Macropod (fish): compatibility with other fish in the aquarium

Fish macro is a long-time familiar aquarists, both experienced and beginners. This paradise fish - another name for the macropod - together with the goldfish were the first inhabitants of European aquariums, and although the current diversity of species of water inhabitants for household maintenance has significantly expanded, the motherland of macro fish is not the only place where these handsome men reproduce and live. They have long learned to breed in captivity.

What does the Macro fish look like?

The appearance of the paradise fish completely corresponds to its name. The combination of colors and shades of this beauty, perhaps, is the main reason for the inexhaustible popularity of this species. The body of macropods is in the shape of an oval, oblate on both sides, elongated in length. The first ventral fin is stretched out like a ray. Long dorsal and ventral fins pointed, tail - forked, fluffy fin. In places where the fish live macro in nature, the length reaches up to 11 cm in males, 8 cm in females. Aquarium specimens grow much less - about 6-8 cm.

Coloring bright, with alternating transverse wide and straight strips. Color: dark red stripes, turning into bright crimson, alternating with green, blue, sometimes lemon lines. In addition to the classical color schemes, there are black macroblocks and albinos.

Now we know what a macro fish looks like. The photo below shows how beautiful she is.

Gender differences

Macropod (fish), the male, in addition to its size, is distinguished by a more vivid coloration, a lush tail with thread-like processes. The same magnificent in the male and fins: anal and dorsal. Female can look more rounded when caviar ripens in their abdomen.

Life in the natural environment

The motherland of the fish is a macro region - the Asian region. These handsome men can be found in China, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Japan, Southeast Asia, Taiwan. Some species of macropods successfully inhabit the water bodies of the USA and Madagascar, where they were artificially introduced.

They survive in any ponds with standing water: low-water rivers, ponds, swamps, lakes, do not disdain even gutters, swim in rice fields. To survive in such difficult conditions, the special structure of the internal organs allows them. Nature has endowed the macropods with an evolutionary organ - a labyrinthine respiratory organ. Additional blood capillaries in the gills allow the release of oxygen from the air. This feature of the macropod should be considered when transporting fish from the place of purchase to the aquarium: a small air space should be left between the water and the lid of the dishes. Macropod - a fish that is highly endangered, being in an emergency situation without water (the aquarium has crashed, for example). Just do not abuse it.

Lifestyle

Aquarium fish (macro) have successfully passed into the category of pets over 100 years ago. The first to describe them was the naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, beautiful paradise fish have gradually colonized almost all the aquariums in Europe, along with the most popular goldfish. At the beginning of the twentieth century, aquarists of Russia met and became friends with them.

They won the authority of the macro-pop, not only for their beauty, but for their unpretentiousness. The native land of fish of macro-aquarium type has accustomed to Spartan way of life and unpretentious food.

However, with the expansion of species of fish for aquarium content, the popularity of macropod species has fallen. What is the problem? After all, and smart, and beautiful, and unpretentious? The fact is that the macropods turned out to be terrible fighters, especially males. They fight to death with each other and with representatives of other species. To settle them in a common aquarium you need to know some tricks.

Content in captivity

Aquarium fish are thermophilous creatures. The homeland of guppy fish, macropod, catfish, gourami, like most other popular species, are countries with a warm climate. Despite this, special heating for water in the aquarium of the macropod, unlike others, is not required. A single macro or a couple can live even in an ordinary three-liter jar. The chemical composition, rigidity and active reaction of water also do not matter. These inhabitants of stagnant marshes do not pretend even for the freshness of water (an excellent variant of a pet for lazy masters). The optimum temperature in a fish dwelling is 20 ^о -24 ^о , although it can withstand short-term extreme heating up to 38 ^о or cooling to 8 ^о . Despite the unpretentiousness, for the possession of a healthy and beautiful fish of bright color it is necessary to provide her with proper care.

Aquarium Equipment

In spite of the fact that one or two macropods do not claim to have extensive housing, a larger fish can be grown in a more spacious aquarium. The most suitable volume of dishes - 10 liters, and for several fish - up to 40 liters, depending on the number of individuals. Sand, small pebbles, gravel or expanded clay are used as a primer. Soil is better to stack dark, a layer approximately in 5 centimeters.

What else is needed in the aquarium is plants, and a lot. For planting in the soil, you can use vallisneria, pinnacle and hornwort, on the surface you can settle duckweed, nymphaea and other similar algae. In addition, that the macropods will feel themselves at home, the thicket can hide the female from a too violent friend. This purpose is served by a variety of aquarium decorations: broken pots, houses, snags, stones, grottoes. The illumination of the place of the maintenance of fish is necessary such as is necessary for the growth of algae.

Above, the aquarium is covered with a lid with air holes. The fact is that too fast macro-pops can fly out of the water. In the event that the content is supposed to be in a common aquarium, when for other species of fish filtration is required, then it is necessary to arrange it without a strong current.

Macropod: compatibility with other fish

The aggressiveness of the macrocosm forces us to be cautious about the choice of its neighbors. The predator attacks not only fish of other species, but also their fellow humans, and goes to more calm females and young animals. Two fights can be arranged for fights, like two cocks. Experienced fans of aquariums know the way to tame the violent mores of fighters. Pisces needs to be educated, but at an early age. If you run macropods into the "society", which are not more than two months old, they grow up together with everyone, get used to and do not attack not only the large fish, but also the small ones. If you add adults to the aquarium, you need to know some rules:

• Macropods do not get along with veiled tails.
• You can not settle with goldfish, guppies, gouramis, scalars, neons.
• The fish that have been resettled for a while and returned back are perceived as alien and are attacked.
• The larger and tranquil fish are deterred by the aggressor: danio, synodontis, barbs and others.
• You can not settle two males together, for the female shelters are needed.

Food

Macropod is a fish from the category of predators, that's why it prefers live food in nature, although it also feeds on vegetation. In natural water bodies, the main food of this fish is small inhabitants, insects, which the macro can swallow, jumping out of the water.

In aquariums macropores eat all kinds of fish food. Most preferable for these handsome men are live bloodworms, tubules. Frozen prawns, black mosquito larvae, cyclops, daphnids must be thawed before feeding. Delicacy for paradise fish are pieces of homemade minced meat, but such a product should be just a rare delicacy. Dry food containing carotene, improve the brightness of the coloring of fish, but do not need to put them in the basis of the diet.

Macro sub is always hungry - there are all and many, measures do not know. In order to avoid gluttony, they are fed a little, twice a day. In the aquarium these orderlies prevent excessive reproduction of worms, snails.

Breeding in captivity

Get a healthy offspring of macropores in captivity is easy, if you know the specifics of their spawning. Fishes are ready for reproduction at the age of 8-7 months. Determine the ready-to-spawn female can be round the blown stomach. The room for the "children's" equip like a normal aquarium, but here you already need aeration of water. A special labyrinthine organ develops only from the second week.

A week before spawning, the couple is separated and fed abundantly. In spawning the first "father" moves and in a day - a female. Despite the violent disposition, macro-fathers are very caring and economic. They build a nest of air bubbles on the surface of the reservoir, under algae, drive the female into it and help it to squeeze the eggs, wrapping around. Several such approaches, and all the eggs in the nest. After that, the "mother" should be taken from the "maternity home", as the "father" starts to drive her away, quite aggressively, and all care for the fry from now on takes over.

A couple of days later, larvae appear, the nest disintegrates. Too caring father should be removed from children. Feed fry infusoria, mirkorm, egg yolk. Two months later, sorted, leaving individuals with a bright color. For those who are going to be engaged in breeding macropods seriously, you need to know that the optimal conditions, sorting help to get the fish bright and regular shape.

The whole process of spawning, the behavior of fish during the construction of the nest, their care for the offspring is a very fascinating and exciting process for observation.

The average lifespan of the macropod in the aquarium is 8 years. The most common species in our aquariums is considered to be a macro of the classic variety of palettes. Black, red-back and round-tailed varieties are rare guests of domestic water areas.

Classic and diverse

The classical species of fish, originally from China, which directly corresponds to the description in shape and size, has several variants of coloring. The most common: red and greenish-blue cross strips on a brown background, blue fins, head and abdomen are light blue. No less popular macro is the blue one - a handsome man with a purple back and head and body, the color of blue. Red smooth and orange - rare colors of the classic variety of macropod. Also in aquariums you can meet the macropod-albino. These specimens have a white body, pale pink fins, red eyes and weak yellow bands on the sides.

Rare species

Distinctive features from their classic relatives are rare varieties of macropods, such as black, red-backed and round-tailed.

• The most peaceful of all sorts is black fish macro (photo). The specimen of the black variety is slightly larger than the other species. In nature, they live in the southern part of the Mekong. Calm macro has a skin color of all shades of brown and gray colors, decorated with blue, mountain or red fins. But in a state of excitement blackens from anger in the literal sense of the word. This is his ability to change the color palette and made him popular. It belongs to the category of rare, since in its pure form it is rarely sold, and in the process of selection, the purity of the color is lost.

• Red-back macro is also called silver: both the body and fins of its red-silver color, and falling into a certain light, are pearl deposits. The tail and fins of this dandy are edged by the former band.
• Very rare among collectors-aquarists round-tailed or Chinese fish macro. The motherland of the fish is Taiwan, Korea, the eastern part of China. The small number of aquarium animals is explained by the peculiarities of the content. Accustomed to winter colds in natural habitats, this fish requires cooling the water space to 10-15 ^o , in a warmer environment does not multiply. In addition, he lives in captivity for no more than four years, often ill with mycobacteriosis.

Interesting about macros

Unobtrusive to external conditions and omnivorous macropores, however, is listed in the Red Book as a species requiring protection. It's all about human activities. Active development of the national economy and the development of new territories lead to the destruction of favorable places for the settlement of paradise fishes.

Caviar is swallowed by a female, for her detention spawning adversely affects the health, as the caviar spoils. For the male, however, frequent spawning, more than 2-3 in succession, on the contrary, leads to exhaustion, even to death.

In Europe, the first paradise fish appeared in France in 1869.

Macro Pod - the fish is very smart, it is nice to watch and even play.

Macropods - the first of aquarium fish were awarded descriptions of standards, and specially for them was organized a contest in Germany in 1907.

The desire to select new types of color of macro-popes often leads to the fact that the colors turn pale and the health of the fish deteriorates.

On the emblem of the Moscow Society of aquarium lovers, it is precisely the macropod that is depicted. They love him for his unpretentiousness and beauty. Despite the disparaging nature, the macropods always delight their hosts.