Hara Jerdoni

[Captain Pelvis]

Hello there, im new to this forum however it seems very factual .

I have had a group of 4 Hara Jerdoni for a little over 2 days now and i absolutely love them. They have a 35l tank to share with four otos. I have read everything i can find about them on the internet and have just changed their temp to 21-22 degrees celcius and have just attempted to feed them some frozen bloodworm. Unforunately near the surface i have 2 filters so the bloodworm doesnt find it to the fish easily, i pippetted some infront of them and one of them tried it but is there an easier way?

Also any additional info is truelly welcome such as other foods ( i read about grindel worms i may have to invest in a colony), tank mates ( i was thinking another indian species dario dario), adding to their numbers (i would quite like another 2), distinguishing males from females? and finally tank decor; i have a sand substrate with a piece of slate they like to hide under the edges and a coconut shell. plus i will add more plants to what i have such as vallisneria.

thanks for listening

[Martin S]

You could turn the filter(s) off whilst you feed, remembering to be sure to turn them back on again once you are done.
And welcome to PlanetCatfish!
Martin

[Captain Pelvis]

ok its lights out and i have turned off the filters, ive added i little bit of blood worm so lets see what happens. I will check on them in 15 mins

[medaka]

Sexing adult Erethistes jerdoni is relatively easy,
The females pectoral fins are more convex posteriorly and the females are of a noticeable wider girth.

Your substrate and decor is fine, additional plants is an attractive idea, maybe you could add a piece of bogwood that has plants like java fern growing on them. Any small non boisterous fish from Asia would do fine. I know these are from another area in Asia (Myanmar) but Danio choprae make excellent take mates; and to my knowledge the area where the scarlet badis comes from and where E jerdoni is found; is not in the same area.

BTW what type of filters are you using?

erm, , you say

I have read everything i can find about them on the internet

there is a small site that has information on these little anchor cats; including sexing and their spawning.
...
Maybe 'cause its small you havnt found it yet...

[DutchFry]

medaka,

i know which site you mean. can't you just give a link to that site, or is this against the rules of the planetcatfish forum?

on that site i've read something about the name you are using, Erethistes jerdoni, but i still don't get why some use this name and others still use the name Hara. If this was the scientific name, why is the catelog still refering to Hara? can you explain this to me? and maybe you can explain also why there is discussion about the name?

thanks in advance!

[Dave Rinaldo]

The link is in his signature

[medaka]

HI Dutch Fry

You wrote:

on that site i've read something about the name you are using, Erethistes jerdoni, but i still don't get why some use this name and others still use the name Hara. If this was the scientific name, why is the catelog still refering to Hara? can you explain this to me? and maybe you can explain also why there is discussion about the name?

You will have to ask Jools about why pcf still uses "Hara" and not "Erethistes"

But this is the reason I give preference to using Erethistes over Hara (see *)
http://www.hillstreamcatfish.com/page8/page8.html

btw; Fish base can't make its mind up, they use "Erethistes" not "Hara"
as in http://www.fishbase.us/Summary/SpeciesS ... p?id=24885
But have them listed as belonging to the family Erethistidae, as opposed to belonging in Sisoridae

[DutchFry]

thanks for explaining!

If i have anything to say on this matter, let us stick with Hara, it's much more easy to pronounce and write

[Captain Pelvis]

hi cheers for the replys with the link regarding breeding and sexing i noticed that literally minutes after posting but thanks anyway.

[Shovelnose]

Hi,

Arent live blood worms better to begin with???

For the first few weeks mine didnt touch processed food but I kept alternating between live and processed and now they have been taking frozen worms for a while. I also find that they prefer the food at the bottom rather than the top.So I make this really gross looking paste with Frozen Blood Worms,Tubifex, Shrimp and Spirulina .Sinks to the bottom quite easily.

The filter should be off when this is done too as Martin suggested cos the food gets sucked in very easily. And yes, I have never failed in turning the filter back on as yet.

If you wanna stick to live food, try Fruit Fly larvae. Really easy to culture but extremely fattening.

[medaka]

Hi balaji

Arent live blood worms better to begin with???

I tend to feed mainly live foods.. and drop back to frozen foods when live foods are not available to me.

[Shovelnose]

Hi Adrian,

Long time. I only said that cos Captain Pelvis had tried feeding processed food immediately. Was thinking he might get alarmed if they dont eat at all.

Also, I think it is vital they eat as soon as they re in the tanks cos they re usually not fed well before packing. Im guessing this logic is right??

[apistomaster]

Hi Adrian,

Long time. I only said that cos Captain Pelvis had tried feeding processed food immediately. Was thinking he might get alarmed if they dont eat at all.

Also, I think it is vital they eat as soon as they re in the tanks cos they re usually not fed well before packing. Im guessing this logic is right??

I recommend to feed starved fish lightly at first and not allow them to gorge on the food. It can take new fish some acclimation and adaption time to both new tanks and food after being starved too long. After a few days it is safe to allow them to eat their fill. It is a general guide line.
I have seen many new and starved fish that did die after a large first meal so I prefer to be cautious. If the fish look fine when you buy them then there isn't any reason to not feed them as you would any fish.

[Shovelnose]

Hi Larry,

Yes. I completely agree with your point. I feed half of what I usually feed for the first 3 or 4 days then shift to a proper diet.

Off topic but a doubt. I lost a decent number of a Pseudolaguvia Sp. during quarantine recently. DOA was like 1 outta 20 but lost 4 in quarantine alone. I start feeding them once they re in the tank only and not during quarantine (which is for a day). Maybe that is a mistake??????

[bronzefry]

In my few months with the Hara jerdoni, the smaller the food the better. The best luck I've had is with microworms. The second best success is with either frozen cyclops or daphnia. Once a week, I give them the ends of the bloodworm flat pack. These seem to be pre-chopped for me. At first, I really overestimated the amount of food they needed. Just a few worms seems about right. I started with 6 fish. I lost 1 right off. Yesterday, I found 1 spinning around in the uptake tube of the sponge filter. How it got in there, since the water level was just below the intake, is beyond me. It was dead as a doornail. I changed the filter, just to be safe. The other 4 seem fine. They alternate between resting in the foliage and chasing one another when I feed them. They have "territorial" moments so I added more plants.
Amanda