# Indostomus paradoxus



## BigTom (14 Feb 2012)

A quick video here of my newest favourite fish, _Indostomus paradoxus_. These guys are awesome, halfway between a pipefish and a stickleback, and only 2.5cm long. I currently have half a dozen of them in a 30cm cube.

Had major problems with dim lighting and reflections trying to film these little dudes, one or two shots are in focus though


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## Kristoph91 (16 Feb 2012)

Really interesting!


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## ghostsword (17 Feb 2012)

Great tanks, I've never seen these fish before...  

What do they eat?


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## BigTom (17 Feb 2012)

ghostsword said:
			
		

> Great tanks, I've never seen these fish before...
> 
> What do they eat?



Really small things   

Live foods only, but they have really tiny mouths... they're mainly eating the cyclops living in the tank at the moment, along with whatever other 'invisible' stuff is in there. Even daphnia/ostracods are too big for them. Have got some micro/banana/walter worm cultures going now, hope they'll take those. Apparently newly hatched artemia also work.

Great fish for a self-sustaining setup.


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## ghostsword (17 Feb 2012)

They look really nice, would not mind to add them to a 35l tank with some galaxy rasboras. Would they take artemia eggs? Or really only live food?


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## BigTom (17 Feb 2012)

Think this is one of those species that when people say 'live food only', they really mean it. They tend to lurk under branches and vegetation and just snap at things that move past them.


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## ghostsword (17 Feb 2012)

I will check if I can see them for sale anywhere in London. It can't be that hard to sort out a live culture for them.


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## BigTom (17 Feb 2012)

Tropical Fish Finder shows Aquatic Design Centre as having them in stock.


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## ghostsword (17 Feb 2012)

Fantastic, I will pop in on Monday to check it out. I think that they would be a good addiction for a messy tank I have, messy as it is full of moss, wood and ferns, barely see the galaxy rasboras.


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## frothhelmet (20 Feb 2012)

thanks for sharing.


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## BigTom (19 Jul 2012)

Fun times in the toothpick tank – saw some vigorous courtship displays a couple of days ago, and today spotted a fry about 6mm, so presumably from an earlier mating.

For the record; pH 6ish, 30ppm, 23 degrees. Tank shared with a trio of Parosphromenus and fed almost exclusively on micro/banana worms.


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## sr20det (19 Jul 2012)

BigTom said:
			
		

> Fun times in the toothpick tank – saw some vigorous courtship displays a couple of days ago, and today spotted a fry about 6mm, so presumably from an earlier mating.
> 
> For the record; pH 6ish, 30ppm, 23 degrees. Tank shared with a trio of Parosphromenus and fed almost exclusively on micro/banana worms.



Thats awesome, that look pucker, what filteration do you have noticed little water movement, so assume a HOB?  read that they can take 215ppm TDS and up to 7.5 ph, which is pretty decent for tap water really.


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## BigTom (19 Jul 2012)

sr20det said:
			
		

> BigTom said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



There's a little Dennerle corner filter in there, turned down to lowest flow.


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## darren636 (19 Jul 2012)

they really are something special. Your cube looks pristine as well. 30 ppm is pretty extreme and so is their feeding regime  but they are fascinating. Tom does it again. Brilliant.


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## BigTom (19 Jul 2012)

darren636 said:
			
		

> they really are something special. Your cube looks pristine as well. 30 ppm is pretty extreme and so is there feeding demands but they are fascinating. Tom does it again. Brilliant.



The water params are just using tap water and an active substrate. The fish themselves are pretty adaptable - http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/in ... paradoxus/


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## darren636 (19 Jul 2012)

active substrate.... Peat?


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## BigTom (19 Jul 2012)

darren636 said:
			
		

> active substrate.... Peat?



ADA Amazonia - just because I had some left over.


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## Tim Harrison (20 Jul 2012)

Another Attenborough-esque video; an interesting insight in to the behavior of these little dudes. I think I'd need a tank with a convex lens front to see them without the benefit of your video.


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## darren636 (20 Jul 2012)

man..... I was glued to my laptop looking at these guys last night.... Not a good sign....


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## Garuf (20 Jul 2012)

Lovely little fish, I suppose it'd be too much to be small interesting and good in high turnover tanks!  One for a species project I think! Great video, brilliant fish!


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## Gill (20 Jul 2012)

Great video Tom, Can't wait to order some of these when ready.


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