Characodon lateralis teeth pics and fry dropping

[Pigeonduck]

I have a pair of  Characodon lateralis los berros that are collectively known to me as Tangelina. They're my favourite livebearer that I have owned because they seem to he much more intelligent and have more character and interesting behaviours than guppies or platies. 

I have had them for nearly a year and the other day my husband pointed out that you can see their teeth!

I don't have anything other than a phone camera but I thought it might be interesting for people interested in livebearers to see a few pics.

This is Angelina aka The Great White Shark and her unfortunate looking face.

Here's Teabag the male.  He changes colour a lot. No dark stripe here so I think he was displaying.

Last year I got a video of the female dropping fry. They're huge!

 

[OceanTruth]

Very, very cool! I’ve never seen or heard of these live bearers before. I think they’re a good looking fish.

[Pigeonduck]

1 hour ago, OceanTruth said:

Very, very cool! I’ve never seen or heard of these live bearers before. I think they’re a good looking fish.

They're critically endangered in the wild which is sad. They're easy enough to breed but still quite rare in the hobby, in the UK at least. I was considering trying to get a proper breeding project going with them but none of my local fish shops are interested in taking any so I have to sell privately which is a pain in the bum.

[Lifeisgood]

How cool to see!  And the fry instantly darted for cover and she looked to see where he went but missed him!😅

I see you have a Peacock eel in with them.  What else do you stock in this tank?

[Pigeonduck]

1 hour ago, Lifeisgood said:

How cool to see!  And the fry instantly darted for cover and she looked to see where he went but missed him!😅

I see you have a Peacock eel in with them.  What else do you stock in this tank?

The fry were very good at survival. I protected some in a breeder net but others stayed in the main tank and hid in the plants. I don't think that any got eaten. 

The eel named Tiny Eel is a Lesser spiny Eel, he's growing out in there before moving on to a bigger tank. I also have a female T bar cichlid, 6 Pseudomugil luminatus, a few small gobies, hillstream loaches, otos, a banjo catfish and a leopard frog plec. I am terrible at doing the one centerpiece fish and a shoal of something smaller thing! 😆

The C. lateralis adults do well with everything. Their fry once they got to about 3cm were nippy little devils. 

 

 

[Lifeisgood]

I have the same problem! Maybe we could call that “Eclectic” stocking?? 🤷‍♀️

The priority for me is whether or not they can enjoy their lives while I enjoy their characters.  I have a young Half Banded eel in with Panda Garras and a betta.  So far so good.  They are all fun to watch individually and fun to watch interact with each other.  I am trying to get the eel to take food from my fingers.  I think she is a female.  I love learning about them all.  Thanks again for sharing.🐟🐠🐡

[Pigeonduck]

"Eclectic stocking" is a great name for it. 😁 As long as they all get along it's all good.

Macrognathus eels are such great little characters. The wiggly nose thing makes them so silly. They're like muppets.

 

[Lifeisgood]

15 hours ago, Pigeonduck said:

"Eclectic stocking" is a great name for it. 😁 As long as they all get along it's all good.

Macrognathus eels are such great little characters. The wiggly nose thing makes them so silly. They're like muppets.

 

May I ask, what do you feed your eel and does he pretty much compete well with the others in order to eat enough?

This is my second one.  I didn’t know enough about them when I had the first one (and not as many foods were available to me at the time).  I don’t want to over feed but I realize that they are slower foragers and have had to remove some fish because they would eat it all before she would enough.

[Pigeonduck]

21 minutes ago, Lifeisgood said:

May I ask, what do you feed your eel and does he pretty much compete well with the others in order to eat enough?

This is my second one.  I didn’t know enough about them when I had the first one (and not as many foods were available to me at the time).  I don’t want to over feed but I realize that they are slower foragers and have had to remove some fish because they would eat it all before she would enough.

From what I have read about them, I think that mine might be a weirdo. When he (or she) first arrived it was only about 7cm long and maybe 1cm wide. It was in quarantine with the Rhinogobius gobies that I got at the same time so I would put in live daphnia for all of them and after a couple of days got the eel to eat live and then frozen bloodworms from tongs. It was so tiny and slow that I don't think it could compete with the gobies. Now he's bigger he'll swim out to the middle of the tank and eat with all the others. He'll eat frozen bloodworms, frozen krill flakes, tetra crisps and sinking carnivore pellets.

I don't think that it's normal for them to be so out and about. It's not like mine couldn't stay buried in the sand or hide in the plants if it wanted to though. 

If yours is a bit slow then getting them to feed from the tongs or your fingers is a good idea to make sure that they get fed. Another thing that some people do is put food in a container that only the eel can reach into but I am not sure that would work with your tank mates. I hope that your little guy thrives 😊

 

 

[Lifeisgood]

46 minutes ago, Pigeonduck said:

From what I have read about them, I think that mine might be a weirdo. When he (or she) first arrived it was only about 7cm long and maybe 1cm wide. It was in quarantine with the Rhinogobius gobies that I got at the same time so I would put in live daphnia for all of them and after a couple of days got the eel to eat live and then frozen bloodworms from tongs. It was so tiny and slow that I don't think it could compete with the gobies. Now he's bigger he'll swim out to the middle of the tank and eat with all the others. He'll eat frozen bloodworms, frozen krill flakes, tetra crisps and sinking carnivore pellets.

I don't think that it's normal for them to be so out and about. It's not like mine couldn't stay buried in the sand or hide in the plants if it wanted to though. 

If yours is a bit slow then getting them to feed from the tongs or your fingers is a good idea to make sure that they get fed. Another thing that some people do is put food in a container that only the eel can reach into but I am not sure that would work with your tank mates. I hope that your little guy thrives 😊

 

 

Mine is out and about a lot too and doesn’t seem skittish at all.  I have her on a sandy substrate so she could bury herself if she want but there are plants and hiding places under rocks.  Her favorite place to get away from it all is a tube I buried under some rocks.  
 

What size are your carnivore pellets?  I have Hikari Sinking wafers but they are hard initially and are about 5 mm wide.  I am looking for something smaller that sinks and smells good to them.  She gets mostly live black worms, frozen brine shrimp or blood worms.

[Pigeonduck]

1 hour ago, Lifeisgood said:

Mine is out and about a lot too and doesn’t seem skittish at all.  I have her on a sandy substrate so she could bury herself if she want but there are plants and hiding places under rocks.  Her favorite place to get away from it all is a tube I buried under some rocks.  
 

What size are your carnivore pellets?  I have Hikari Sinking wafers but they are hard initially and are about 5 mm wide.  I am looking for something smaller that sinks and smells good to them.  She gets mostly live black worms, frozen brine shrimp or blood worms.

Maybe they're not as reclusive as people make out. I think that it's the Hikari wafers that I use. I often break them up before dropping them in. He can worry a soft whole one enough to eat it now but pieces are easier.

[Lifeisgood]

25 minutes ago, Pigeonduck said:

Maybe they're not as reclusive as people make out. I think that it's the Hikari wafers that I use. I often break them up before dropping them in. He can worry a soft whole one enough to eat it now but pieces are easier.

Thank you for that tip!  Not many people keep these so it’s nice to talk to someone who is enjoying them too.😊