HOME AQUARIUM




COMPLEX LORIKARIDIDES


For the last 10 to 15 years, great popularity among European aquarium lovers was given to the Loricariidae (the Loricariidae family), unfortunately, only a few species of this interesting family are found in our aquarists.
In Europe, the customer for catalogs and advertising brochures selects fish of interest to them and they are soon delivered to the store directly from the natural habitats. The catch of fish on orders are constantly working special firms. We still do not have such an opportunity.
But the specificity of foreign zootorgovli led to the fact that there fish are increasingly buying and less bred in their aquariums. At us - on the contrary, though about many lorikarijady know by hearsay, the certain experience of cultivation of some kinds already is. I want to tell about this.
First, we divide the known lorikariads into two groups. The first include the widespread Ancistrus dolichopterus, Dasyloricaria filamentosa, and also the fish that we call Loricaria parva (G. Pinter (1983) expresses doubts about its belonging to this species). This is quite simple in the content and breeding of the inhabitants of the aquarium.
The second group of loricariads is no longer so accessible to amateurs, mastering their content, let alone breeding requires a fairly high level of competence. These are more rare species of genera Panaque, Pterygoplichthys, Farlowella, Sturisoma. On the example of fish of the genus Sturisoma, let us consider the features of this group.
Two fundamental principles of keeping and breeding these fish are the abundance of high-calorie feeds and the availability of a sufficient amount of clean water. It is quite difficult to reconcile both principles, the first one creates difficulties in observing the second.
In nature, these catfishes belong to rheophilic fishes and prefer to live in a stream of water, in the channels of rivers and streams (catfish of the first group live both in flow and in standing water). To simulate the natural habitat of the spawning nest with a stool (one male and two or three females), no less than a 200-liter reservoir with a water flow is required. The flow is achieved by constant mechanical and biological water purification. A number of publications already describe systems of such purification, so I will not repeat, I will list only the components of the system: a settler for large suspended particles in water; Aerotank - a layer of soil through which leaks strongly aerated (before the formation of foam) water; A biofilter from which water is fed into a so-called dry biofilter. The device of the system does not seem simple, but only in this way it is possible to create something like a natural river with a constant renewal of water. Applying the usual aeration and filtration, we arrange the circulation of the same water in the aquarium.
If these conditions are met, each female will give 70 to 120 eggs in 21 to 23 days, from which larvae leave approximately in 8 days. Fish eggs are laid on snags, glass, inside or outside the pipe - in short, where the place will be chosen. The male always cares for the clutch.
First, the eggs have a greenish color. The female moves ahead and, periodically shuddering, lays eggs in a uniform layer. The male follows and impregnates it. Then he gets up "on watch" and zealously swings the clutch with fins, sometimes absent for a short while to eat.
Light green eggs gradually darken and by the time the larvae become almost black. If the masonry is in the light, the larvae exit is delayed, if accelerated in the dark.
After hatching the larvae, the male completely loses interest in the offspring. Neither he nor the female laying eggs, nor the other females from this nest show any interest in the larvae. And those, attached with a sticky substance, hang on the head everywhere. Of precaution, it is still better to catch them with a glass tube and place in a vessel with the same water and the same flow and cleaning system. In this reservoir of larvae, and then the fry will grow.
And here there will be a lot of problems, for overcoming which will require a lot of patience and diligence. At least for the beginning, this situation: starting feed - green algae overgrowth, and where they will take in a clean reservoir with a duct and a filter system? Hence, it is necessary to make plant food, and in sufficient quantities. And how is this combined with the purity of water? A little water will get dirty - and all the fry will fall to the bottom.
Let's glance at the "kitchen" of this subtle bio-production. The ratio of vegetable and animal feed is approximately 7: 3. Vegetable feeds - crushed scalded leaves of nettle, cabbage, dandelion, semolina (cooked less than a minute, then filtered), animal feed - plankton, meat, mollusks. Feeds are used only in crushed form (with the help of a mixer or, at worst, meat grinders). A. Kochetov, in his book "Decorative fish farming" (1991), given a recipe for effective food based on agaragar. They are made in the form of plates, similar to marmalade, and the fish give this food slices. So it is possible to resolve the contradiction noted above.
Experienced aquarists are now showing great interest in complex lorikarids. Even caviar was obtained from these fish. But here I successfully grow young ... I spent a lot of time before I worked on the biotechnology of growing it. I want to hope that this article will help someone at least partially avoid failures.


L. Farina Dnepropetrovsk Aquarium № 3, 1996