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FAQs on the Halfbeaks
Related Articles:
Halfbeaks, Species, husbandry and
breeding by Neale Monks, Halfbeaks, Livebearing Freshwater Fishes, Livebearing Fishes
by Bob Fenner,
Poeciliids: Guppies, Platies, Swordtails, Mollies
by Neale Monks,
Related FAQs: |
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Halfbeak advice – 03/18/08
Hello!
<Ave!>
About six weeks ago, I found two pairs of halfbeaks at a chain pet store. They
were labeled 'Celebes Halfbeaks'. I was surprised to see them there, and asked a
clerk to bag them up for me. The clerk made me promise to put them in a brackish
tank. I was pretty sure that they were not brackish fish, since I recently
finished reading Neale's new book, "Brackish-Water Fishes." (Great book!)
<Thanks!>
But, since they were in brackish water at the store, I put them into a
quarantine tank with brackish water.
<Ah, not ideal for most Nomorhamphus species. So far as I know, only
Nomorhamphus erhardt lives in brackish water; all the others are soft/acid water
beasties. That said, one store near me has a female Nomorhamphus liemi in its
display brackish tank and has done so for a long time. So like a lot of
"peripheral freshwater fish" (i.e., freshwater fish from marine families) they
likely have significant salt tolerance.>
They did fine, grew a little, and time passed and I never got around to
acclimating them to fresh water. Last week, I wanted the quarantine tank, so I
moved them into one of my brackish display tanks. I noticed at the time that one
of the females was quite fat. Just now as I was feeding them, I noticed baby
halfbeaks in the tank! They are quite large, about 1 cm or more long. I saw four
or five of them, and they
are very lively.
<Indeed they are! And wonderfully easy to rear. The tricky bit is getting the
mothers through pregnancy; once the babies are delivered, life gets a lot
easier.>
My question is, are these Nomorhamphus liemi? I looked through Baensch's
Aquarium Atlas 1 through 3, and they look more like N. liemi than any of the
other halfbeaks.
<The give-away is the shape of the beak: Nomorhamphus liemi has a beak that
curls, like a little beard, under the jaw.>
My picture doesn't show it well, but the male's pelvic fins are yellow. I want
to make sure before I do acclimate them to fresh water. If they are reproducing,
they are not exactly unhappy where they are, and I want to keep them happy!
<I'd leave them where they are for now. With halfbeaks, what seems to matter
most of all is water chemistry stability, and if adding a little marine salt mix
gives them that, I don't think they care all that much.>
Thank you for your time,
<You may care to peruse my "halfbeak breeding diary" at my web site, here:
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/halfbeakbreeding.html
>
Susan
<Good luck! Neale.>
Re: Half-beaks
I have seen half-beaks in my Local Pet shop (I use PetSmart and I have never
been given bad advice.) I would like to purchase some but I would
like to know more about their care and breeding.
<Search at http://www.wetwebmedia.com using
the Google search box and also search the web for these fish and you’ll find a
wealth of information.>
Thanx, please respond AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
<You're welcome! Ronni>
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