possible Phalloceros caudimaculatus

Viviparous L.I.S. - possible Phalloceros caudimaculatus

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
May 24, 2013, 08:30:21 AM

Home Help Search Calendar Login Register
+  Viviparous L.I.S.
|-+  Wild Livebearers
| |-+  Poeciliidae (Moderator: keith 565)
| | |-+  possible Phalloceros caudimaculatus
« previous next »
Pages: [1] Print
Author Topic: possible Phalloceros caudimaculatus  (Read 776 times)
Dourado
Guppy
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 34

Email
« on: October 05, 2005, 07:05:19 PM »

Dear friends,

Screening the Internet for pictures of the Southamerican Livebearer Phalloceros caudimaculatus,

I found out two rather different concepts of this species which are out there.

There is, first, the speckled mosquitofish, such as illustrated for instance on
 http://aquavisie.retry.org/Database/Vissen/Phalloceros_caudimaculatus.html

and then there is, second, the dusky millions fish, such as illustrated for instance on

http://64.95.130.5/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=4685

The colorations of these photos differ largely, the second case is more similar too, but not identical with, our species, shown in the previous posting?

I have received one amateur report about male territories in Phalloceros caudimaculatus. Do males of this species really form territories?

That amateur report also says that the copulation behavior in this species is rather uninteresting, that there is no courtship or anything worth observing. Is this true?

I am Thomas Schlemmermeyer, Brazil - Mato Grosso do Sul state University - Brazil.
Logged
 
fishiancuthbert
Full Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 114

Email
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2005, 12:46:45 PM »
Hi Thomas,I have never heard of them forming territories and when I kept them they certainly never did in fact I found them to be rather delicate timid little fish but very easy to breed at a temperature no higher than 22C I even kept 6 babies in an unheated tank at 16C and interestigly enough they grew just as fast as those kept warmer.I never really saw any interesting courtship behavior either.Regards,Ian.
Logged
Ian.R.Cuthbert.
Martin Tversted
Jr. Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 79

http://www.aphanius.dk Email
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2005, 03:45:05 PM »
There are different morphs of this little species. The black spotted even has an invalid scientific name (reticulatus). This morph is very old in captivity and might have origin in fish collected in higland areas in Brazil.
In Uruguay and Argentina it is mainly with very few dots on the side.
MT
Logged
 
Dourado
Guppy
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 34

Email
« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2005, 05:22:48 PM »

Ironically, all forms I know are blackspotted.

But it seems the old captivity form you are alluding to is the one with irregularly distributed black spots. It is this form they are calling "Speckled Mosquitofish"?

Whereas the form presented in my photos, and in other internet photos, has just one simple balck spot on each body side.

Interestingly we have one female in our aquarium that has no black spot at all. But perhaps this particular female is from another genus/species.

Our specimen where captured in Southwestern Brazil. Water temperature in summer may go up to 25 degrees or so, in Winter it may occasionally fall down to 12 degrees or so (only on some days in the year). As the water bodies where these fish occur might be pretty small, the temperatures can vary a lot. So it is perhaps pretty normal that they survive at 16 degrees.

I do not know where the story of the Brazilian Highlands come from, but except for the Mantiqueira Mountain region near Rio de Janeiro, there are no very "high" Highlands at all in Southern Brazil, so the term could wrongly suggest alpine, mountain conditions when there are no such at all.

But if you go southwards from Brazil, drastic climatic changes appear, the very southern Tip of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina have almost a temperate climate. Water bodies there must be much cooler and it can get quite cold in Winter. And I think it is in this Southern region that the supposed second subspecies occurs. But it seems to me that this Southern form could be the irregularly speckled one?

I will try to get into contact with the guy from Germany who wrote about the male territories.
Logged
 
Dourado
Guppy
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 34

Email
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2005, 12:46:45 AM »
Hello, I found a further web article

(http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/42193/20040525/www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/thr/species/fn-mosquitofish.htm)

about Phalloceros caudimaculatus,

where they show the speckled form in a picture, but as curious as it may be, they add that besides "speckled mosquitofish" the species may also be called
"one spot livebearer" which seems to be an allusion to the problem herein reported.

They write also that the name "mosquitofish" is inappropriate as they do not eat many mosquitoes....

ANyway, in Australia and New Zealand, there they are as well and they are considered as pest species. Does this make sense? Are there Pest fish species? Or is it just some kind of discriminatory racism against certain animal species which aren´t worse than the others?

best wishes, Dourado
Logged
 
keith 565
Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 1165


Email
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2005, 07:10:04 AM »
there have been many fish over the years called pests, mainly those that were introduced to areas and used to combat other species that had population explosions and were damaging other fish within the habitat. unfortunatly we do  not learn. when you introduce a more prolific species to and area, they often end up taking over and that in turn leads to the extinction of the native animals. the best example i can think of is the nile perch.
hope this makes sense
Logged
SENILITY IS THE ACCUMULATION OF ALL KNOWLEDGE.
Pages: [1] Print 
« previous next »
 
SMF 2.0.4 | SMF © 2013, Simple Machines
Viviparous L.I.S., possible Phalloceros caudimaculatus - Theme by Mustang Forums
Page created in 0.162 seconds with 26 queries.