Glad to have met you, face-to-face, this past weekend at WCW. It was a great
time, to all those interested who did not attend (Mack??). ;-)
The purchase price you paid for your bows tells me that they were
farm-raised, either in Asia or Florida. Either way, I personally do not
reccommend to anyone to purposely perpetuate any farm-raised fish (at least
from these farms) other than maybe praecox and boesemani, as they are known
for being messed up, crossed, etc. Since you have all those fry, and most
pet stores insist on selling bows like yours -- 'cause they're cheap -- I
would recommend selling the whole lot back to the pet store when the time
comes. :-)
If you would still like to work with a splendida-type, might I recommend
posting to members of the list to see if anyone has pure stock of known
collection locallity? (Hint, Hint Kids) I do not have any splendida-types
at this time, sorry.
This was probably not the answer you wanted to hear, but, as Bruce says,
"Know your streams and keep them clean." :-) Just like with killies, it is
much better for the hobby to keep and breed known strains whenever possible.
Julie <><
>
> I purchased a half dozen of the subject fish at a local chain pet store,
> mostly to test a tank that had been bleached for a week after
Mycobecterium
> marinum (Fish TB). I went in to get tetras, but the reputed sensitivity of
> Melanotaenia to the bug caused me to change my mind. [Besides, they were
> under a buck each. :-)]
>
> The test was mandated by the Malaysian trumpet snails that managed to
> survive the gross treatment, and crawled out of the gravel after
re-filling
> the tank. Grrr! *Nothing* kills 'em, short of boiling, and I'm not sure
> about that. ;-) I doubted if they carry marinum, but decided to play it
> safe.
>
> Anyway, a month later, all fish are healthy and I may have miraculously
> ended up with three pairs of them.
>
> The problem I have now is getting a decent ID on them. They are young, and
> still lack the deep bodies of the pictures in my Aqualog book and chart.
The
> most mature and dominant male has dark borders on anal and dorsal fin, as
> well as leading edge of the ventrals. The side is a steely blue
> irridescence, with a prominent dark lateral line. Caudal is red-orange,
and
> the other unpaired fins have the same color in a band just inside the dark
> outer borders. Inner fins are pretty clear.
>
> The closest picture I have handy is the M. splendida australis of the
> Aqualog poster, and it looks about right.
>
> The upper left picture in Adrian's description
> <http://www.powerup.com.au/~tappin/Australis.htm> is pretty close, too.
Mine
> have less body gold and more prominent dark fin-edge bands. They lack any
> sign of a zig-zag stripe above the anal fin, like the Armstrong picture.
> They have less color than the picture on p 40 of Harro's book.
>
> Since they have suddenly decided to give me lots of eggs, I may soon be
> faced with having to identify them to those I pass fish on to.
>
> How should I label them? M. splendida australis? splendida sp.? What is
best
> for the hobby?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Wright
>
> --
> Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679 huntley1 at home.com
>
> "Strike any key to continue..."
> How? My stupid keyboard doesn't even have an "any" key!