[Killietalk] Lampeyes - Procatopus aberrans required

["Allan Semeit" <azkillie at quixnet_net>]

Procatopus aberrans has been an easy killie to keep and spawn, at least for
me.  I keep them in unsoftened Phoenix water which is very hard (I forget
the measurements but remember it was 21 drops before the test vial changed
color).  They would probably do just fine if gradually introduced to softer
water.  The adults have been kept in 10-, 26-, and currently a 55-gallon
tank. I think the 10-gallon was fine and actually prefer that size, but I
had a good population and wanted to display them better. I guess a 5- or 5
1/2-gallon tank would work.  When I moved to AZ, I got rid of all my glass
tanks.  Since arriving, I have only bought 10-gallons).

The adults are fed baby brine shrimp and flake food (primarily Brine Shrimp
Direct Plankton and Spirlina flakes mixed with whatever else I have).
Because I tend to overfeed, I keep Ramshorn snails in the 10-gallon tank.
They are intended to remove the excess food.  Ramshorns and even Pond Snails
work fine as long as you don't allow them to multiply into large numbers.
They probably will get a few eggs, particularly if you use mops or plants as
a spawning substrate.  I think the trade-off of better water quality
probably offsets whatever eggs the snails might eat.  When using the foam,
if you have larger snails, they cannot get into the pores (the fish inject
their eggs fairly deeply into the foam).

When kept in the larger tanks, the Procatopus aberrans are frequently kept
with other non-killie fish species.  Because the Procatopus are relatively
small and nonaggressive, you need to chose and monitor the mix.  I like the
Julidochromis group as they primarily inhabit the lower levels while the
Procatopus stay near the surface.  My fish room averages about 80 degrees
during half the year (summer) and about 70 the other half.  With some fish,
I note a difference in spawning, but not for the Aberrans.  Most of my
killies appear to like the higher temps (as opposed to most killie lore).

Breeding is simple.  I use a clothes-pin to attach a piece of coarse filter
foam/sponge in the inside of the tank.  I found some discounted aquarium
foam filter strips that measured about 10" x 3" x 3/4".  The foam filter
material was off-white or a very light yellow.  It had large pores - bigger
than a pin head/smaller than a BB.  I don't think smaller pored material
would work as well. One of these strips of filter foam is extended
vertically into the water.  The adults inject their eggs into the holes in
the foam.

I have used mops with other Lampeyes.  Some species are not as attracted to
the foam as the Aberrans.  The other species I currently have are
Aplocheilichtys scheeli and Procatopus similis fry that I acquired that the
Southern California Killi Club Fish Fry.  The Scheeli seem to do better with
mops.

After a week or more (whenever I'm ready), I pull the the strip of foam out
of the adult tank and place it in a plastic shoebox.  The water level in the
shoe boxes is usually fairly high.  Even then, it is seldom over an 1 1/2
deep.  I throw in some larger Ramshorns and wait for the eggs to hatch.  As
with most fish, the more water you have, the easier it is to keep from
having something bad happen (the famous "margin of error").  With hard
water, keeping snails in the shoe boxes lets you know when the water is
going bad.  The snails die first.  That tells you it is time for a water
change. As the eggs were laid over time, some fry hatch right away and some
may take a week or more.  The newly-hatched fry are fed baby brine shrimp
(occasionally I have green water and am now keeping vinegar eels which
should work nicely too).  Later, they are fed baby brine shrimp only until
they graduate into larger quarters.  The shoe box may or may not have some
Java Moss.  There is no filter, but I may place an air-stem at one end if
the shoebox is located near an outlet.

How long I keep fish in shoe boxes depends upon many factors, but the
primary one is space availability.  The fry can grow to adult size in the
shoebox, depending upon their numbers.  If there is a large hatch, they get
moved to sweater or blanket boxes as needed. If there is a small hatch and
there isn't anything larger available, they stay in the shoe box.  I have
four Aberrans, about one-inch long, that are still in the same shoe box
since hatching.  No filter, no air stem, and just fed baby brine shrimp.

As an aside, you will find fry swimming in the parent's tank from time to
time, but they disappear shortly.  I have not observed it, but believe the
adults will predate the fry.

So, if you are looking for a Lampeye, try Procatopus aberrans...






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