Help with T.musaica Biotype

[bekateen]

I love hatchet fish. Had three for several years. Be careful though, they can be jumpers! You'll need a good full hood to keep them in if yours decide to jump. One of my son's favorite pastimes was collecting katydid nymphs in the garden and throwing them live into the tank, live and watching the hatchets do their stuff.

Is your Tatia a top-feeder? I thought some wood cats are. If so, will they compete well with the hatchets for food?

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I had concerns about those fish as well and have decided best to go with a characin- I'm thinking Carnegiella strigata because it is from the Orinico, Dwell at the top so they will not bother the Dicrossus but still act as dithers. There dietary needs are very similar to the that of the Tatia so they seem to fit perfectly. Luckily there are a couple dart frog breeders up here so hopefully sourcing those magnolia leaves will not be to much trouble.

I like Carniegella strigata as well, I've kept them as a dither for Dicrossus maculatus, and it was a good combination.

If you have some frog breeders locally I'd definitely get a "vestigial winged" Drosophila culture for both Tatia and Hatchets. I've always had the smaller Drosophila melanogaster, but the Tatia may be able to deal with D. hydei.

I love hatchet fish. Had three for several years. Be careful though, they can be jumpers! You'll need a good full hood to keep them in if yours decide to jump. Is your Tatia a top-feeder? I thought some wood cats are. If so, will they compete well with the hatchets for food?

Even with a hood they tend to get a bit excited at feeding time and can jump out.

I was assuming that Tatia musaica was a surface feeder, hopefully Jools, Yann or Racoll? will be able to give a more informed answer. If they are a surface feeder I don't think competition from the Hatchets will be a problem if you feed some of the Fruit flies, Mosquito larvae etc just before lights out.

I'm not sure what the weather is like in Novia Scotia, but in the UK I ranch Mosquito larvae, Blood-worms and Daphnia in buckets outside during the summer. Details are here <http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-adva ... eding.html>.

cheers Darrel

[catfishchaos]

I believe they are surface feeders (I thought Racoll said something about that earlier describing how he caught them). I'm aware of that hatchets jump, luckily the tank is full covered! The only issue is the filter is a hang-on (FLuval C3) so there will be a small gap where I punch out the lid. I'll have to think of a way to cover that up. I might just Epoxy the punch out on top of the lid so it hangs over the filters output- minimizing the gap.

[bekateen]

I had my hatchets in an Aqueon 36gal bowfront with a full hood and I too had the HOB filter area punched out. There was an (approx) 1 inch gap between the HOB and the hood. As mentioned by Darrel, mine would sometimes leap out of the water during feeding. But fortunately, in the three years I owned my hatchets, they never did leap all the way out of the tank.

Besides flake foods, we fed our hatchets live tubifex worms and freeze-dried daphnia. I don't know if Tatia would like those foods. We would also go out in our garden and collect the smallest katydid nymphs we could find; the hatchets loved those!

Cheers, Eric

[catfishchaos]

Good to know yours haven't abandoned ship bekateen, with you reassurance I think I'll hold off on any modifications unless I get any "Flying fish". I will not be using any bugs I find in my gardens just because my family and all of our neighbours use so many fertilizers and pesticides for my liking, However I'll be sure to put out a bucket of water for Mosquito larvae, I'll be sure to look into that as it sounds like a great way to get food that everybody would enjoy!

[The.Dark.One]

Ive recently described a new subgenus for this fish and the article has pictures of true musaica, both sexes, as well as adult both sexes of the one called Ninja in the trade.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 14&t=42045

[Orinocensis1]

Musaica are not surface feeders they are bottom feeders atleast my guys are lol. The worms drop to the bottom and start attacking them like sharks, it's a great sight to see!

[racoll]

Musaica are not surface feeders they are bottom feeders atleast my guys are lol. The worms drop to the bottom and start attacking them like sharks, it's a great sight to see!

All

Tatia

and

Centromochlus

, as far as I know, are surface feeders primarily, but I am sure they are opportunistic enough to pick things up off the bottom. Why not try Darrel's excellent idea and get hold of some "vestigial winged" Drosophila to feed them on the surface with?

[catfishchaos]

So for characins Im thinking the Carnegiella strigata to cover top water but for mid water level dithers I was thinking about Paracheirodon simulans but adding this fish has two outcomes: A darting blue that complements the Dicrosuss, Or a gross amount of blue that dominates the tank- thoughts anybody?

[dw1305]

Hi all,

but for mid water level dithers I was thinking about Paracheirodon simulans

I like

Paracheirodon simulans

, but I wouldn't have a mid-water tetra at all, the main problem would be that "black-water" fish are usually extremely opportunistic feeders. Even a small tetra like a Green Neon will pick off

Dicrossus

fry.

If you have a reasonable amount of cover, and the Tetra feel secure, they will disperse among the vegetation and dead leaves to hunt for edible items.

I've never kept a

Tatia

or

Centromochlus

, but I would imagine that their fry would be similarly vulnerable.

cheers Darrel

[racoll]

Remember that P. simulans requires super-hot water, and may not thrive below 30C. In nature it is found up to 35C!

[catfishchaos]

Hmm I forgot about how crazy those are... I think I'll skip the tetras and stick with the hatchets for dithers. I was thing about a temp of about 28-30 does that seem about right? also I know the Dicrossus and the hatchets do not care for much water movement and given the extreme temp, am I going to need to run an air pump? I'm probably gonna switch out the filter the tank comes with to a nice canistar, would that be enough? If you guys think corydoras would be ok, I was thinking a group of 6-8

Corydoras habrosus

to round things up bringing the total stock list to:

7 C.strigata

4 D.filamentosus (ideally 1 male 3 females)

6-8

Corydoras habrosus

5-6

Tatia musaica

And thats a full tank!

[bekateen]

Remember that P. simulans requires super-hot water, and may not thrive below 30C. In nature it is found up to 35C!

Hmmm. Aquatic Republic has P. simulans at "23.0-27.0°C". That's not even close to above 30°C.

[catfishchaos]

I also need to pick an Otocinclus species for bit of a clean up crew. species I know I can get are Otocinclus hoeppi and Otocinclus affinis, Im sure I could also get O.vitatta.

[Orinocensis1]

Anyone have any information on how this species spawns? Racoll, you have any info? ;)