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Fish ID Please - Sold as Boraras Briggitae but think it's Boraras Merah

Joined
12 Jan 2017
Messages
124
Location
Auld Reekie
Hope everyone is full of the Friday goodness,

I've been reading a wee bit about Boraras species (a nice wee article in PFK http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/articles/boraras-marvels-in-miniature- apologies if links not allowed I'll remove if its the case) and now I'm not sure which I've got. I bought them at "FK" here in Edinburgh where they were labelled as Briggitae but now after reading I beginning to think I've got Merah.

I am wanting to up my numbers of these wee beauties as I think they're amazing entertainers, bold as brass nosey/friendly so want to keep to the same species.

I had noticed in one of the many Youtube videos - Dennis Wong has a boraras species aquarium where there appears to be a few different kinds - what I'm wondering is if you mixed say briggitae and merah would they breed (not sure if hybridise is the correct term).

Any experience info would be gratefully appreciated.

Muchos grassy ass :)

P.S. apologies for the pic quality and algae -

upload_2017-4-28_10-40-13.png


ETA removed double picture
 
I think Nelson is right although the 2 species are frequently caught together, shipped and sold under the name brigittae. I have a mix in my tank and the Merah have a much more isolated spot or oval on the body.

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That's very interesting...they maybe merah or a hybrid, apparently they hybridise quite readily. The pics in the sites linked by Neil may have been added in good faith but may not be B. briggitae. It happens all the time in taxomony...species can get confused, assigned and reassigned as ID methods improve (genetics) or more different species of similar groups are found etc.
 
From Nelsons Link - Seriously fish.. Notes.

B. merah is also similar-looking but it lacks colour in much of the body with the red pigmentation tending to be concentrated around the dark body markings which do not usually form an unbroken stripe. Striped male individuals do exist, however, and this has led to speculation that B. brigittae and B. merah are the same species (Körner, 2010). The same author also reported that in an ‘eastern’ population (from the area around Banjarmasin?) both sexes develop a striped pattern before maturity, while in the ‘central’ population (Palangkaraya, where fish are collected for the aquarium trade) only males develop the striped colour pattern, and only when sexually mature. Kottelat (2013) argued that the different ontogenies in colour pattern, and presumed geographical distribution of these two populations, supports the existence of two species, whilst also noting that Palankaraya is not close to the type locality of B. merah; the Sungei Jelai Bila river basin in Kalimantan Tengah, much further west.

So even Ichthyologist ar yet not consistant in their findings about what is what between the 2? Who else knows?? No reports further about anatomical differences like different numbers of fin rays etc, not yet investigated or simply not present, i do not know.. So if all that is simular and these species are only identiefied by colormarkings than that bold red line probably will be the final conclusion after all. :)
 
Folks,

thank you all so much for replying,

Lindy, do you notice any difference in colouring between B&M when together? I'm not sure I have a preference tbh although the brigittae do seem to be noted for being more colourful where I'm reading but as always beware what I read, believe what I see - fecking super glue magical maybe for the nimble fingered but for these ten thumbed sausages -nul points

All the best
 
Coloring is very depended on light color above the tank, plant setup and diet. I do not have the Mera not the Briggitae, but the Maculatus. These where extremely light faint pink colored when i got them. The color they mainly have also on pictures on the net. But after a while feeding life food, keeping the lights dim and provide floating cover they all colored up much darker pink with, a grey shaded ridge on the back, a sprankling white belly and a shiny almost red stripe on the dorsal fin.

I have 5 spotlights above the tank with 3 different colors, 1x 4500K left, 3x 6500K in the middle and 1x 2700K at the right i see the boraras color also change while swimming from left to right under it. :)

On camera this is about impossible to record the fishes real time color.. This all depends on exposure and white balance settings etc.

So all you read and see on the net is very depended on several different factors and setups.

Here are some very nice high resolution pictures of different Boraras sp. You maybe could use as reference.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/petermaguire/sets/72157629485445506/
 
Marcel,

Many thanks for taking the time to answer - I have to look at my notification settings as I've somehow mucked up getting informed when posts are made hence delay :) apologies

Yeah your thread about how you set up the spots is a thread I visit almost daily at the minute so thanks for the info its gold :) I'm not technically minded my working background being admin but I've gathered enough confidence/experience fudging through homebrew STC1000 builds to feel I can just about handle the task. I find my mind throws up too many irrelevant questions and I get bogged down by stuff like can you run different powered LED units e.g a 10w and a 30w unit with a 40w driver - why doesn't it fry both the units since neither are 40w - stuff like that makes me go back to hinterfield and the chihiros looks like a hassle free example. But the real reason for my interest is the TC420 and its functionality.

As for your well made point about lighting above I'm learning that too - the rgb LEDs colour rendition differ even although they're technically the same unit and the fleabay cob I've got in an Ikea floor spot although 6500k is pretty yucky - reminds me of old sodium street lights. I run them on timers so was only when the yucky light goes off the reds really begin to pop - even then with my Chilis there's always the colour difference between males and females too. But Lindy said she had mixture of boras in her tank so wondered when viewed together the colourings stood out. But you're right there's a gazillion other factors in seeing that red pop.

All the best

PS beautiful photos - man I love my boraras :)
 
Thank you too.. :)
can you run different powered LED units e.g a 10w and a 30w unit with a 40w driver - why doesn't it fry both the units since neither are 40w

Well depends on the leds. :) assume you do not need a constant current driver. Which is the case with regular leds, like led strips and ikea bulbs etc. Than the wattage stands for power consumption per hour, example 30 watt. Then you need at least a power supply able to provide 30 watt. You could hook a 30 watt lamp to a 100 watt power supply, the lamp will still only use 30 watt.. So you could connect 2 x 40 watt extra to that power supply.

The lamp uses the power supply delivers what is asked.. :)

But it doesn't work the other way around. Of you would have a Power supply which max can give 30 watt and you hook 100 watt lamps to it. Than you are over powering the PSU in this one will get hot and stop working.
 
Marcel,

That is extremely reassuring to know and makes me less worried about buying stuff to play with only to fry it before getting any goodness.

I was looking again at my ikea spot and sodium is not the correct description - yucky still fits but when supplemented it looks alright, sodium's yellow/orange where as this well in case you hadn't gathered I'm not great at descriptions is washed out - kind of how red looks in the twilight hours.

Right where's my coffee :)
 
Folks,

thank you all so much for replying,

Lindy, do you notice any difference in colouring between B&M when together? I'm not sure I have a preference tbh although the brigittae do seem to be noted for being more colourful where I'm reading but as always beware what I read, believe what I see - fecking super glue magical maybe for the nimble fingered but for these ten thumbed sausages -nul points

All the best
The Merah tend to be a pale orange but I do have some that are a vivid red. I'd stuck with the brigittae for best colour.

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