Hi good people. Just starting a thread to find out if anyone managed any successes in preserving the colours of mahseer fishes in captivity? The objective isn't so much on identifying the species, which is extremely difficult, but more to a care guide to share on how best to maintain the colours and shine of these magnificent, breathtaking fishes similar to those we see from angling magazines/pictures.
Looking at the diversity of Mahseer species, I believe I just had my toenails in, not even my toes yet. I wanted to start mahseer collection, and the more I read about them, the more engrossed I am to their beauty.
There seem to be acute lack of guide on how to bring out the best colours in these fishes. I'll start of with mine. Being new to this species, I'm sure I cannot be doing everything right. If I am that lucky, my time should be better spent in buying lotteries and in casinos (post global lockdown). I started off with a Tor Tambra (Malaysian red Mahseer), with plans for a couple of Tor/Neolissochilus Stracheyi, Tor Putitora (maybe 1 or 2), Neolissochilus Benasi & I'll leave room for some Tor that I find difficult to pronounce myself. I hope this won't be a how big should the tank be discussion, as the objective is more biased for colour preservation. Let's just assume that we can get them in environments that will not stress them to focus on just factors that affect their coloration such as need for sunlight, special food, etc. I was told the Malaysian red mahseer needs decent sunlight. For a start, my tank does get 3-4 hours combined sunlight. And at night, I leave one side of the tank on with tanning light originally meant for an Asian arowana that has since moved to another new tank. Been seeing the current solo Tor Tambra sleeping mostly at the lit side and at times at the unlit part of the tank at random without any detectable pattern. At day, it shows a splendid golden shine while at night, deep wine red. I'm not sure what's ideal, but looks good enough to me ?
I haven't tried any plants as food and maybe I should start to experiment with plants especially wild figs, a fruit they are known to eat in the wild. In angling pictures, a nice specimen may look like this
In my quest to get a beautiful looking Thai blue mahseer (Neolissochilus Stracheyi), I have been observing angling videos. It's not a firm note, but it does seem to happen frequent enough to merit a pattern where in the wild, they appear golden when it is fished from rivers that is open with little canopy cover and light substrate. Where it appears darker when fished from rivers with darker substrate and/or well shaded with canopy above the river. Sellers also mentioned that a community tank of Tor Tambra and Stracheyi may not be ideal as the Tambra will need more light and not too dark substrate, while the Stracheyi will look better with much less sunlight and darker background and substrate, which is the reason I chose Stracheyi to be the star of my collection to be since the background is mostly black, ideal for Stracheyi.
I am not sure if it's just me, or I too see a similar pattern in Tor Putitora as in a clearer river does have a more metallic golden mahseer to be fished out from and a more murky one an angler may find one that looks like a bar of gold at the other end of the line. Which would seem perfectly normal for fishes to ambush prey or probably to avoid predation.
I would love to hear any stories where the keeper manages to maintain their magnificent colouration in captivity and the way they do it....
Looking at the diversity of Mahseer species, I believe I just had my toenails in, not even my toes yet. I wanted to start mahseer collection, and the more I read about them, the more engrossed I am to their beauty.
There seem to be acute lack of guide on how to bring out the best colours in these fishes. I'll start of with mine. Being new to this species, I'm sure I cannot be doing everything right. If I am that lucky, my time should be better spent in buying lotteries and in casinos (post global lockdown). I started off with a Tor Tambra (Malaysian red Mahseer), with plans for a couple of Tor/Neolissochilus Stracheyi, Tor Putitora (maybe 1 or 2), Neolissochilus Benasi & I'll leave room for some Tor that I find difficult to pronounce myself. I hope this won't be a how big should the tank be discussion, as the objective is more biased for colour preservation. Let's just assume that we can get them in environments that will not stress them to focus on just factors that affect their coloration such as need for sunlight, special food, etc. I was told the Malaysian red mahseer needs decent sunlight. For a start, my tank does get 3-4 hours combined sunlight. And at night, I leave one side of the tank on with tanning light originally meant for an Asian arowana that has since moved to another new tank. Been seeing the current solo Tor Tambra sleeping mostly at the lit side and at times at the unlit part of the tank at random without any detectable pattern. At day, it shows a splendid golden shine while at night, deep wine red. I'm not sure what's ideal, but looks good enough to me ?
I haven't tried any plants as food and maybe I should start to experiment with plants especially wild figs, a fruit they are known to eat in the wild. In angling pictures, a nice specimen may look like this
In my quest to get a beautiful looking Thai blue mahseer (Neolissochilus Stracheyi), I have been observing angling videos. It's not a firm note, but it does seem to happen frequent enough to merit a pattern where in the wild, they appear golden when it is fished from rivers that is open with little canopy cover and light substrate. Where it appears darker when fished from rivers with darker substrate and/or well shaded with canopy above the river. Sellers also mentioned that a community tank of Tor Tambra and Stracheyi may not be ideal as the Tambra will need more light and not too dark substrate, while the Stracheyi will look better with much less sunlight and darker background and substrate, which is the reason I chose Stracheyi to be the star of my collection to be since the background is mostly black, ideal for Stracheyi.
I am not sure if it's just me, or I too see a similar pattern in Tor Putitora as in a clearer river does have a more metallic golden mahseer to be fished out from and a more murky one an angler may find one that looks like a bar of gold at the other end of the line. Which would seem perfectly normal for fishes to ambush prey or probably to avoid predation.
I would love to hear any stories where the keeper manages to maintain their magnificent colouration in captivity and the way they do it....
