|
Select Aquatics of Erie, CO |
|
|
|
|
Breeding the Puntius padamya "Odessa"
Introduction
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* I will use Photoshop to clean up a photo, but there is no enhancement
of the red in any pictures of the Odessas- They really are that red!
|
|
|
|
|
The practices described in these next pages
will work well for most any danios, barbs and some tetras you may wish
to spawn,
and much of what I
describe here is now routinely used here to breed many thousands of
Odessa barbs, but none of this exists in
most texts on the
breeding these types of fish..
Often the broad needs are mentioned- this is how we meet those needs.
This essay is strictly on the Puntius padamya, one of a
few species sold in
stores as the "Odessa Barb" Other species can be bred using these
techniques, provided that essential
water parameters are met.
Some species, for example, may breed well under these circumstances, but
may also require a pH or
hardness that will need
to be created for spawning to occur.
Once those issues are met, this method can be used. Manipulation of
light can also be used to trigger spawning in some species,
but it does not have the
same effect on the Odessas. Hopefully these next pages will inform you
on how get them to breed, and harvest
and raise the fry, your
research on the water conditions required by another species will still be necessary.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Since 2006, through numerous breeding cycles, the best fish were
isolated and used as breeders to selectively breed
for a deep velvety red, with rich black markings. Selecting for the
yellow back ground in the dorsal is also a trait I look for.
|
|
|
|
|
Breeding the Odessa Barbs is not difficult, in that
they are a fish that when ready to spawn will do so pretty
consistently, and predictably.
This fish is considered one of the fastest swimming
fish you can keep in the home aquarium, with an intensity of
color that rivals salt
water fish. Any need for a water change, or improvement
in their environment is often made clear as their color will
dull or become
washed out. Their color is best with good oxygenation
and some water movement, low to moderate light conditions,
plants for security,
and surrounding color is slightly subdued. A group of
the healthiest males will look like very unhappy fish if put
into a brightly lit tank with,
say, white gravel, no place to hide for security, etc.
Like most egg scatterers, they will eat their eggs and
the eggs of other females spawning nearby. The young are nearly
microscopic, at
the size of the smallest rainbow or killiefish fry. The
challenge is simply maintaining consistent, adequate water quality,
through carefully
maintaining a balance between the food going in, the
young's increasing water quality needs as they grow and produce more
waste, and
your efforts to maintain water quality with
3-4x per day water changes during their first month. The fry are large
enough to be handled
with a net at 30 days, and must be divided up
into grow out tanks at that time, as the number of fry will overwhelm a
29 gallon tank.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A group of 3 month old unsexed, uncolored, young. Males and females are
nearly identical. |
|
|
|
|
The specifics of breeding them in a home aquarium is
by necessity more difficult than what commercial breeders do to
breed them, who
use large ponds, and net out fish on a regular
basis. The process of breeding them in larger numbers in a home fishroom
may seem
involved, but within the confine of a glass aquarium,
you must maintain control of the breeding process, feeding and water
quality.
You can also visually inspect every fish to pull those
that do not reflect the line you are developing, as well as select the
absolute best fish
as breeders. HOWEVER, they are extremely hard to catch,
and going for a specific fish in a group of these guys with a 4 or 6
inch net
really is impossible.
THEN, once they know what you are up to, and get spooked, they all wash
out of color, and any hope to find the fish you wanted is lost.
You need to wait a half hour for their color to fully
return, and do it again. This "standard way" will never work.
What works here is we gently scoop up a bunch in a
large 10 inch black mesh net, and do not remove it from the water, or
crowd the fish
too much. The net is then rested over the corner of the
tank. and with a 2 inch net, we pull the fish that suits our needs. The
fish are then
slowly released, and a new bunch is gently scooped up
again and the process repeated.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Odessa fry just a few hours old.
Young males beginning to color out at 6-7 months. |
|
|
|
|
Incredibly beautiful male odessas were
available fairly consistently in the pet trade until about 7-10 years
ago. The Odessa barb is not
an easy fish to make work commercially - but it's
bright colors made them worth the effort. The males take 6 months for
their color to
first appear, and about 8 months before they are ready
for sale. The females, though attractive, have a near total absence of
the red
and black that make the males so attractive and
popular. So to raise them commercially, they must be fed and grown out
for a number of
months, and then 50% are culled, because they are
females. They do breed consistently, in that their coloration is
generally very good,
but about 5% of the males will still need to be culled
to maintain their consistent appearance.
Recently a wholesaler
contacted me, as he heard I had this line of the Odessas. He was very
interested in obtaining them, and he
confirmed they are no longer available in the hobby. He
asked if I could produce 2500 a week. After getting off the phone with
him
I did the math, figuring what it would take to
consistently produce 2500 males only, every week, given that they must
be kept for
8 months before being sold, and 50% that are brought to
sexual maturity must be culled as they will be females. I figured I
would
have to have 80,000 fish on hand, at various stages of
grow out, not to mention the water changes 3x per day, 7 days per week.
I declined.
Though a lot of culling needed to happen with those I
originally received, their color after many years of breeding my
absolute best
fish has produced a very spectacular line. I have been
told that others have this fish and are breeding them as well, which is
good,
for otherwise they will be lost to the US hobby. If you
are selectively breeding this fish and reading this, I would like to
talk
with you and possibly swap fish!
|
|
|
|
|
Origins
Much has been written about the origin of the "Odessa
Barb", and that name has been attached to more than one species of fish.
The fish of this article were long thought to be a
hybrid, and many still claim that its origins are unknown. From having
had
a number of researchers contact me since advertising
them at this site, and conversations with many other fishkeepers,
this is my current understanding:
They are originally from Burma, and brought by sailors
to Odessa, Russia, where they were obtained by a small group of expert
hobbyists who learned to keep and breed them. (Herbert
Axelrod met with these breeders, and the encounter was photographed
and published in a couple of publications). I was told not
too long ago that wild specimens of the fish I am breeding have been
collected, and they are in fact not that dissimilar to
the fish kept in the hobby. Determined to be a distinct species only
recently (it is not a hybrid), it has been named Puntius padamya, and I have been told recently that they may have been
put into a new genus. But they are not a hybrid, they
were first kept and bred in Russia, and they are from Burma. That is my
understanding, but of course, only for as long as the
information I received is effectively challenged. I actually had someone
claim to have and offer original wild caught fish, from
Burma, but I didn't pursue it at the time. (I was skeptical).
If someone knows more about this, please do not hesitate to drop
me an email!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|