Chanda ranga: Trichopodus Leerii

Tuesday, 24 July 2012

Trichopodus Leerii

Easy. Bubblenester. The breeding tank should contain water of no more than 6-8″ in depth with lots of floating plants. Filtration should be gentle and air-powered filters are ideal. Condition the fish with live food. When the female becomes plump with eggs the male will construct a large bubblenest of up to 10″ diameter amongst the floating plants. He will then begin to display to the female. As the female approaches the nest the fish can be seen touching each other with their modified ventral fins. Spawning occurs under the nest in the typical anabantoid embrace. The eggs float upwards and the male shepherds them into the nest. Several more spawnings occur and between 200-300 eggs may be produced. When there are no more eggs the female is chased away. It is best to remove her at this point or she may be seriously harmed. The male then tends to the nest until the eggs hatch, usually in around 20-30 hours. The fry become free swimming in another 4-5 days, at which point the male should also be removed. They should be fed infusoria or liquid fry food for the first week, after which they are large enough to accept brine shrimp nauplii, microworm and powdered flake. The fry grow very slowly and care must be exercised when doing water changes as they are very susceptible to changes in water temperature for the first 3 months or so.