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halfbeaks


snookie

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Hi All

There is a guy in Christchurch who I met through a Trade Me deal who is breeding them and trying to build up a stock of "Breeders" so as to get the strain going again.

He has promised me several pairs (5 actually) that I will pick up in a few weeks, when I go back to Chch for a hospital visit.

He's not too far from Alan4304. :wink:

:bow:

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There were 2 species that were around...

http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/summary/Sp ... p?id=11298

and

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm ... cleid=2630

I did see some large celebes a couple of years a go and was going to get some but forgot how to sex them :oops: :oops: , by the time I remembered they had sold out :( .

They often come into the country with bent beaks as they don't seem to understand there are walls to an aquarium and after banging into it a few times there beak bends or brakes off.

Never really had any luck with spawning Dermogenys pusilla unless they were feed mozzy riglers.

As Alan said they JUMP BIG TIME, thats how I lost mine too.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

As of Two weekends ago....Redwood Aquatics here in Christchurch had some in stock (the brackish variety I think).....Dont think they were overly cheap though @ $16.00!

I had some breeding stock a while back until the females decided that the ONLY male I had looked tasty and attacked him to the point of not being able to save him (happened while I was at work...came home to a shallow breathing- tailess male :-()

Pretty easy to keep...nearly always swim near the top of the water...prefer live foods over dried/flake etc.....I feed mine on the summer influx of house flies and enjoyed wacting them stalk their prey and leap to catch it.....as with most livebearers Breeding "just happens" and the fry tend to look like whitebait.........Had little success with keeping any fry alive as they seem to be rather picky eaters...and do need to be seperated from just about everything in a tank (cannibalism seems to run rife with these fish)

I bought the ones that were listed in Trademe and unfortunatley they were both females...so I cant try breeding again at this stage...and also these ones seem really picky as far as feeding goes (they dont really seem to want to eat anything......survival for one is looking very slim at this stage....

They are sometimes known as Wrestling halfbeaks too....and if you get two females in fighting mode youll know why, as they lock beaks and spiral downward rolling over and over.........

Pretty cool fish if you can find them, and even cooler if you can stop em jumping out of your tank (lost a couple this way)

Females are generally about twice the size of the male, and males also have the modified anal fin as well which contains their sexual organs. Breeding consists of a courtship where the male will line up below the belly of the female and "gitter" his beak....spawning??? takes place soon after with the male "flicking" himself past the female in a quick motion. The mother holds the young for around 3-4 weeks (from memory) and then the little wrigglers set themselves free usually in the early morning or late evening. Youll need to be quick here coz the parents wont hesitate to make their brood their supper as well......

Would like to get back into trying to breed these guys/gals again sometime....

Hope this helps,

Chrismack

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  • 3 weeks later...

yeah I was just at Redwood yesterday and they had red-finned halfbeaks listed on their board of fish available but not on display (because for some reason they don't like putting the good fish out where people can see them...maybe they're afraid of sales). I'm assuming from the name that they are the Sulawesi species Nomorhamphus ebrardtii.

This is what I stole off the net:

Nomorhamphus ebrardtii (Popta, 1912). Another Halfbeak from the island of Sulawesi, this species is sometimes sold as the “red fin halfbeak†but is more often simply included in batches of Celebes halfbeaks. Unlike Nomorhamphus liemi, this species has a straight beak and the fins are edged with thick bands of orange. It is quite a large species, with females around 11 cm (4.5 inches) in length and males around 9 cm (3.5 inches). Nomorhamphus ebrardtii is found in coastal waters rather than rainforest streams, and needs moderately hard, neutral to slightly alkaline water. It will also tolerate slightly brackish water (SG up to 1.005).

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  • 6 years later...

Jeez...its been an age since I've been on here and and an age since this post was added too.....

Looking at the piccy (and it's hard to tell fully) It kinda looks like you may have two females there, so breeding will pretty much impossible....

Generally with halfbeaks the male is about half the size of the female and has a modified anal fin.....which is almost an extension of the body itself - how can I say this - males tend to be "squarer" towards the rear, where-as the female body rolls back up towards the tail (more traditional FISH shape)

If you were lucky enough to have a "pair" adding a little floating "shelter" to the tank wouldnt hurt - breeding should pretty much take care of itself - back in the day when I had mine one of the three females was always "carrying" - but as said in my post way back when - once they are dropped, thats when the real challenge starts - protecting them from being the next feed - the above mentioned shelter helps a little in protecting them..but its really hit and miss....and I more often "missed" Sadly I dont have halfbeaks anymore - actually I dont have a lot now, a certain 6.3 put paid to that... :fshi:

Cool cool fish

Chris

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