Minifish Paedocypris spp.

[coelacanth44]

Hey All,

I am looking for some information on the minifishes Paedocypris progenetica, P. carbunculus, and P. micromegethes.

I am currently keeping a small school of the former and have had some moderate success in keeping them healthy.

I was wondering if there is anyone out there who has tried their hand at spawning this little fish.

I was also wondering where others have purchased their Paedocypris from.

[ScottFish]

Welcome to our Forum. Interesting choice of fish; usually require very low pH (3!). FYI: Paedocypris progenetica is a species of cyprinid fish endemic to Indonesia where it is found in peat swamps and blackwater streams. It is the smallest known fish in the world with females reaching a maximum size of 10.3 mm, males 9.8 mm and the smallest known mature specimen, a female, measured only 7.9 mm.

[C. Andrew Nelson]

Yes, welcome to the forum! I'm curious to know where you obtained these fish. I've never seen them for sale anywhere here in my part of the world (the San Francisco Bay Area). Are they too small to photograph well? Would love to see a photo of your set-up for these fish.

[essabee]

I have never heard of these fishes before this moment.

From looking up the fish in Fishbase org., I have its general description and its known habitat.

From the long years of fish-keeping and my interest in wild-life of all kinds - I can tell you one thing which is certain - these fishes are prolific breeders.

Any animal specie so low in the food chain and not living in very specialised niche of the environment - can only survive if it is a prolific breeder. So do a bit of food and habitat research and then try to provide it and I am sure you will have millions of them on your hand.

ps: Wellcome to the mad-house ........... er...er...................forum.

[coelacanth44]

Sorry it's been months since the OP!

I will take some pictures today and try to post them here.

So far my experience keeping this fish has been very simple in its approach.

I keep them in a 10 gallon tank with a sponge filter and some plastic plants.

Since their natural habitat are slow moving blackwaters found in peat swamp forests, I created a buffer (salt, acetate, and hydrochloric acid) added to RO water to recreate the super soft low pH conditions. My buffer gives me a conductivity of 200-300 and a pH of about 4.5-5.

I feed them decapsulated artemia (when they were being fed non-decapsulated artermia, I fear the artemia cysts that were left over from hatching were getting caught in their digestive tract).

The remaining fish seem to do well in these conditions, but I haven't gotten them to spawn in their home tank.

I've been looking to import more of these little guys (and girls) to create a breeding colony. At this point, I've been scouring the internet for people who have worked with this fish and might already be spawning them.

Unfortunately, the ship VERY poorly and it seems it is not worth it for many suppliers to obtain this fish. But wasn't that the case with the majority of new fish species at one point or another?!