Spectrolebias Reticulatus Altamira Rio Xingu 20+ eggs

€22.00

Hatching:

When you get the package look at the label and find out the collection date. From this date add 5 month, then they are ready to hatch. While storing them, open the package and check if the peat is moist, it should be like freshly opened tobacco. If they get too dry just spray the content a bit.

After 5 month you can put the whole content into water. A bowl of about 1 litre is good. The fry should hatch between 24 and 48 hours. It can be that not all eggs hatch. Transfer the hatched fry to another bowl and dry the remaining peat again. Store it for another 3 weeks and then water them again. You can repeat that cycle several times. Do not mix up the newly hatched fry with the ones from the first cycle as they might be eaten by the older ones. For the first days feed them infusoria (pellets are in the package) , then you can feed freshly hatched brine shrimp.

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Description

Spectrolebias Reticulatus is already extinct in nature. They lived at a sand bank in Rio Xingu near Altamira and due to a power plant construction their habitat was destroyed. They belong to the group of South American Annuals and lay their eggs in the substrate.

Ideal temperature is between 22 and 25 degrees. As they live in pools, they do not like current very much, so slow filtering is necessary. They need soft water of about 200 microsiemens and natural soil like peat moss as bottom. For spawning the substrate must be as deep as the fish are long, as they dive in completely into the soil.

Spectrolebias Reticulatus like floating plants and should be kept as a trio, 1 male and 2 or more females, but are not suited for a community ttank.

For the hobbist they are quite interesting to watch, as they show a very exciting spawning behavior. As a diet the need live food, worms, brine shrimps, cyclops will do, which is quite challenging if you do not have regular access to live food.

They stay quite small up to 3 cm and are suited for a nano tank, about 30 litres is good enough for a trio.

They are annuals, so in nature they lived one season, in rainy season they grow up, spawn and lay the eggs into the soil. When the dry season comes the pools loose water and fall dry. Only the soil stays moist. Now the eggs make a socalled diapause in their development.  The adults die. With the new rains the pools get flooded again and they hatch and a new generation starts.

In captivity they can live longer, but do not expect them to live more than two years.

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