Ladigesia roloffi
The habitat of Ladigesia roloffi in the wild is uncertain. Large fish populations are known to occur in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The climate there is hot and humid, with pronounced wet seasons from April to May and October to November. These fish are currently on the verge of extinction due to uncontrolled deforestation for agricultural plantations.
It is named after two ichthyologists: Ladigesia, after W. Ladiges (1910-1984), ichthyologist and employee of the Hamburg Zoological Museum from 1936 to 1974, and Roloff, after Erhard Roloff (1903-1980), a German amateur ichthyologist.
Ladigesia roloffi has a silvery colouration. The tail and dorsal plumage are bright red. The anterior rays of the anal fin in males are slightly dilated. The females have a more rounded abdomen. The maximum length of the fish is 2.5-3.1 cm.
The Ladigesia roloffi is a peaceful, gregarious fish. Keep these fish in a flock of at least 10 specimens. Keeping in large groups makes the fish less fearful and demonstrates more interesting behavior. May be kept in a community tank with other small fish.
An aquarium with a capacity of 60 liters is suitable. Use coarse-grained river sand as substrate. A few snags may be placed on the bottom. Adding pre-dried oak leaves to the bottom will further enhance the natural conditions and, in addition, promote the development of colonies of micro-organisms, which are good additional food for both fish and fry.
This fish species feels best in rather dim light. Keep this in mind when introducing plants into the aquarium and select species that develop well in these conditions.
Water parameters: temperature 20-26° C, hardness dH 2-15°, acidity pH 5,0-7,0. The fish are sensitive to excessive organic waste and should not be introduced into an aquarium that has not yet established biological equilibrium.
In nature, Ladigesia roloffi feeds on tiny invertebrates. Under aquarium conditions, the fish are fed a variety of dry food, live and frozen artemia, daphnia, small bloodworms. The food is given 2 times a day.
Reproduction
Breeding Ladigesia roloffi in aquarium conditions is difficult. Fish breeding requires acidic conditions with little carbonate hardness and very low total hardness, which may require reverse osmosis or other methods to obtain soft water. If necessary, the water can be further acidified using phosphoric acid or a similar agent.
If the conditions are as described above, it is possible that small numbers of fry will emerge without your intervention, but to maintain the fry population, a more controlled approach using a spawning tank is preferable.
Using a layer of peat on the bottom covered with a separator net or grating that the fish cannot swim through has good results.
Breeders, before being placed in the spawning tank in the evening, pre-feed diligently with a variety of food for 5-7 days. Immediately after spawning, the spawners are removed. That the female has spawned can be judged by its slimmer abdomen shape.
The eggs are incubated for 24-36 hours. The hatched fry begin to swim on day 4-6 of their lives. In the first days of life, the fry are fed infusoria, and after two weeks begin to give nauplii artemii.
The fry are very sensitive to water chemistry, so do not change the water in the aquarium during the first few weeks of their lives.
