Pethia erythromycter
Pethia erythromycter naturally inhabits the headwaters of the Irrawaddy River basin in northern Myanmar. The water here is clear and the substrate is clay with an admixture of fallen plant leaves. The bottom is densely overgrown with aquatic vegetation such as Vallisneria spiralis, Elodea densa, etc. First time in trade, these fish appeared in 2006. Keep them only recommended trained aquarists.
Pethia erythromycter has a silvery body with a small oblong spot at the root of the tail plumage. Males are more colourful than females, with red pigmentation around the mouth, with a thin band of scarlet running down to the dorsal fin in dominant individuals. During the spawning period, the body of the males darkens and takes on a bluish-steel colouration. The size of the fish is 3-3.5 cm.
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They need plenty of space to swim freely despite their small size. The size of the aquarium base should be at least 90x30 cm. Keep the fish should be a group of at least 10 specimens. It is desirable that the number of females exceeded the number of males, the ideal proportion - 1 male to 3-4 females. It is possible to keep in a common tank with fast fish that do not have voile tails.
The aquarium should be densely planted with aquatic plants, which should preferably be planted so that they formed terraces, delimiting the territory from each other, because between the males in open areas in the daylight hours are often clashes. It is also advisable to place bushes of floating plants on the water surface to serve as natural light filters.
Water parameters: temperature 18-24° C, hardness dH 1-12°, pH 7,0-7,5. Requires filtration, aeration and a weekly change of 1/3 of the aquarium water with fresh.
The Pethia erythromycter is an omnivorous fish. In nature, it feeds on various small invertebrates, algae and detritus. In an aquarium, they are fed with live and frozen food such as chironomid midges, Artemia and daphnia. They are also fed with dry granular and flake food. Feed tulip barbs twice a day.
Reproduction
Like most carp fish, the Pethia erythromycter does not care about future offspring. Under acceptable conditions, the fish spawn occasionally in a common tank, but the number of surviving fry will be low.
To save the fry, it is desirable to breed fish in a specially designated spawning tank. In the spawning tank should be placed at the bottom of the separator mesh with a cell size sufficient to pass through it the eggs and small enough to through its cells could swim fish.
One or two pairs of fish are placed in the spawning tank and spawning can take place the next morning. Once the females have spawned, the producers should be removed.
The eggs are incubated for 36-48 hours, and after 24-48 hours, fry begin to swim and eat.
The fry are fed infusoria until they are large enough to accept artemias and daphnia.
