Belonesox belizanus

[liquidlizard]

Just wanted to share a few quick pics of our pair of Belonesox and a few of their fry. Picked them up from the LFS about 2 weeks ago, being sold as "halfbeaks". The female dropped 26 babies a week ago (26 that we found/saved, anyway....)
They babies started off eating newborn mollies/guppies, but I was able to get them all onto non-live food by their second or third day. Now they all swarm up to the front of the tank to beg for food everytime I walk past
Nearly all of the babies have made it this far--there has been little or no cannibalism. They were born at about 1/2", and are now over an inch.
Looks like the female is gravid again already...

 

[Lizardking]

Nice mini-monsters.

 

[smpage]

I can't help but pronounce belonesox like baloney socks. makes me giggle every time. Beautiful fish!

 

[Noddy]

I can't help but pronounce belonesox like baloney socks. makes me giggle every time. Beautiful fish!

I bought some Panchax for the lil tank a while ago and really like them.
Was looking at Belonesox for the big tank, then Boulengerella, and ended up with a spotted gar....

It's nice, if you don't see the surroundings, your fish looks like a 3' pike!

 

[cockroach]

Those are saweet. Any full tank shots?

 

[liquidlizard]

Thanks everyone...glad you like them!
Heh heh, baloney socks
I am working on aquascaping the tank they are in, and when I get it finished I will take some full tank shots. An upgrade to a bigger tank is also in the works.
These fish are some of the coolest I have ever had--they are true monsters in attitude if not in size

 

[liquidlizard]

Also, just wondering, has anyone else seen any other male belonesox that are brightly colored like mine? All the pics and descriptions of them that I have found online show both genders as being grey/brown. I remember reading somewhere that males can show some golden highlights during courtship. But when my male is displaying, he lights up like a sunset fire platy (a giant, murderous, toothy platy )
So from what I have found this sounds like an unusual coloration. It will be interesting to see what the babies turn out like as they mature...give them a couple generations of line-breeding, and who knows what might happen

 

[chonhzilla]

AWESOME!!!!

 

[DiXoN]

they are fantastic, i've looked for these for ages and the only time they come up i end up missing them.
nice find.

 

[wonword]

Also, just wondering, has anyone else seen any other male belonesox that are brightly colored like mine? All the pics and descriptions of them that I have found online show both genders as being grey/brown. I remember reading somewhere that males can show some golden highlights during courtship. But when my male is displaying, he lights up like a sunset fire platy (a giant, murderous, toothy platy )
So from what I have found this sounds like an unusual coloration. It will be interesting to see what the babies turn out like as they mature...give them a couple generations of line-breeding, and who knows what might happen

My male was fairly bright orange too! How the heck did you get the young on non-live food though? I had only one of my many babies go off live food, and got the female on market shrimp. What do you feed the fry?