Tom's Paro stuff.

[BigTom]

Hi all,

After spending a while breeding loaches and cyprinids in my nanos they'd all become pretty neglected and run down, so I am turning them over to Parosphromenus.

The first tank is now up and running. It has a false back made from coarse foam which acts as a mattenfilter, substrate for riparium plants, potential moss wall (if I ever get around to planting it) and also perhaps a refugium for any fry - I have included small holes into the space behind big enough for fry but too small for adults.

There are 4 young and currently unidentified Paros from my local shop. I think 2 males, 1 female and the smallest I am not sure about.

The males are currently showing turquoise edges, a turquoise dorsal ribbon and red/brown central patch on the caudal -

Whilst the female(?) exhibits a brown coloured dorsal band and little visible edging -

So that's it for now. I am hoping for some parvulus and perhaps opallios for the other two tanks, but my import is currently delayed until next month.

 

[NanoJames]

Very nice Tom, I would love a tank like this in my room!

 

[darren636]

oooooh Yes.
Tom, another must follow journal.
These paros are in danger of becoming irresistible. I assume there is a lot of fuss about type locations and pure species?

 

[BigTom]

Very nice Tom, I would love a tank like this in my room!

The three of them are right next to my desk - going to be a terrible distraction when they're all done!

oooooh Yes.
Tom, another must follow journal.
These paros are in danger of becoming irresistible. I assume there is a lot of fuss about type locations and pure species?

There is huge confusion about a number of forms. A lot of the 'generic' imports you find in LFS tend to be from bintan-like species such as this which can be extremely difficult to tell apart without location info. I'd thoroughly recommend not doing what I've done here, ignoring LFS fish and getting known species from a decent importer.

Just got a couple of slightly better shots of the colours of the males in an aggressive mood after feeding -

 

[darren636]

Luckily, in 3 years and dozens of shops, I have never seen a paro. I've seen chocos twice.

 

[Lee Sweeting]

Brilliant Tom, i've been waiting to see this . The tank is looking great, i love the scape.

 

[GlenFish]

Nice tank, like the foam wall idea might have to copy that! Cracking fish can't recall ever seeing these in any shops.......

 

[Alastair]

Looking good mate. Hope they breed for you. They look similar to 5 I have in my big tank that im not 100 percent on identification

 

[Lee Sweeting]

Tom! Just out of interest what foods are you feeding?

 

[BigTom]

Tom! Just out of interest what foods are you feeding?

Mainly micro worms, black worms, Daphnia and a few Hyallela and Asellus.

 

[Phil Edwards]

What a really cool little tank. Those little labyrinth fish are awesome. I could see myself spending far too much money collecting them.

 

[tim]

Superb Tom, only ever seen Paros once in my lfs nearly bought them, thankfully read a post by you about the Paros project and conservation issues and knew I couldn't provide the correct environment for them, one day though.

 

[ourmanflint]

Nice Tom. My AquaNano 30 has a rear compartment for filtration etc and I was going to do the same with back wall ie moss wall or fern wall! The Paros you have do look like normal deissneri to me, used to have some exactly the same, but I'm no expert.

Cheers

 

[BigTom]

Nice Tom. My AquaNano 30 has a rear compartment for filtration etc and I was going to do the same with back wall ie moss wall or fern wall! The Paros you have do look like normal deissneri to me, used to have some exactly the same, but I'm no expert.

Cheers

Moss wall is a great idea for these guys I think, they're already spending a lot of time grazing on it and it's barely planted.

They're definitely not dessneri, around which there is much confusion with importers. True dessneri have apparently only ever been imported to Europe a couple of times, and are easily identified as they have a small filament on the caudal fin. But many importers continue importing fish under that name when they don't know or don't care where their fish came from.

deissneri

 

[ourmanflint]

Moss wall is a great idea for these guys I think, they're already spending a lot of time grazing on it and it's barely planted.

They're definitely not dessneri, around which there is much confusion with importers. True dessneri have apparently only ever been imported to Europe a couple of times, and are easily identified as they have a small filament on the caudal fin. But many importers continue importing fish under that name when they don't know or don't care where their fish came from.

deissneri

Yup! That's probably what happened, got them from Tachbrook tropicals, seemed to know his stuff, but relying on exporters being accurate in what they are selling.

 

[Edvet]

- I have included small holes into the space behind big enough for fry but too small for adults

Uhh how do you mean that?

I agree those black mattenfilters are very nice in these smaller tanks. Did you use anything to hold it in place?
Nice tank btw, what size is it.
Which riparium plant is that?
How did you fix it in?
Paro's dont jump?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Paro's dont jump?

Definitely don't seem to. I've never seen them come to the surface at all (which is strange for an Anabantoid), and I've kept them for 2 years in a tank where the "lid" is a piece of acrylic that only covers 3/4 of the tank.

cheers Darrel

 

[BigTom]

Yeah I've always kept them in open tanks. They only come to the surface to collect air for their rudimentary bubble nests.

The foam is just wedged in, no need for any attachments.

Tank is 25l (perhaps slightly small for two adult pairs but will do for now).

The plant is Poacaea sp 'purple bamboo' although that's probably a bogus classification. It's just wedged in the back.

I cut up the tube from a pen and pushed the bits into the foam to create 'fry corridors'. There's about 2 inches of space behind the foam.

 

[stu_]

Brilliant stuff, Tom.
Yet another reason for me to move to Devon/Cornwall, soft water.

 

[Gill]

Have kept these in the past many years ago. A trick I use for these that i saw somewhere, is to use empty 35mm film canisters for them the make bubble nests in.
Nice and cheap to order online. And you used to be able to buy these little terracota urns in packs, they like to use them aswell.