Among its fellow fish Labeo aquarium is famous for its uneasy character, its breeding is always associated with painstaking labor. If you have a spacious capacity and like warlike water creatures, adoring clashes with rivals, we recommend trying to get a few pets of this interesting kind.
Labeo Fish - description
The body of aquarium fish Labeo is perfectly adapted for dwelling among dense vegetation and snags, where a lot of good food is found in warm tropical waters. Their dense elongated body is characterized by slender forms, it is slightly reminiscent of a predatory torpedo, always ready for a swift attack. Labeo has dimensions for the aquarium large, in captivity it grows 12-15 cm in length. Its characteristic features include a markedly curved dorsal profile and a contrasting coloration characteristic of most species of this member of the Cyprinidae family.
Varieties of Labeo
A huge variety of aquarium fish Labeo can not boast, but for exotic lovers there are several interesting species that you can adequately replenish your home collection. There are two-color, white, black, silvery and even with leopard coloring handsome, capable of their presence to decorate the underwater interior. The commercially available Labeo species have an original feature that makes them popular, they look like fins remotely like bloodthirsty sharks.
Common types of Labeo:
- bicolor,
- black (chrisophecadion),
- green (frenatus),
- Harlequin Congolese (cyclorhynchus),
- silvery (forskalii),
- harlequin multicolored (variegatus).
Labeo bicolor
Terribly popular, but almost disappeared in nature, the two-color Labeo in the people is also called the red-tailed shark. His spectacular, almost black torso looks velvety at a distance, the dorsal fins are dark in color, and the tail is distinguished by an original red-and-fiery color. If in Thailand, this aquarium fish Labeo grows up to a solid 30 cm, then in a domestic vessel, the size of a pet of the bicolor species rarely exceeds 12 cm.
Increased demand among aquarists green Labeo, which is also called Frenatus, rainbow, Thai. In fact, it is no different from the bicolor except for the coloring of the body. These stylish and graceful handsome men have a dark olive-colored body with a bronze-silvery abdomen, and fins are red. The size of green water animals do not exceed two-color brothers. They live in artificial tanks up to 8 years.
Labeo black
To keep this big handsome you will need a huge capacity, Labe black fish often reaches 60 cm in an artificial container, which is a problem for ordinary exotic lovers. In Thailand, on a natural forage, the black subspecies grows into a real 90 cm giant. Omnivorous pets willingly destroy vegetation, so living algae in the tank with them will have a hard time. In addition to green fodder, black aquarium fish Labeo well eats organic products of animal origin.
Aquarium fish Labeo - contents
Capacity for these aquatic creatures is desirable to acquire a large, small subspecies is suitable for a tank of 80-100 liters per individual, and huge black Labeo contain in aquariums less than 500 liters is generally contraindicated. The selected capacity must be equipped with a compressor and a high-quality filter, without these accessories you can not saturate the liquid with oxygen and clean it of impurities. The temperature of the aqueous medium is 23-27 ° C at a stiffness in the pH range 6.5-7.5.
Aquarium Fish Labeo - Features of Care
The interior of the underwater kingdom should be decorated for a given water pet following the special rules:
- in aquariums it is necessary to equip shelters from snags or stones, here the fish Labeo loves to hide,
- thickets of algae - a favorite habitat of this species of carp,
- the neighbors of the Labeo can be exclusively peaceful and large creatures, but capable of repelling aggressive bully,
- Ensure additional illumination in the aquarium filled with vegetation and driftwood,
- Aquatic plants and ornamental large stones help to delimit zones in the case of the joint keeping of other fish from the Labeo.
Reproduction of Labeo
From the age of 18 months our graceful fish acquire the ability to reproduce. It is impossible to call breeding labeo a simple occupation, but many aquarists these experiments were successful. First, equip the spawning site in which the selected female and the couple of males ready for mating are planted. The capacity is planted with plants, moss, and aeration of the aquatic environment. The hardness of the medium is lowered to the lower threshold, and the temperature regime is increased by 1 ° C above the upper limit, in which your aquarium fish Labeo was constantly.
Arbitrary spawning in Labeo is often delayed, so amateurs practice stimulating hormonal injections. The injections are neatly made into the lumen between the scales by an insulin syringe, trying, the medicine to introduce the aquarium fish into the tender muscles. At the end of spawning in the aquatic environment, it is desirable to add an antibiotic that prevents the development of infections. A pituitary body can be acquired on farms where carp are bred.
The first scheme of stimulation of spawning for fish Labeo aquarium:
- First used for females is a solution of chorionic gonadotropin or a preparation of Pregnil in a dose of 5-10 IU with a calculation for 1 gram of fish weight.
- After 24 hours, the suspension of the pituitary carp in the amount of 0.1-0.2 mg per 10 g of weight is administered to individuals of both sexes.
You can use aquarium fish another working pattern:
- The first injection is administered to females with a pituitary suspension (0.03 mg / 10 g of weight).
- The second injection is introduced Labeo aquarium through the day with the same drug, but already for both individuals (0.3 mg / 10 g of weight).
On the eve of spawning, females with males are separated for a couple of weeks and placed together after stimulating injections. It is desirable to have a couple of males per female labeo. The size of the spawner is from 150 liters, a round container with a height of 50 cm is suitable. It requires the pump to provide a strong movement of water, the eggs must mature in the upper layers of the medium in a suspended form. Half an hour after the spawning of adults, the labeo is planted, the pump is turned off, the flow of water is maintained by aeration.
Ripe larvae appear after 15 hours, after a day they stop passively floating in the water, begin to move, look for food. For nutrition, pollen from ciliates, rotifers, algae particles will suit. Gradually, the fry is added egg yolks, after a week ready zooplankton. The listed procedures may seem to many beginners difficult and incomprehensible. Approach to breeding Labeo is desirable seriously, well prepared theoretically, having purchased the necessary drugs and materials.
Compatibility of Labeo with other fish
In the breeding of our pets there is one more feature that makes caring for them a difficult occupation - the obstinate and aggressive nature of these water creatures. For a dynamic and highly pronounced territoriality of fish, labo compatibility is a big problem. The belligerent dominant male opponents tear fins, scrape flakes, disfigure tails. Labeo often creates problems for the goldfish, attacking the bots of other creatures with bright red tails that lack the speed to leave, taking them for rivals.
Normal compatibility with Labeo:
- scalars,
- barbs,
- zebrafish,
- gurus,
- Mollies,
- botsii,
- tetras.
Bad and limited compatibility with aquarium fish Labeo:
- cockerels,
- goldfish,
- cichlids,
- discus,
- acne,
- guppies,
- koi carps,
- astronotuses,
- shrimp.
Diseases of the Labeo
Often, troubles in the aquarium with Labeo begin by inattention to the owner. Many problems occur in the violation of temperature conditions, poor compressor power, small capacity, poor nutrition. Infections in our fish cause helminths, infusoria, crayfish, fungi, viruses. At signs of infection we plant the pet in quarantine, water is disinfected with a drug with a wide spectrum of action. JBL Punctol Plus 125, Baktopur Direct, Prodac Aquamedik, Sera Flagellol, Sera Bactopur, Tetra ContraIck, and other effective medications are used.