Thet pleuro looks great ! So do those Auranti of course ! I actually saw your Auranti video yesterday in a random google search I saw the still shot in the search and thought damn that guys Auranti are some of the nicest I've seen so I clicked to see who owned them and discovered they were yours!
Thanks devon, you have no idea how nice it is to hear that from you man
My pleuro tank needs work if i want them to breed but from what ive read, it's pretty tough breeding pleuros so i don't plan on making that a priority. Also i want to get some nice driftwood center pieces so I'll be spending time on my 160 then.
With regards to aurantis, how have your other auranti fry turned out and how are the pair now? I'd be quite interested in seeing what the fry's development was like under different diets and conditions; especially if you had other buyers post their progress.
Something that's been concerning me lately is their diet. On adult wildcaught aurantis, I've noticed their heads are always really nice, round, and smooth. Almost like a polished river stone.
versus... the rumply growth looking head.
Do you think this is based on diet or water quality? My aurantis have fairly "smooth" heads, but it's not even remotely close to how round, smooth, and full wild caught aurantis are. I've tried to control all the variables in my tank to get them to grow exactly like the wild. Everything else has been going great, i just cant get them to grow that nice full round scalp... At the moment, i suspect that it's an issue regarding diet. I think in the wild they eat lots of insects that provide different nutrients, vitamins, and amino acids. I'd also like to help them grow their fins out longer, and while i dont have any concerns with fin length yet, i have seen specimens with incredibly trailing fins
In this specimen for example, the fins are nearly as wide as the body. DO you know if this fin length is something they grow out gradually? Does this happen as they reach maturity? Is it diet related like i suspect the scalp conditions to be? What are your thoughts on this?
I've also found that Aurantimaculatas are pretty sensitive to light. Normally I leave the lights off until i come home from my day, but a few days ago I decided to leave my light on while I was out. I came home after an 8 hour day to my female completely shredded and missing scales on her head, so I have them separated again for now. Do you ever notice fighting between your pair? My pair seems completely docile when i leave the lights off, but when I have it on for over 4-5 hours they start getting really grumpy and nasty towards each other. The lighting setup is only 1.5 WPG (120 gallon tank).
Thanks everyone for the kind words!
Also, would anyone from india able to give me a name or word i can use to search for channa aurantimaculata on google? I want to do some research, but seeing as the fish is an native to india, i might be able to find more info on the species in the languages native to india.