Monday, January 5, 2015

Epiplatys infrafasciatus infrafasciatus

      I enjoy the genus Epiplatys, from the diminutive annulatus to the medium sized dageti, and finally to the larger species such as Epiplatys infrafasciatus infrafasciatus.

My male Epiplatys infrafasciatus infrafasciatus
      My Epiplatys infrafasciatus infrafasciatus Mile 4 were purchased for me by Lee Harper at the 2012 AKA Convention in St. Louis.  The fish were raised by Sandy Binder, and received a rating of 90 points. I was thrilled that Lee was able to buy them for only $10 in the auction.  The original pair was very productive, so it was not long before nobody wanted the offspring in our local auctions. It often works that way.


      The picture above is of two of the three females in a fifteen gallon tank with one male. The easy breeding part is long gone, and until last night, I had not seen a baby in well over a year.  But then, there was a speck of dirt in an algae clump that turned out to be a fry.  That rare baby was siphoned out and put into a jar teeming with paramecia.  At least it won't starve.

15 gallon with breeding quartet
29 gallon with breeding pair
      1/5/2015  Large single female from isolated 2 1/2 gallon tank was added to the pair in the 29 gallon tank to form a breeding trio.  Hope to have better luck than the nonproductive pair.

      1/4/2015  Found and removed a small fry from the 15 gallon breeder quartet.  First fry in quite some time.

      5/27/2015  Mile 4 pair purchased at AKA convention.

Hoping for more fry
      9/27/15  I had moved the quartet from the 15 gallon out to the garden in the 100 gallon horse trough. When I emptied every last drop today, I netted the original four, and saw two babies, one of which got lost somehow.  So a couple of months of summer camp resulted in one juvie, but was fun.  Brought in the parents when a threat of low 50's mornings was approaching.

      6/2/16  Caught the four adults that had been moved in 9/27/15.  Yes, all four.  Put back out to the horse trough with some water lettuce, and some bull mosquito larvae.  Good luck to the larvae.