some if you want to try again kennyman.   

[succinctfish]

gudgeon update!

Well, of the original two gudgeons, one did very well, and the other just wouldn't eat and died a few days after I brought it home. 
So, I got a replacement fish.  There weren't many left, it was the end of the day, and Matt grabbed the one in front. So much for my painstaking efforts to compare head shapes to try to get a pair. 

They have been swimming happily in their wee tank, eating live bbs and frozen, and also nls flake.  They are small fish, and so personable.  We had some differences of opinion in the tank, so I was a little worried about new fish, but it was eating well and soon both had the chubby gudgeon gut.  Oh well, even if they were the same sex, still, cute as a button. 
I got them some friends, four pseudomugil gertrudae, and then some cherry shrimp, which I had read in my gudgeon research made great tankmates.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered the capacity of a gudgeons mouth when I saw a gudgeon with a cherry shrimp almost the same size sticking out of its mouth.  The last I saw of the shrimp was it's little face looking at me.  Oops.  Don't believe everything you read.    The remaining shrimp hightailed it under the sponge filter.  Smart shrimp.
Everyone seemed happy after that, but then suddenly the next day, my gudgeons vanished, both of them.  It's not a big tank, so it was a mystery.  Finally, with a flashlight I found them both under the flowerpot saucer, sitting side by side, not moving. 
I did more research, some sites said they would spawn all day, others referred to a brief interlude and a male that would chase the female away after spawning.  I was both worried and hopeful.  I did a small water change and waited.  So here we are the next day, and the gudgeons have reappeared.  The shrimp which were sallying around the tank happily the previous day, even strolling over the flowerpot saucer with impunity,have retreated to the sponge filter. I took the flashlight, and looked under the flowerpot, EGGS. woohoo?  I don't know yet if they were fertilized.  There is a gudgeon in front of the pot and very occasionally inside, but isn't he supposed to be fanning them?  Research says yes, but remember the cherry shrimp.  
Here are some photos of eggs, gudgeons and gurtrudae:

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[plecoL83]

nice, good for you 

[washefuzzy]

That is so cool. Sometime success comes in strange ways.

[KLKelly]

Do you know if there are any more p.gertrudae there?  I have a tank with four males and I had to put my remaining female in a bowl.  If I can't find a good home for the males I would like to buy more so she has company.  They are my all time favourite fish!.

[succinctfish]

Yes, I do love the gertrudae as well.  I got the last ones from Matt at Superpet Kanata.  I don't know if anyone else has them.  I'm not sure of my exact genders yet, I know there's one boy in there, they are just becoming recognizable, and staying still long enough.    If you don't find some, let me know, and perhaps they could join my little ones.  Do they look like mine?  I know that there are variances in colour depending upon where they are from.  Fascinating little fish.  They co-exist nicely with my gudgeons, as they are most often in the upper level of the tank, and the gudgeons hang out at the bottom.  I'm sure they will try to snack on the gudgeon babies if the eggs are fertilized.  I'm trying to decide whether to let nature run it's course this first time, or to pull the eggs out.  I don't have much time, as they apparently hatch quite quickly.

[KLKelly]

Yep - just like your guy in the bottom picture.  Thats probably the male.  I'm glad you were able to get some!

My males would be too much for your females (even if three turned out to be female).  If I was able to get more it would be ten more females.

I hope you have one male and three females.  They are absolutely relentless chasing and showing off for the females. 
I love the way the males spin and flash and especially their blue eyes. They have spawning behaviour in the morning and chill out and explore the whole tanks for the rest of the day.  I never had fry but I think the pond snail infestation was the reason.  I hear the females only lay about three eggs or so - not a lot.  I don't think they would snack on the eggs but you never know.  They don't seem aggressive to the two little gobies I have in the tank at all.

Mine love baby brine shrimp, finely chopped peas and bloodworms.  I have been giving them a lot of dried brine shrimp ground into a powder.  I found the micropellets bad for them - their bellies got too big.

They are extremely sensitive to changes in the water also.  I would try not to do large water changes unless you have to.

Your gudgeons are very cool also.  That would be a neat tank to watch.

[succinctfish]

Well, I took too long thinking about it, and the eggs are gone today.  The gudgeon is still hanging around the flowerpot as if it's guarding something, so maybe it didn't eat them, or since it's the first time, perhaps it ate them and hasn't figured out the connection.   
Well, better luck next time.

In terms of water changes, of course, small water changes are always what I prefer to do, especially in this tank, which is not large and contains only creatures who are very sensitive to water parameters.  In my experience rainbow fish, certainly the blue-eyes, are not tolerant of less than ideal water conditions.  Despite its diminutive size, at the moment this is my favourite tank, but don't let the other fish know.    Hah, as I write this, the otocinclus in the 50 gallon are spawning again, anything to show up the gudgeons. 

[succinctfish]

Well, they have spawned again!  I experimented and fed them some frozen brine shrimp, since eating a live cherry shrimp worked to get them in a spawning mode last time, and voila we have eggs.  Once again, the behaviour of the cherry shrimps in the tank let me know right away that the gudgeons were absent, as the cherry shrimps were sitting right in front of the place the gudgeons were spawning. This time the gudgeons behaved in a more typical manner, as the female gudgeon has been booted out of the vicinity of the eggs.  They did stay together from yesterday until today under the flowerpot saucer, but clearly she has served her purpose in his mind and needs to stay away now.  Here is a picture.  Hopefully this time the spawn will be successful, and I will see some fry in the end.

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[succinctfish]

And a couple of more. 

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[kennyman]

You ARE such a good fish momma. Hopefully next seasons ovas auctions will be graced with locally bred gudgeons for sale! I will certainly bid on a bag of those 

[beowulf]

Nice, one day I'll get into the breeding of my fish, for now I am happy to watch them and to worry about my new cats needs as an expecting mother!!

[succinctfish]

You ARE such a good fish momma. Hopefully next seasons ovas auctions will be graced with locally bred gudgeons for sale! I will certainly bid on a bag of those 

Thanks, kennyman.  I hope to end up with little gudgeon babies ultimately.  I don't think papa gudgeon thought much of the photo shoot. Neither did I, as I was crouching on the floor holding a flashlight with one hand and a camera with the other.    Hopefully he wasn't too bothered by the sudden light into his dark little space.  I will leave him alone for a while to see how it goes.  I am preparing to switch them all to a slightly bigger tank, so it's not the best timing, but serves me right for experimenting with the brine shrimp.

[sniggir]

good job...nice fish can't wait to see the fry!