Erethistes horai? No, E. minusculus - SPAWNED!

[bekateen]

Hey all,

This weekend while attending the FIN-DIG 2025 convention in Sacramento, CA, I stopped at Lee's Feed & Western Wear in Shingle Springs, CA. There I picked up six fish sold as

Erethistes horai

. They are about 30mm SL. Is the ID correct?

Also, is their care the same as

Erethistes jerdoni

?

Currently I've set the E. horai up in an unheated tank (about 73F) in soft slightly acidic water (TDS 100ppm; pH 6) with a sponge filter and a very powerful airstone. Substrate is half sand, half cobblestones.

Is this appropriate for the species? I'm struggling to find much information online about E. horai.

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Feedback from @The.Dark.One: these might have been sold with the wrong name... might be

Erethistes minusculus

. To be honest, I'm not sure that all six fish are the same species, but they were bought from the same shipment, so hopefully.

Will need to key them out carefully to find out if current ID is correct.

Cheers, Eric

[Shovelnose]

Hey Eric, I've kept Indian Erethistes, and they all require similar care. Your tank setup looks good, but I recommend switching the sponge filter for an HOB and adding plenty of plants, as these fish like to use them as cover. I spot gravid females every monsoon among the moss but there is very little I can do as it is a community tank. Live feed maybe required initially, but they can weaned off over time.

The most commonly available species in the trade is E.pussilus.

Hope this helps!

[bekateen]

Thanks Balaji! I can make those changes.

My biggest concern is pH. Any thoughts on that?

Cheers, Eric

[Shovelnose]

These fish are typically collected from large water bodies known as beels (surface area of several hectares), that are a result of spillage from rivers during floods. The pH in these beels generally ranges from 6.5 to 8.0. I’ve seen these fish thriving in both soft and hard water (my tank water is at 7.6), and I believe these fish can tolerate a wide pH range.

Also, I suggested the HOB solely for filtration and aeration, as these fish prefer minimal to no water movement. Filtration and water temperature are more important for keeping these in the long run.

[bekateen]

These fish are typically collected from large water bodies known as beels (surface area of several hectares), that are a result of spillage from rivers during floods. The pH in these beels generally ranges from 6.5 to 8.0. I’ve seen these fish thriving in both soft and hard water (my tank water is at 7.6), and I believe these fish can tolerate a wide pH range.

Also, I suggested the HOB solely for filtration and aeration, as these fish prefer minimal to no water movement. Filtration and water temperature are more important for keeping these in the long run.

Interesting. From the scientific articles I had found, I was under the impression they were from fast moving water. I'm glad to know that wasn't correct.

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

Yup, agree, I've collected these in pretty much standing water about waist deep - which I've today learned are called beels. As Balaji says, leafy plants Cabomba or Myriophyllum (my new favourite plant) are where they like to hang out.

Pics below of different sp.

HTH,

Jools

[bekateen]

Thanks!

Cheers,
Eric

[bekateen]

Today is a double day for me with regards to Erethistes. This afternoon, I'm scheduled to meet with Lowell Dunnaway to pick up 10

Erethistes hara

(assuming they're ID'd correctly from the local store). And this morning I arrived to work and discovered my first spawn of

Erethistes minusculus

! I see little fry swimming under the false floor, and some are hiding in the spawning mop and swimming over the cobblestones! YAY!

In the video below, one fry is momentarily visible at 0:06 as it falls from the mop to the rocks. A second fry is visible starting at 1:00 until the end of the video. This fry is swimming along a cobblestone face.

Cheers, Eric

Erethistes minusculus. My first spawn!

[bekateen]

Off that video, here's the best photo I could get. I'm a little concerned the parents will eat them, so I want to try and fish them out and separate them soon. Hopefully then, better photos to follow.

Cheers,
Eric

[bekateen]

Here's better photos of one of the fry, already over 5mm SL

[Jools]

Excellent work! I think @medaka is the only other that comes to mind (maybe @achim too) that has spawned these or congeners but before breeding logs being available on this site.

Cheers

Jools

[Shovelnose]

That sure was quick, they got randy in no time! Talks about the care provided. What are you feeding the adults and what's the tank temperature?

[bekateen]

Excellent work! I think @medaka is the only other that comes to mind (maybe @achim too) that has spawned these or congeners but before breeding logs being available on this site.

Cheers

Jools

Thanks Jools! Looking back through old posts, I see that @aquaholic also reported breeding E. jerdoni.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

That sure was quick, they got randy in no time! Talks about the care provided. What are you feeding the adults and what's the tank temperature?

Hi Balaji,

Thanks! I have six fish in a 38L tank. 73F (23C), pH6, 300 microSeimens. Sponge filter and an airstone for extra aeration (but mild water current). Sand substrate covers 2/3 of the tank; the rest is covered by a false floor. The false floor has big 6‐10mm gravel covering it, and on top of that is a dozen small (3‐7cm) cobblestones. Finally, also over the false floor are a terra cotta pot with planted Cryptocoryne, plus a large mass of Java moss around the outside of the pot, and a spawning mop.

Feeding is mostly frozen blood worms and frozen cyclops, about 5x per week.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

This morning I collected six more fry from the tank, mostly by shaking out the spawning mop and the mass of Java moss. There's still more fry loose in the parents' tank, but they're difficult to catch.

The parents were very active around the spawning mop last night, so I was hopeful for more eggs this morning, but it was not to be.

Cheers, Eric

[Achim]

Hi Eric, Jools,
hi guys,

dang Jools you awoke me from my slumber I think I last posted on PC like... 20 years ago?

Very nice Eric!

Yes, I bred E. minusculus and E. jerdoni, and I know from one guy in Germany that also bred what we call E. horai. What I call E. minusculus is what is exported from the same guys that export Akysis vespa, probably by smuggling them over the border to Thailand?
Triggering Erethistes spp. was easy at least in german climate, just remove the heater. They do very well at "room temperature" i.e. ~21°C and if the temperature oscillates around the year (~20-30°C), they will spawn at some point when temperature drops after a water change.
I always found the eggs in java moss or a spawning mob. Breeding E. minusculus and E. jerdoni is identical - except that E. jerdoni are in my experience easier to raise.
Some E. minusculus pics attached. I love how E. minusculus eggs look like little golden globes in the Javamoss - kinda like chrismas And the half grown are kinda "cute". In E. minusculus the eggs were hatching after 3 days @ ~23°C, they lost adherence and sank to the bottom. The "problem" with Erethistes spp. in my experience is feeding the youngsters. Artemia nauplii in my experience killed them (even without egg shells), although there are other experiences. When avoiding Artemia nauplii I was somewhat successful with E. minusculus, feeding microworms and very carefully small amounts of artificial food. If I'd try again I think I would try microworms, Turbatrix and maybe Paramecium in the beginning. E. jerdoni can be raised no problem when just avoiding Artemia nauplii the first weeks. I have a friend that bred larger amounts of A. jerdoni that way. He's the kind that never publishes anything and keeps and breeds "common" fish very successful just for himself. If you read this you know who you are I also know a member of the IG BSSW that got what we call E. horai to spawn, however he was not successful raising the spawn because they did not feed at all and starved to death.

Sorry for the potato photos - I took them over 20 years ago...

So... im really curious about your experience raising them Eric!!

All the best!

Achim

[bekateen]

Hi @Achim,

Thank you and thanks for the photos and extra information. By comparing your hatchling photos and hatching information, I conclude that my fish may have spawned about 7-10 days before I discovered the fry, as my fry look similar to your "week old" fry.

I now have about 20-25 fry in a fry box. As I mentioned earlier, I think they were still consuming yolk when I first found them, so I'll see how they do with food. They didn't show interest in live microworms on the first two days after I found them. I didn't check them yesterday but I'll be checking on them later today.

I will use live microworms initially and I've also started feeding hatchling Tatia and Amblydoras with frozen baby brine shrimp which I pulverize with a mortar and pestle to make the food pieces even smaller. I'll try that with the Erethistes also.

FWIW, I'm still trying to get my

Akysis prashadi

to spawn, but nothing yet.

Cheers, Eric

Update: upon arriving at work later today, I found one dead fry in the fry box, and I collected two more live fry from the spawning mop. I fed the fry fresh live microworms and pulverized frozen baby brine shrimp. Hopefully, if they're feeding, they'll eat this.

[medaka]

HI Eric

Again, congratulations on your spawning.
Can you guess who I really am?

[bekateen]

HI Eric

Again, congratulations on your spawning.
Can you guess who I really am?

Hi Adrian. Yes I sorted that a while ago. Thanks again for your advice.

Cheers, Eric

[medaka]

You did the spawning
Hope to see you again sometime.

[bekateen]

You did the spawning

LOL, technically, I think the fish did the spawning, but I'm happy to get credit for it.

Hope to see you again sometime.

Agreed! Maybe CSG 2026?

Cheers,
Eric

[medaka]

Hopefully Eric

[bekateen]

Here's one of the fry today, at least 6mm SL.