I recently acquired a pair of these fish from our fellow member jetajockey (thanks again Dave!) and just noticed fry the other day. Since I have to write a report of how I did it to get the BAP points from my aquarium club I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and post it here as well.
Elassoma gilberti is a small fish of the family Elassomatidae, which includes only 6 other species, gilberti being the most recently described. Maximum size is approx. 1 inch. Females, juveniles and sub dominant males are rather drab brown fish, but a dominant male is an amazing sight, black and electric blue. The fish is found in NW FL and SE GA in the lower reaches of the rivers which drain into the Gulf of Mexico. They're normally found in slow, vegetation choked waters, which gives a clue as to how to set them up. A dominant male claims a territory by coloring up, and any other males in visual range will avoid the dominant unless they're challenging for the territory. Their diet generally consists of small crustaceans, worms and insects found by foraging among leaf litter on the bottom.
I acclimated my pair into a 5 gal Fluval Edge. Since I was informed that the fish were collected in near blackwater conditions I mixed one part of my regular tap water (pH 7.4, TDS 200ppm) with three parts of RO water, and added a bit of tannin stained rainwater that I made by putting a bunch of oak leaves in the bucket. The substrate is a thin (1/4"-1/2" deep) layer of fine sand, with a deeper pile in one corner to allow Crypts and Pygmy Chain swords to root. Additionally I added a large double handful of Susswassertang to fill in some space, and some Riccia and Duckweed to help provide a bit of shade which makes the fish more comfortable and makes the dominant males color up even brighter. Filtration is an air driven sponge filter and no heater is used. Room temps have ranged from 68F to 80 F. Lighting is a dome reflector with a small power twist bulb of 9 or 10 watts.
Normal care has consisted of daily feedings of various live foods, mostly Grindal worms along with some daphnia and mosquito larvae. Water changes of 50% weekly have been performed with a 50/50 tap/RO mix. I do intend to acclimate them to my unadulterated tapwater, but the volumes involved are so small that the mixing really isn't a problem for me so far.
Within two weeks the male had begun the very distinctive courtship "dance" of the species, in which he flashes all of his fins while swimming up and down, followed by a pause in which he remains motionless momentarily before resuming. I have not actually witnessed the act of spawning, but the male lures the female into his territory and spawning occurs among the plants. Eggs take 3 or 4 days to hatch. I noticed the first fry by accident, and quickly realized that there were two distinct sizes so breeding had been occurring for some time. The fry hug the bottom, and seem to be doing very well on banana worms and occasional additions of the "critters" in the water of my daphnia buckets.
Well that's all i have for now, at least until the babies get big enough to move out. And yes, there will be pics shortly! But probably none of the fry until they get big enough for my camera to capture!
Elassoma gilberti is a small fish of the family Elassomatidae, which includes only 6 other species, gilberti being the most recently described. Maximum size is approx. 1 inch. Females, juveniles and sub dominant males are rather drab brown fish, but a dominant male is an amazing sight, black and electric blue. The fish is found in NW FL and SE GA in the lower reaches of the rivers which drain into the Gulf of Mexico. They're normally found in slow, vegetation choked waters, which gives a clue as to how to set them up. A dominant male claims a territory by coloring up, and any other males in visual range will avoid the dominant unless they're challenging for the territory. Their diet generally consists of small crustaceans, worms and insects found by foraging among leaf litter on the bottom.
I acclimated my pair into a 5 gal Fluval Edge. Since I was informed that the fish were collected in near blackwater conditions I mixed one part of my regular tap water (pH 7.4, TDS 200ppm) with three parts of RO water, and added a bit of tannin stained rainwater that I made by putting a bunch of oak leaves in the bucket. The substrate is a thin (1/4"-1/2" deep) layer of fine sand, with a deeper pile in one corner to allow Crypts and Pygmy Chain swords to root. Additionally I added a large double handful of Susswassertang to fill in some space, and some Riccia and Duckweed to help provide a bit of shade which makes the fish more comfortable and makes the dominant males color up even brighter. Filtration is an air driven sponge filter and no heater is used. Room temps have ranged from 68F to 80 F. Lighting is a dome reflector with a small power twist bulb of 9 or 10 watts.
Normal care has consisted of daily feedings of various live foods, mostly Grindal worms along with some daphnia and mosquito larvae. Water changes of 50% weekly have been performed with a 50/50 tap/RO mix. I do intend to acclimate them to my unadulterated tapwater, but the volumes involved are so small that the mixing really isn't a problem for me so far.
Within two weeks the male had begun the very distinctive courtship "dance" of the species, in which he flashes all of his fins while swimming up and down, followed by a pause in which he remains motionless momentarily before resuming. I have not actually witnessed the act of spawning, but the male lures the female into his territory and spawning occurs among the plants. Eggs take 3 or 4 days to hatch. I noticed the first fry by accident, and quickly realized that there were two distinct sizes so breeding had been occurring for some time. The fry hug the bottom, and seem to be doing very well on banana worms and occasional additions of the "critters" in the water of my daphnia buckets.
Well that's all i have for now, at least until the babies get big enough to move out. And yes, there will be pics shortly! But probably none of the fry until they get big enough for my camera to capture!
