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Out of curiosity . . . is anyone on this forum keeping / breeding goodeids? We just got 8x Xenotoca doadrioi this weekend from a breeder in our fish club. They were originally collected in the Etzatlan region, Ameca / Magdelana basin and imported by the North American Goodeid Working Group for a convention back in 2014. They're a CARES priority list species. Kept at indoor room temperature - no heater. They like foods with greens in, but will eat just about everything. The males are very brightly colored. Greg Sage over at Select Aquatics has done a lot with these. It's hard to keep in stock though, because demand can quickly drain a breeder's supply. Females, it is reported, generally only drop 5-20 fry every 60 days.

Hi all, I have a question regarding livebearer crosses, specifically Limia perugiae and Characadon lateralis. I was chatting with a friend at my fish meeting yesterday and mentioned that my lateralis fry tend to have a spot of the dorsal fin, which my friend's did not have. When I got home and looked in my tank, I could see some lateralis that looked like the adults, and some with a paler complexion and that dorsal spot. I also realized that I have a single Limia perugaie male in there, and... there is a prominent dorsal spot on that fin. I didn't think twice about putting them in there together because they are in different genus, which means they should not be able to breed. I am wondering if the fry with the dorsal spots are crosses of lateralis and perugaie (I hope not!) I am trying to look up how many chromosomes each species have but haven't had any luck. (If they are different, there's no way the spotted fry could be a perugaie x lateralis cross.) I'm a little upset because I have ZERO interest in crossing these species; lateralis is a goodeid. Does anyone have any insight into this? Tank contains: male Limia perugaie, Characadon lateralis colony, male Limia nigrofasciatus, Corydoras aeneus, Kyathit danio, heavily planted. There are no female limias. Above: Adult Characadon lateralis Above: A normal lateralis fry Above: Limia perugaie male. Tough to see that spot on the dorsal fin but if you look closely, it's there. Above: The suspicious lateralis fry with a dorsal spot. The pale body would be consistent with a cross. No lateral spots makes me suspicious as well.

CPDs are supposed to look like tiny brook trout (yes, yes...it's a char). But when looking at the zebra danios in my tank, I think the spotted ones look a lot more like brown trout. I'll try an snag a picture of the male, he's got more of the look, I think. What do you all think? Any other fish look alikes?

Hey all, I have a colony of Chapalichthys pardalis (the Leopard Goodeid) and I've had them in their tank for about 8 months now. All was fine and they were even breeding, so I was quite pleased. (Great little fish btw.) I had one fish a week ago present with something that looked like hole-in-the-head. I thought that was mainly a cichlid disease, so I suspected also that it could have been trauma from aggression from tankmates (they chase around a lot but I've never seen them actually fight.) The spot had gotten quite a bit worse over about 3 days (it spread and showed obvious deformity to the head, but wasn't exactly deep.) I isolated it and added aquarium salt and erythromycin... it went from very active and behaving normally to dead within minutes of putting him in that isolation tank. 😕 I had even animated him to the temp, used dechlorinator, and half of it was water from his old tank. So not sure what was going on there. Here is the fish that died: I thought it was perhaps a fluke- an older adult with a weakened immune system- but now I can see the beginnings of the same spot on two other adults in the colony. This suggests to me that I should treat the entire tank, but with what? Does anyone have experience using aquarium salt with goodeids? It ought to be ok. I have had bad luck in the past adding erythromycin to QT tanks. This is the second time that I've had a fish die within minutes of exposure. (I know we talk about the fallacy of treating a sick fish with a med, and yet sick fish dies anyway, but it is not normal for this to happen so quickly.) Behavior has been 100% normal. 20gal tank with what is now 4 adults and about 8 large fry. Planted tank witha sponge filter as well as a Fluval U1 underwater filter. Params: 70.2*F, pH 8.0 (normal for my hard water), nitrate a bit high at 50ppm (got a little overenthusiastic with the Easy Green,- I'll do a water change), nitrite 0 ppm, hardness GH 300+, buffer KH 300+, Chlorine 0ppm. All of this is pretty normal. I have been struggling with excess mulm in the tank lately but unsure if that would cause an issue. I do weekly water changes from 30-50%, using Prime to dechlorinate. No ides what has caused this. I contacted the breeder I purchased them from and he said he had never seen it in his colony and recommended metronidazole if it is hole-in-the-head, which like I said, I'm not sure. But it certainly seems like something infectious. Please help! This is an endangered goodied species and I will feel very bad if I lose them. (Well, I'd feel bad regardless.) Please be clear in your answer if you have experience treating goodieds or if you've just mined info from the internet. I am trying to figure out if they are particularly sensitive to meds or something. Thank you! Current fish: pardon this blurry pic, of course they won't cooperate 🙄

Came across a reverse trio of the Characodon audax El Toboso. The Black Prince Goodeid. Coop specimen container is perfect for the close up photos. These were taken on arrival Small still but well worth the attempt. Those colors are amazing to me. this is the cool water 25 gallon project for the next few years.

In the early spring, I put a small group of juvenile Ameca splendens out in a small tub outside in the shade. I didn't expect them to do so well considering the temperatures get up to 106 in the summer time, but they have grown and thrived in this setting. Floating frogbit, duckweed, guppy grass help shade it even more and provide grazing options for them. This tub is rarely fed, or tampered with, providing only top offs. This group is active and looks fantastic. I'm very happy with the outcome and will be trying other goodeid species next year.

So @TheCzaristaand I (sometime in the future) want to set up a Themyscira/Wonder Woman themed tank sometime in the future. Looking around these guys really caught our eye, but there's so little info out there on them. There's a small snippet on Select Aquatics, and it looks like they only get 1.5 inches, but I dont know a thing about their behavior. I believe it said good for species only tanks which would work great for this tank idea. Just curious if we could keep one or a pair in a 6 gallon cube, and what their behavior patterns are. Anyone with some expertise that can advise a yearling fishkeeper?

I was very excited to see my goodeid tank after work. It is an aquarium strain of Chalapichthys pardalis, originating from Lake Chalapa in Mexico. You could clearly see the dominant male displaying to various females. I was able to get a pretty good video and wanted to share it here. You can also see one of the other males trying to sneak in at various points, but the dominant male is having none of it and chases him away pronto! I just thought this was so interesting and entertaining. You can REALLY see it at about 16s. I'm not sure if the male succeeded at breeding, since he kept being forced to chase away other males. I suspect he did at some point. If I wanted to ensure success, I would separate out a male and female so they could continue undisturbed, but I want to see if this will work without much interference from me. Additional details: Room temperature (70.6*F) There appear to be 2 males, 3 females, and 2 juveniles. Juvies were not involved in any of the breeding behavior- they were ignored and they ignored what was going on around them. 20gal long, planted, fluorite substrate, no CO2 injection Species only tank aside from some mystery snails Rotate food between Xtreme Spirulina flake and Xtreme Nano. I'll also throw in a tiny bit of Xtreme Krill flakes one in a while, but my understanding is that these fish are largely vegetarian leaning so I stick mostly with Spirulina and Nano. Fluval U1 internal filter as well as a sponge filter. Seems to be ok despite the internet info saying they do not like flow. I think the U1 doesn't have much oomph. Bonus: Plant pearling!

For the breeder NERMs among us . . . BAP Spawning Report: Xenotoca doadrioi (Redtail Goodeids) Recently, a fellow PVAS Club member began inviting those of us who were regular breeders to followup with him about the possibility of moving along stock to the pet store he worked at in VA. We reached out, and brought a few fish along on trips to the area. We also expressed an interest in some of his Goodeids. Xenotoca doadrioi have always been a fascinating, colorful species. He was happy to move along a starter breeding group of these from his collection. Being a C.A.R.E.S. species added interst to us. The information he shared about their origin is this: His line were part of a group of Goodeids imported by the North American Goodeid Working Group for the 2014 American Livebearer Association Convention. He obtained his original stock at the convention in 2014. Their geographical source is near the town of Etzatlan, Mexico in the Ameca / Magdelana basin. The town is just west of Guadalajara, but not quite as far west as the better known collecting site San Marcos. https://goo.gl/maps/7vYTgUFhr2vfjP5A7 We got 8x Xentoca Doadrioi on December 12, 2020. They were of varying ages / sizes. Two males were brightly colored up, and at least two of the females were of matching size. They went into a 20 gal. long with black diamond blasting sand substrate, some shells from NC coast we’ve used for a few years now in aquariums, several cups of crushed coral in a mesh bio bag hidden inside a shell, and an odd assortment of plants, cuttings, and java moss. Two sponge filters run in the back corners. Lighting is just a cheap shop LED (5,000 K) that throws a reasonably balanced white light - usually muted by use of a cupboard liner to diffuse and limit lighting. Additional air comes by way of several air stones hanging in the back center. Throughout the six months since first recieving them, I have continued to add plant cuttings. I keep these Goodeids at room temperature with no heater in our basement fishrom, which dips down barely below 70-degrees Farenheit in the winter, and lifts just above the same mark during the summer. I water change the tank each week, and always add a broad spectrum liquid plant fertilizer (e.g. Aquarium Co-Op Easy Green). The Amazon Sword gets root tabs in the substrate now and then. These Goodeids do well on a veggie diet. We ground their diet on Omega One Kelp Flakes, Bug Bites Spirulina Flakes, crushed Omega One Veggie Pellets, and broken up Algae Wafers. There is always duckweed in the tank as well, so if they want that, it's a free snack. Once fry appear, baby brine shrimp is added as well. Every other day, one of their feedings includes some added protein as well. They will try to eat just about anything. The first spawn was discovered on January 7, 2021. Unfortunately, it was a light dropping, falling short of BAP by just a few fry. Still, it was so curious to observe their trophotaenia — umbilical cord-like appendiges that remian visible on fry for a few days after they are born. Goodeids are livebearers, though not nearly as prolific as the better known livebearers — Guppies, Platys, Mollys, or Swordtails. Xenotoca doadrioi drop fry every few months, with reports of seasonal changes sometimes yielding higher fry production. It was not until April 27, 2021 that we returned from vacation to find that the Goodeids had dropped fry while we were away at the beach. This time, more than 10x new fry were counted. As long as things remain steady, with minor water changes, Goodeids are a very easy fish to keep. We have not observed them predating on their fry. They tend to be born larger than baby guppies or platys. Another fry drop was made (likely a different female) - evidenced by smaller fry with trophotaenia for a few days - but I did not try to make a firm count. At the present moment, a proper colony is developed with multiple breeding adults and many young. It is about time to split the colony out, and allow a new one to develop in another tank. Eventually, we hope another aquarist interested in this C.A.R.E.S. species will show up to continue the process of “making more!” Basic Water parameters were measured at the end of the BAP project: 20 gal. 68-72 degrees Farenheit 2x medium sponge filters 3-4x shells Wisteria Anacharis Amazon Sword Java moss Java fern Duckweed Water lettuce Valisneria pH - 7.8-8.0 Ammonia - 0 ppm Nitrite - 0 ppm Nitrate - 10 ppm

Found MORE Xenotoca Doadrioi fry this evening. In the spirit of Mr. Ray, “Oooo!!! Gather ‘round explorers! Look at the umbilical-cord-like trophotaenia on these Goodeids!!!”

Hello! I'm relatively new to fishkeeping (but have done more than a little research on the subject). My current tanks are: one 10 Gal. of Daphnia, freshwater Copepods, and snails (nothing fancy, just Bladder Snails), one 10 Gal. with a breeding pair of Fundulus chrysotus (Golden Topminnows), one 20 Gal. long with 3 F. chrysotus, 11(ish) Lucania goodei (Bluefin Killifish), 1 Corydoras panda (sort of a gift, I'm going to try to acquire some friends for it when things warm up. So far it's been schooling with the L. goodei without problems), 3 Gambusia affinis (Western Mosquitofish. 1 adult male and 2 juvenile females. these will be getting a 10 Gal. next fall or sooner depending on their behavior), and 3 Adult Planorbella sp. snails, and one 40 Gal. breeder currently housing 1 male, 3 female, and 1 (hopefully) female Macropodus opercularis (Paradise Fish), and 1 Japanese Trapdoor Snail (This one is a tank in progress).

Found some fry of my Ataeniobius toweri (Bluetailed Goodeid). This is a Goodeid species that I haven’t bred yet. Only about 4-5 fry but doing well. First pic are the parents, second is one of the fry.

This is my first time with splitfins/goodeids. I bought (5) fry in august last year. They’re currently about 2 inches long and roughly 6-7 months old. So far they all look female still and obviously I was hoping for at least one male. I was wondering if someone more experienced could give me an estimate on when they start to sex out. Tank stays about 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter.