Copella (?) id?

[Apistomaster]

Yours are looking more like C. compta as shown on Tom's web page.
Mine were more like C. eigenmenni or C. nigrofasciata.
Your Copella grew to become quite pretty.

 

[Mazan]

Yours are looking more like C. compta as shown on Tom's web page.
Mine were more like C. eigenmenni or C. nigrofasciata.
Your Copella grew to become quite pretty.

Yes, they look really good now, and I agree they look most like the C. compta on Tom's page.

 

[Mazan]

I have just noticed today that there are a few fry in the tank, already about 1cm long.

 

[rasmusW]

Congrats on the fry.

-r

 

[Mazan]

Here are some new photos of my Copella, I am not exactly sure how many I have now, but more than 20!

!

 

[rr16]

A while back Tom told me these were C. compta. Since this time I have bred different batches on several occasions. Now the Marinho revision has me unsure as to whether they are C. compta or C. eigenmanni. I tried doing a scale count on a dead male and it seems to fit with the latter, however, I am not trained to do scale counts and could have been doing it incorrectly. Either way, they are stunning fish and you should have no problem getting fry in a heavily planted tank (if the plants are close to the surface). Alternatively, if you remove the eggs to a tub or small tank, you should get more fry but you will need Paramecium for at least the first week or two as they have small mouths to start with. Some of these in the video are ones that I raised and the males are sparring quite a bit but currently no eggs that I can see. I had a hyper aggressive female who was attacking my cardinals and her mate (the dead one from the scale count) who currently resides with a pair of Crenuchus spilurus. I produced a powerpoint on breeding them years back but not quite sure where it is these days.

 

[rr16]

A while back Tom told me these were C. compta. Since this time I have bred different batches on several occasions. Now the Marinho revision has me unsure as to whether they are C. compta or C. eigenmanni. I tried doing a scale count on a dead male and it seems to fit with the latter, however, I am not trained to do scale counts and could have been doing it incorrectly. Either way, they are stunning fish and you should have no problem getting fry in a heavily planted tank (if the plants are close to the surface). Alternatively, if you remove the eggs to a tub or small tank, you should get more fry but you will need Paramecium for at least the first week or two as they have small mouths to start with. Some of these in the video are ones that I raised and the males are sparring quite a bit but currently no eggs that I can see. I had a hyper aggressive female who was attacking my cardinals and her mate (the dead one from the scale count) who currently resides with a pair of Crenuchus spilurus. I produced a powerpoint on breeding them years back but not quite sure where it is these days.

 

[rr16]

I tried posting a video but it's not an allowed file type. Will get some pictures at some point.

 

[rr16]

I tried posting a video but it's not an allowed file type. Will get some pictures at some point.

here's the link

 

[Mazan]

Yes, its quite difficult to be sure about the id. I have wondered about eigenmanni too. Mine have bred easily I started with just 6 and now there are over 20.

 

[rr16]

Yes, its quite difficult to be sure about the id. I have wondered about eigenmanni too. Mine have bred easily I started with just 6 and now there are over 20.

Have set this up in the tank today to see if I get any luck with a spawning.

 

[Mazan]

When mine bred the tank was quite overgrown with plants, mostly Vallisneria and water lettuce pretty much covering the top and with very long roots. I honestly didn’t realise how many small ones were in there until I moved them all to a bigger tank. Since then I have not seen any more tiny ones, this could be because there are so many more of them now to eat any eggs or newly hatched fry. In the first tank I did once see a male defending an almond leaf that was not yet fully submerged. I guess eggs were on the leaf though I couldn’t see them.

 

[rr16]

Yes, mine have spawned on Catappa and oak leaves that have been in the process of sinking. They almost always used to be spawning very close to the surface, however, they seem to stay lower down in this tank which is why I have tried this new contraption.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I did once see a male defending an almond leaf that was not yet fully submerged. I guess eggs were on the leaf though I couldn’t see them.

Yes, mine have spawned on Catappa and oak leaves that have been in the process of sinking.

Same for me with Copella callolepis (sensu Zarske), always on a dead leaf, just below the surface.

Details (and a video) are at <"https://www.apistogramma.com/forum/threads/copella-callolepis-sensu-zarske.23469/#post-109288">.

I got up to at least seven at one point, but the last one has just died.

The problem I had in a 60 cm tank was that they really don't like one another (even the females), and that is really only enough real estate for two or three fish, and definitely only one male.

I keep incredibly weedy tanks and the only other occupants were (are) about 10 Corydoras pygmaeus, of various sizes, so if I tried with them again it would be in a much bigger tank, even though they are a small fish.

cheers Darrel

 

[Mazan]

Interesting, mine are really not that aggressive, they do chase and spar sometimes, but nothing really serious. They keep quite close to the top most of the time, and yes, the leaf I saw a male defending was just below the surface at the time. The tank I initially had the 6 original fish in measured 80 x 45 x 50 cm. It was always quite heavily planted but at one point I let the plants grow really dense as I was making a new big tank at the time and wanted spare plants to transfer. So a lot of the time it was very difficult to see what was going on in there. On looking closely though, I realised there were some fry, there seemed to be at least two different ages and I thought at first there were 4 or 5 of them. Then I moved the Copella to a 240l tank (120 x 40 x 50cm) and counted about 22 fish altogether (plus 4 Otocinclus). Later I was using their previous tank for an injured blue acara and found two or three more small Copellas during that time! I have not since added any more fish to the Copella tank (I have been waiting to find some suitable dwarf cichlids!) but I don't think they have bred successfully since the move, about 6 months ago. More predation pressure and somewhat less dense vegetation probably explains this.

 

[Mazan]

Hi all,


Same for me with Copella callolepis (sensu Zarske), always on a dead leaf, just below the surface.

Details (and a video) are at <"https://www.apistogramma.com/forum/threads/copella-callolepis-sensu-zarske.23469/#post-109288">.

I got up to at least seven at one point, but the last one has just died.

The problem I had in a 60 cm tank was that they really don't like one another (even the females), and that is really only enough real estate for two or three fish, and definitely only one male.

I keep incredibly weedy tanks and the only other occupants were (are) about 10 Corydoras pygmaeus, of various sizes, so if I tried with them again it would be in a much bigger tank, even though they are a small fish.

cheers Darrel

Just been reading your thread, interesting that you couldn't see the eggs without taking the leaf out of the water. I did not move the leaf as I was scared of disturbing things, and I failed to see the eggs though I was sure they must be some due to the behaviour of the male, keeping all other fish away and apparently fanning the leaf. I never saw the actual spawning, but the situation of the leaf was identical to yours. As for feeding the fry, there must have been plenty of infusoria in my tank for the early stages, and I was feeding the adults with brine shrimps a lot of the time anyway, but started to feed these every day when I saw the fry. There wasn't too much surface water movement as the top was covered with water lettuce and Vallisneria leaves. I have soft water (KH 0-1, GH 1-2, pH about 6.8).

 

[ButtNekkid]

Hi,

I´ve always wondered would it be a viable solution to take for example a Catappa leaf and let it rest partly on a mat of Salvinia or similar? That way the leaf would not sink.

 

[Mazan]

Hi,

I´ve always wondered would it be a viable solution to take for example a Catappa leaf and let it rest partly on a mat of Salvinia or similar? That way the leaf would not sink.

Should work. Mine would often get caught in the roots of the Pistia so would not sink for quite a while.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I´ve always wondered would it be a viable solution to take for example a Catappa leaf and let it rest partly on a mat of Salvinia or similar? That way the leaf would not sink.

I didn't have a Catappa leaf, but they seemed to like curly, dried leaves, rather than flat ones, like Oak (Quercus robur) or Magnolia grandiflora. I'm guessing that was because it formed a partially enclosed space.

I can't find it, but somewhere there is a thread where some-one (@Tom C ? or @Apistomaster ?) fixed two plastic plant saucers together and then cut a notch in the rim to provide an enclosed spawning area.

A dead brown Beech (Fagus sylvatica) or Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) leaf was absolutely perfect, other than sinking after a few days, but I have a huge number of these collected, so it didn't matter.

cheers Darrel

 

[rr16]

Hi all,

I didn't have a Catappa leaf, but they seemed to like curly, dried leaves, rather than flat ones, like Oak (Quercus robur) or Magnolia grandiflora. I'm guessing that was because it formed a partially enclosed space.

I can't find it, but somewhere there is a thread where some-one (@Tom C ? or @Apistomaster ?) fixed two plastic plant saucers together and then cut a notch in the rim to provide an enclosed spawning area.

A dead brown Beech (Fagus sylvatica) or Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) leaf was absolutely perfect, other than sinking after a few days, but I have a huge number of these collected, so it didn't matter.

cheers Darrel

It could be one of my threads. I have one on here from when I bred them. Tom gave me the technique with the floating plant pot trays with notches cut in.