Indian glass catfish. Glass catfish. The behavior of glass catfish in the daytime
Glass catfish - very original, eye-catching aquarium fish. Its main feature is the almost complete transparency of the body. Under normal conditions, the catfish is almost invisible, but if you adjust the lighting at a certain angle, you can see how its body gives beautiful reflections of blue hues. It looks especially beautiful when a flock of fish moves, there is a feeling that small blue lightning crosses the aquarium.
Habitat in nature
The natural habitat of these fish has become southeast Asia, the islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java. Catfish live in rivers with a gentle current. Abundant underwater and coastal vegetation makes the water darker, which helps the catfish to camouflage themselves from predators.
Appearance
The body of the fish is completely devoid of pigmentation, which, combined with the absence of scales, makes it transparent. Good only the head is visible and a small silver-colored bag in which they are “packed” internal organs located in the gill region. Also, you can clearly see the spine and costal bones.
The body of the glass catfish is elongated, flat laterally. The dorsal fin is difficult to distinguish, located immediately behind the head, has very small dimensions, only one ray and is tightly pressed to the body. There is no adipose fin at all. anal fin fairly wide and also transparent, beginning just below the gills and running along the entire length of the body to the tail. Like all catfish, the fish has on upper lip a pair of mustaches.
It can grow up to 10 cm, but usually its length is on average 6–8 cm.
For a comfortable stay, a glass catfish needs to create conditions similar to natural ones. This fish among aquarists has a reputation for being difficult to maintain and maintain, requiring some effort from the owners. Many owners of glass catfish even recommend putting them in a separate species aquarium. However, under certain conditions, the general one is also suitable.
Water parameters
Glass catfish can only be settled in a mature aquarium with a well-established balance. These transparent fish very sensitive to water parameters, especially nitrate levels, so a good filtration system is a must.
- Acidity should be in the range of 6.5–7.5;
- hardness from 5 to 15 dH (but the optimal indicator is 7–9 dH);
the temperature range is quite wide 22–27 0 C. However, for all their capriciousness, catfish tolerate a drop to 20 0 C well. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that there are no sudden temperature changes.
Filling the aquarium
These wonderful fish definitely need to provide an abundance of aquatic plants. They will serve as both shelter and food for the catfish. Desirable plants are not only bottom, but also floating. Drifts are welcome ceramic tubes, decorative shelters. Catfish fish are quite shy and they need places to hide. It is only necessary to ensure that narrow cracks and gaps between the decorations do not form. There are cases when fish swam into such traps and could not get out, dying as a result.
As mentioned above, in nature, glass catfish live in rivers, respectively, an artificially created, gentle current will add comfort to them. Also, you should pay attention to the aeration system. The water must be well oxygenated. If during the day the plants will cope well with this task, then at night it is necessary to turn on the air compressor. In addition, it is better to refuse the CO 2 supply system in an aquarium with catfish.
Aquarium volumes
Since catfish are shy, they feel more comfortable in a flock. If only a couple of these fish live in an aquarium, they will be under constant stress, which will significantly reduce their life expectancy. Besides, two or three fish, will constantly hide and the owner will not be able to observe them. A flock of 6-10 catfish will feel confident enough to swim freely in plain sight during the daytime.
For such a content of the number of fish, the volume of water must be at least 100 liters in order for the catfish to remain healthy. 15–25 individuals require 200 liters of water. In an amount of more than 30, catfish will be divided into different flocks, here the optimal volume will be 300–500 liters.
Fish compatibility
Not everyone can afford separate species aquariums, in addition, many hobbyists simply like to keep different fish within the same scope. With whom is it possible, and with whom it is absolutely impossible to settle transparent catfish?
Glass catfish are peaceful and calm fish, so any predators, especially large ones, are swept away immediately. Pisces with aggressive nature, such as cockerels, angelfish, will also be unwanted neighbors. Get along well with catfish:
- ramirezi's apistograms,
- neon,
- guppy,
- cuneiform parsing,
- honey gourami.
At the bottom you can settle catfish-shifters or shrimps.
Feeding
Another feature of glass catfish is the small size of their mouths, which must be taken into account when choosing food. If you plan to give the fish dry food, then you need to select either small granules and flakes, or when feeding, rub them with your fingers. Unlike the rest of the large army of catfish, this species does not take food from the bottom, so specialized sinking tablets will not work. With pleasure, the fish will eat the carriage, gammarus and bloodworms, but so that they do not drown immediately, you will need to take care of the presence of a special insert in the feeder.
reproduction
Unfortunately, it has not yet been revealed how externally males and females differ. Also breeding at home is almost impossible. All individuals sold in stores come to us from Asia. Only very experienced aquarists in our country try to breed glass catfish at home, and even give a description of the process. But even for aquarium professionals, it is far from always possible to breed and save offspring.
To stimulate spawning, the water temperature in the aquarium drops to 19–20 0 C and an illusion of tropical rain is created, i.e. water flows from a watering can or shower with a divider. After a couple of hours the female spawn on plant leaves. After that (maximum 5 hours after the start of the process), the catfish are removed from this aquarium. If fertilization was successful, then the incubation period lasts no more than 5 days. Fry can be fed live dust immediately. During the first month, the young growth grows up to 1 cm.
Despite the capriciousness and tenderness of these fish, they can live in a home aquarium for an average of 5 years, and with very good care up to 7.
Without a doubt glass catfish- very interesting, unusual and wonderful fish. They are actually transparent like glass, which makes it easy to see their insides without much effort. There are many types of glass catfish and two types that can be easily confused - Cryptopterus Minor(Kryptopterus Minor) and Cryptopterus Bichirris(Kryptopterus Bichirris). The main difference between them is their size. So, for example, Cryptopterus Minor has a length of 6.5-8 cm, and Cryptopterus Bichirris can reach 16.5 cm. Cryptopterus Minor is a very beautiful catfish with a missing dorsal fin and lack of body pigmentation.
So, the first thing that catches your eye when you see a glass catfish is a transparent body that allows you to see its spinal cord and internal organs. it transparent fish- picky eater. Glass catfish are notorious for not always eating regular flakes easily. If you bought glass catfish from your local pet store, it's best to ask them what kind of flakes and freeze-dried food they like. If you ordered them on the Internet, then check with the seller about their preferences.
glass catfish This is a very delicate fish. It is very sensitive to fluctuations in water parameters, so they should only be run in an established aquarium (that has gone through a nitrogen cycle) with a minimum level of nitrates. Glass catfish are very calm, timid and delicate fish, so they can only be kept with peaceful non-aggressive fish, and only in flocks of 6 individuals or more. They thrive best in large aquariums with plenty of hiding places. If glass catfish are kept with aggressive fish or in a small flock, they will become white color and may die from stress.
Catfish Glass - photo.
Glass catfish - video.
Scientific name: Cryptopterus Minor (Kryptopterus Minor).
Folk names: Glass catfish, Ghost catfish, Glass catfish.
Level of care: moderate.
The size: up to 8 cm.
water pH: 6-7.
Temperature: 21-26 0 C (70-79 0 F).
Lifespan: 7-8 years old.
Habitat / Origin: Asia, Borneo.
Temperament / Behavior: peaceful and shy. Glass catfish must be kept in a flock of at least 6 individuals. These are absolutely calm fish, so they should be kept with other peaceful fish.
Reproduction of glass catfish: spawning in a home aquarium is extremely difficult and problematic. They are rarely bred in captivity.
Aquarium dimensions: for one flock of 6 glass catfish, an aquarium with a minimum volume of 110 liters is required.
Glass catfish compatibility: any peaceful fish are suitable for joint keeping.
Food / Food for glass catfish: sometimes it can be difficult to train them to eat flakes and freeze-dried foods, so check with the seller what he fed them. Periodically feed live or frozen crustaceans, brine shrimp, and daphnia to catfish.
To begin with, I am, oddly enough, surprised by the fact that these fish still live in my aquarium. I took them about two centimeters in size, and now they have grown to seven centimeters, and it seems that they have stopped.
My glass catfish are exclusively nocturnal. For some time I tried to watch them even with a flashlight, but, you know, how inconvenient it is.
For their sake, I bought a dim blue light bulb (in a flask for immersion in water) to create something like twilight lighting.
But there was little sense - the fish began to show their activity only in complete darkness, which could only be detected with a flashlight, however, glass catfish move at night like bullets (ricochet), all the time losing sight of.
Sometimes it helps catfishes to detect a reflection from their fins reflected from a flashlight, and it resembles the glow of cilia (like overflows of all the colors of the rainbow) in all sorts of deep-sea invertebrates shown on the popular Discovery TV channel.
The behavior of glass catfish in the daytime
During the day, catfish stand still, either in a flock or apart, sometimes they even fight: they push with their whole body, sideways, like who will push whom from their place, or gently wipe each other.
In any case, in the light, they almost constantly hang in the water column in one place, and always against the current.
A couple of times my pump came off the glass, and the current in the aquarium changed in the opposite direction. At the same time, catfish simply turned around without changing their location.
In short, during the day they do not swim around the aquarium, and do not manifest themselves in any way.
Glass catfish and other fish in the community aquarium. Catfish feeding
Glass catfish are the most peaceful of all the fish I have, even, I tell you, more peaceful than guppies. For them, it seems that other fish simply do not exist, as long as no one touches them themselves.
They take food only in the water column and from the surface, and what fell to the bottom is gone. They can take food during the day, but not very willingly.
I always leave one serving of bloodworm for them to throw it after full blackouts, so that the bloodworm does not immediately fall (there are some tricks).
Vision and tactile organs of glass catfish
The vision of the "glass" is probably the same as that of all nocturnal ones, i.e. very weak.
The main organs of touch are the antennae and the lateral line (the catfish that swims from the side or behind the bloodworm grasps instantly). The antennae are also a means of communication, it resembles an ant's: upon contact, the fish hang parallel to each other and for about ten seconds there is an intense "dialogue" with the mustache.
They also take their place in the flock, first “helloing” their antennae with other catfish, and then, like, “holding” them to each other.
This confirms the opinion that the glass catfish is a schooling fish (I almost wrote “social”), and it is probably undesirable to keep less than three individuals (at first I had five fish, but, unfortunately, I lost two).
Endurance of glass catfish
I must also say that this fish is very hardy. Once I had one catfish somehow dragged into a biofilter, where he spent several days, and half-dead, with gnawed fins, clouded (not completely transparent, as usual) unable to even swim normally, after a couple of hours he came to his senses and barely -barely swam, and then took food.
Important features of glass catfish. Sex differences of catfish
In conclusion, I’ll say that the glass catfish is, of course, an original fish, and my guests always look at it first of all and are surprised, asking where it has food and where the fish has blood.
However, it is difficult to observe it, and during the day it is not at all interesting.
I don't recognize their gender. About a year ago it seemed to me that some of them had caviar in their belly, but for a year now nothing like this has been observed.
Water parameters when keeping glass catfish
I won’t tell you anything about the characteristics of water, since I haven’t done any tests. My main parameters of keeping: 150 liters aquarium, densely planted with plants, there is biofiltration. The water is rather hard.
Catfish calmly tolerate the following temperature regimes: they behave normally at 23 degrees (but a long stay in it is undesirable), and at 31 degrees (in the summer we have this in Tashkent).
Water care: change twice a week (whether you want it or not, but you have to!), And with a special mood - and every other day, two buckets each.
That, perhaps, is all I wanted to tell you about this peculiar fish called glass catfish.
- Other names: Cryptopterus bicirrhis.
- Origin: Borneo, Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Java, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia.
- Size: up to 6-10 cm.
- Temperature: 23-28°C.
- Water parameters: pH 7-7.5, dKH 0-6°.
- Lighting: moderate.
- Behavior: diurnal lifestyle, peaceful.
- Content Difficulty: Medium.
Description
This very unusual view most notable for its transparent body. Elongated, flattened from the sides, it perfectly transmits light - you can literally see through them through them. Only their skeleton is opaque and swim bladder. In their natural environment habitat, this feature serves as a good disguise for them. If the light falls at a certain angle, their body shimmers with iridescent hues. Among the structural features of these catfish, one can also note a long anal fin that runs along the lower part of the body and has from 54 to 68 rays. And they press the dorsal fin to the body, so that most of the time it is not visible. They have a pair of long antennae on their heads. Sexual dimorphism is not very pronounced - the male is only slightly smaller and more slender than the female. In nature, their size can reach up to 15 cm, however, in an aquarium, glass catfish rarely grows larger than 10 cm.
Conditions of detention
The maintenance of glass catfish brings some difficulties. They feel most comfortable in a group of 6 individuals or more - with a smaller number there is a risk of their extinction. They feel good in regularly filtered and aerated water at a temperature of 23-27 ° C, soft or medium hardness and neutral pH. Prefer moderate lighting and shaded areas in the aquarium. Dense thickets of plants and artificial shelters will help them feel safe. They are especially well perceived by cryptocorynes.
Behavior
The most confident glass catfish feels in a flock of 6 or more individuals. They do not tend to dig the ground, so you do not have to worry about the rhizomes of plants. They have a peaceful and somewhat shy disposition; to representatives of other species, similar to them in size, they are neutral. In the aquarium, they spend most of their time in the middle layers of the water.
Food
With the greatest appetite, the glass catfish eats live and frozen food: daphnia, mosquito larvae, carriage and bloodworms. Does not disdain and dry food. They pick up food from the surface or in the water column. What settles on the bottom, glass catfish are usually ignored, this must be taken into account when feeding. The feeding process must be carefully monitored - other fish in the aquarium often eat glass catfish.
Diseases
The Indian glass catfish is extremely susceptible to bacterial infection. The cure of even one individual presents a certain difficulty. A symptom of the disease is the appearance of opaque spots on the body of the catfish. At the first signs of the disease, the infected individual must be isolated in a separate aquarium. A quarantine aquarium does not have to be large - a 20-liter tank will suffice. If the disease is detected at an early stage and provided to the infected fish good food, that is, every chance to defeat the disease. However, it is better to prevent infection at all by monitoring the purity of the water in the aquarium and the health of its inhabitants. New fish that are planned to be placed in an aquarium with glass catfish must be quarantined without fail.
reproduction
The Indian glass catfish breeds seasonally, with the onset of the rainy season. In an aquarium, it is quite easy to simulate rain by watering the aquarium from a watering can. It is also necessary to slightly reduce the water temperature to a level of 22-24 ° C. Water must be added regularly, while making sure that the hardness does not exceed level 6. It is advisable to carry out all these procedures in a separate spawning area with plants, where several glass catfish are released. Enhanced feeding with live or frozen food promotes spawning. For one clutch, the female lays up to several hundred eggs. After that, it is advisable to transplant adult fish into the main aquarium. It is recommended to continue imitation of rains until fry appear. The best food at first for them will be
Glass catfish are rather peculiar fish, this manifests itself in their unusual color, or rather, they are generally transparent, and they behave differently, not like other catfish. In nature, in fact, there are a lot of species of glass catfish, but at home they usually contain only two - Kryptopterus minor and Kryptopterus Bichirris. The only difference between them is that Indian catfish grows up to 10 cm, and minor up to 25 cm.
Without a doubt, glass catfish are different from other types of fish in that they are completely transparent, and this immediately catches the eye. These fish are best kept in small flocks, not mixed with other breeds.
Habitat of catfish in nature
In nature they live in South-East Asia , as well as on islands such as Sumatra, Borneo and Java. An adult usually reaches a length of 10 cm, they are found in fresh water and belong to the order of predators.
In nature, catfish always keep in flocks, but small, in the middle layers of water. If the fish are lonely, that is, without a flock, then in most cases they die. Glass catfish feed on zooplankton and larvae of aquatic insects that move in the middle layers of the water.
Keeping glass catfish at home
Glass catfish themselves are small, which is why they do not need a huge aquarium and a lot of water. If you want to keep a flock of six individuals, then it’s quite enough aquarium for 80 liters. It is better not to keep a smaller number of fish, as they become shy and because of this they quickly lose their appetite.
These fish are very fond of various vegetation, which is why it is imperative to plant in an aquarium. a large number of living plants. Catfish are very fond of shaded areas, so it is advisable to place floating plants as well. Lighting should not be too bright, as this can be stressful for the fish.
Glass catfish are very sensitive to cleanliness, which is why it is necessary to take care of excellent water filtration. Aeration is also required. Here optimal water parameters:
- Acidity - 6.5-7.5 pH
- Hardness - 4-15 dH
- Temperature - 23-26 degrees
Change the water in the aquarium should be done weekly. The glass catfish is active during the daytime and is located in the middle layers of the water, where it spends all its main time. It should also be remembered that these fish do not know how to pick up food from the bottom of the aquarium. For feeding, you can use not only live food, but also high-quality dry food. The diet is best to somehow diversify so that it is not the same.
Catfish have a peaceful nature and get along well with such types of fish: rhodostomuses, neons and minors. However, experts advise keep them separate so they don't get stressed out.
Reproduction of catfish
There is little information on the reproduction of glass catfish, this is due to the fact that breeding is carried out in the Far Eastern fish farms. As a spawning ground, you can use a simple clean plastic basin, the capacity of which is not more than 30 liters. When breeding catfish, one should not put soil on the bottom, but plants are needed, for example, such as anubias.
In order for catfish breeding to be successful, you should choose only young females and males, since their offspring are actually the most powerful. Before mating, it is necessary to feed them with chopped bloodworms - this type of subcortex has a great effect on milk and caviar.
In the evening, one female and three or four males are allowed into the spawning ground. For stimulation, you need to reduce the water temperature to about + 17- + 18 degrees, since reproduction occurs in cooler water. Ideal breeding requires good lighting, which is set up as follows: a dim light is on, the spawning ground is covered with a cloth, but at the same time a small gap must remain open through which the light will pass.
Spawning usually lasts no more than four hours, or even less. At the very beginning, the males chase the female along the entire perimeter of the spawning ground. Then the female herself swims up to the male and collects milk in her mouth, then swims up to the illuminated place lubricates the wall with milk and glues a few eggs, and continues this several times. When the female has laid her eggs, the males are separated from her, and the water temperature in the spawning ground is raised to 27-28 degrees Celsius. Incubation takes no more than three days.
When the fry are born, the water temperature is again lowered to 20 degrees. They should be fed four times a day:
As they grow, the following foods can also be added to the fish menu: finely chopped tubifex or substitute feeds. Babies grow up fast enough and in a month grow in length to almost one centimeter. Puberty occurs in seven to eight months.
In order for the glass catfish to live for a long time, it is necessary to adhere to the above rules. Provide them with high-quality food, protect them from all diseases, and also monitor the water temperature and then they will delight you with their unusual appearance and behavior. Good luck with keeping and breeding catfish!
