Now that the main fish tank has been overhauled and sterilized, set back up, and restocked with Endler’s livebearers, I thought it was about time to post some photos. (Click them to get a better look.)
This is the full tank. The setup is about two weeks old, and all the plants are still very young and small. In the back left and right are bagoda momera, which is growing well and I should be able to propagate by cutting in the next several weeks. Left and right a bit farther in are four wisteria plants. Farther in on the right is a large hygrophyla polysperma (slightly pinkish) that will also be propagated by cutting within the next couple months. In front of that is a clump of micranthemum macramoides, and at the very front is a stretch of hygrocotyle sibthroldes.
The large rock to the left is the landing area for buckets full of water.
Here are several of the fish. The males are colorful, the females silvery-yellow. The two males on the left are peacock variety, indicated by the black “peacock” dot on the caudal fin. The males on the right is a black bar. No black dot.
The males are about 3/4 inch long and the females a bit bigger. The colors are all metallic, thought that isn’t really clear from the photo.
This image shows the female a bit more clearly. Note the gravid spot near the anal fin of the two females on the left. That spot will grow when the fish is pregnant. It’s a feature of most livebearers, though it was never visible on the black mollies I previously had. The male in the center shows the metallic coloration a bit better.
This is blown up a bit so you can see the color patterns, although the colors themselves are washed out after zooming. The male is a black bar, and although it looks as though he has a sword tail, if you look closely his tail really looks more like a paddle and that sword is just coloration on the bottom. This picture shows the male-female size difference very clearly.
Once the fish are more comfortable in their new home, I’ll try to snag a couple in my dip-and-pour box and get some closeups.
