Hi fellow Marble enthusiasts out there.Not so long ago i mentioned in a thread that the recent wave of Marbles to come out of Colombia were very different to the ones in previous years gone by,they are indeed very different to my AAA strain most of you are familiar with.
What are the differences? Well for a start most if not all these Marbles are giving birth at no more than 30cm disc,sometimes even smaller,these pups are far smaller than say my Marbles when they are born,half the size from what iv'e seen,males have fully develpoed claspers at sizes betweem 20 and 23cm.We imported some of these rays a couple of years ago and a couple of the females arrived already gravid,infact due to give birth,as i remember there were 3 pups from one female,one was still born the other two thrived,they were fully developed at no more than 10cm disc,no yolk sac was present on either of them.
The patterns are completely different too,iv'e posted a few pics for comparisons,iv'e incorporated a pic of my AAA pups,the pups from my 12+ year old pair.
As with all Marbles theres some that have patterns better than others and these are no exception,these new Marbles pictured are fish iv'e collected over the last 3 years,they are what i would describe as top quality but to be fair iv'e seen examples on this forum that are equal to them.
The thing is,if these Marbles really are a smaller strain and it seems that way to me then more people will be able to provide them with what they require for a long and happy life in captivity.
It would be good to hear other peoples experiences on this matter,the last time i mentioned it i got a very possitive response from other members that had noticed these traits.
Here's my pair,checkout the very different patterns between my long standing Marbles and this current crop.
All the best to you all.
Richard.
What are the differences? Well for a start most if not all these Marbles are giving birth at no more than 30cm disc,sometimes even smaller,these pups are far smaller than say my Marbles when they are born,half the size from what iv'e seen,males have fully develpoed claspers at sizes betweem 20 and 23cm.We imported some of these rays a couple of years ago and a couple of the females arrived already gravid,infact due to give birth,as i remember there were 3 pups from one female,one was still born the other two thrived,they were fully developed at no more than 10cm disc,no yolk sac was present on either of them.
The patterns are completely different too,iv'e posted a few pics for comparisons,iv'e incorporated a pic of my AAA pups,the pups from my 12+ year old pair.
As with all Marbles theres some that have patterns better than others and these are no exception,these new Marbles pictured are fish iv'e collected over the last 3 years,they are what i would describe as top quality but to be fair iv'e seen examples on this forum that are equal to them.
The thing is,if these Marbles really are a smaller strain and it seems that way to me then more people will be able to provide them with what they require for a long and happy life in captivity.
It would be good to hear other peoples experiences on this matter,the last time i mentioned it i got a very possitive response from other members that had noticed these traits.
Here's my pair,checkout the very different patterns between my long standing Marbles and this current crop.
All the best to you all.
Richard.