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Select Aquatics of Erie, CO |
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Breeding the Puntius padamya "Odessa"
Page 5 - Growth Rates
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The rate that fish will grow out can vary
dramatically, even between efforts that were entirely well
intentioned.
Below are pics of siblings, each 6 weeks old. The smaller fish
were fed
3-4 times per day on BBS and high quality
dry foods with daily 15% water changes and the best of care, in a moderately
stocked 30 gallon aquarium. The bigger
fish were accidentally introduced to a 200 gallon trout runner, outside,
filled with daphnia that received 5%
daily water changes, and they were the only fish. As you can see, the
difference is dramatic.
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So care can always be improved. What is
interesting is that with the accelerated daphnia diet, the larger fish
on the left,
at just 10 weeks, is already showing signs of the red stripe – something
that won’t be seen it its brothers for another
3-4 months!
So the variables are a balance between excellent water quality,
against the maximum amount of food that can be
fed, with correct temperature and oxygenation. Keeping water quality
high when feeding large amounts of food requires
that density be watched closely. When mistakes are made – feeding isn’t
adequate, the tank is too crowded, oxygenation
is too low, temperature is too low or filtration isn’t sufficient, the
result can be dramatic and swift:
But when all goes right, it is always a thrill. Be sure to
have the tank space on hand to raise up the young you will end
up with! |
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When fed well, in water of good quality, all healthy females
will fill with eggs and can be spotted easily, as the egg laden
females on rt. show! |
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With a single batch hatched the first
week of June, 2015, videos and still photos were taken every day
for the first
30 days, and videos were taken weekly from then on until the
males in the batch colored out. Here are representative
examples to give you an idea of their appearance through the
maturation process. As you shall see, the young males
not only look exactly like their female sisters through their
first 6 months, but when they have colored out, their
adult coloration is entirely different from their juvenile form.
This batch ended up being 1400 fish! There were 4 males bred with 7
females.
This line has been surprisingly consistent – though thousands
have been raised here, very few males do not possess
the optimal coloration. Pictures do exist of mutations bred in Russia,
and those are generally little more than a
splotching or
mixing of the red and black coloration.
Though I have been watching closely, there has never been an
albino or leucistic color morph, nor have there been
any fin mutations that I have noticed.
Videos were taken of this batch from day 2. The earlier videos
are often not of the best quality and are meant for growth
comparison. |
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The First 30 Days |
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The videos were generally taken
just after being fed to bring them
out - though there are many
hundreds of fry, the tank can
appear totally empty! |
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Click on Day Icon to see video of that
day.
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The first month takes you to
when they are just large enough
to be gently moved with a fine mesh
net. They are just hours
old in the pic above, and 30 days old
in the pic at right. |
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30 Days old and ready to be split up into larger tanks. |
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Shortly after the picture above was taken,
the 30 day old fish were divided up into 7 tanks. These tanks
were the 29 gallon tall
that the fish were bred
in, 3-30 gallon tanks and 3-40 gallon breeder tanks Those in the
40 breeders were kept in homemade
shoebox sized breeders
for another week to acclimate them and give them time to put on
a little more size.
Generally, 150-300 were put into each tank. Because the
temperatures between the 7 tanks differs, growth rates can vary
slightly,
so the majority of the
photos below were taken of the group being raised in the
original 29 gallon tall. All of the photos are taken
from videos.
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30 Days + 2 weeks |
30 Days + 3 weeks |
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2 Months + 1 week |
2 Months + 2 Weeks |
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At this point you can begin to see that
some fish will likely become females. Their body is higher in
stature and
heavier. At this point earlier maturing males will begin to show
some black speckling in their dorsal fin, but
attempting to sex the fish at this size will result in being
correct only about 75% of the time, and your rate will
be better with females than males.
The Odessa barbs do not show the type of harassment from males
toward females seen in some other species.
The sexes school together routinely, showing little interest in
dominant or sexual behavior. When a female is ready
to spawn, and the circumstances are to their liking, they simply
go off and breed. I have not found that they needed
to be separated when they do finally sex out.
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2 Months + 3 Weeks |
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3 Months
See
Video
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3 Months + 1 Week |
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3 Months + 2 Weeks |
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3 Months + 3 Weeks |
4 Months
See Video |
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4 Months + 1 Week |
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4 Months + 2 Weeks |
4 Months + 3 Weeks |
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5 Months + 1 Week |
5 Months + 2 Weeks |
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5 Months + 3 Weeks |
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6 Months
See Video |
6 Months + 1 Week |
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The first hints of the red color to
come with this batch was first seen at 4 months, 2 weeks and 4
days, these pics are of that
moment! By 6 months, the color is fairly well established, but
still nothing like it will become, as seen below. |
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6 Months + 2 Weeks |
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6 Months + 3 Weeks |
7 Months
See Video |
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This is about the age when they are
sold in shops, but these are not close to
being
fully colored up. |
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7 Months + 1 Week |
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7 Months + 2 Weeks |
7 Months + 3 Weeks |
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8 Months + 1 Week |
8 Months + 2 Weeks |
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This is about where they are if you happen
to find Odessa barbs in pet stores. According
to what I have been told, commercial growers
could not sell these at a profit to distributors, due
to the long grow out time and need to carefully
choose breeders to maintain the brilliant color
of this line. As a result, the fish often sold in
fish stores today are of poor quality and/or very
young. This line was obtained about 6 yrs. ago,
and has been selectively bred for color and
markings since.
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8 Months + 3 Weeks |
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9 Months
See Video |
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This is quick video taken in February,
2016 of a tank
of males that are 12-18 months old. The males
used for
this batch came from this tank. Compare to the
Odessa
videos HERE
to see how this line has been developed
over the past 6 years. Click on picture to see
vid. |
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