I wrote a fish in focus article on them: http://www.nanfa.org...Egilberti.shtml
and a long, detailed post: forum.nanfa.org/index.php/topic/10536-elassoma-gilberti/
I've kept them both heated and not (they don't care).
Yes I got lots of fry from them (went from 5 to 84 fish from fall to spring) but no I don't have any right now. They are very short lived, maybe a year or two life span. If you have a period of no fry, your colony gets old and then you don't have any any more.
No, I don't recommend them with swamp darters. The darters I kept, Etheostoma spectabile, were not compatible with my swordtails as they ate all of their fry. Maybe swamp darters are different, but it's not worth risking your colony of Elassoma. You've got to keep fry production going.
It was a long journey. If I were to get more Elassoma, I'd do it as follows:
Food: grindal worms, blackworms, thawed frozen bloodworms, microworms.
Setup: Two tanks. Put some adults in a second tank for a few weeks or a month (until they spawn), then at the first sign of fry put them back in the main tank. Wait for the babies to grow up, then put most of them in the main tank.
Thank you very much, great and interesting reading.
I guess you took your friends advice and got real fish , lol .
"My friends who visit me to stare at my tanks really hate the Elassoma; they can never see anything inside the aquarium and even I can only rarely find a fish in there. My friend Shane is most vocal, and advocates, "Giving them away and getting some real fish." The Elassoma spend 99% of their time being invisible. "
I know they mostly hide but that is okay. I found them being sold at sachs when I was looking for banded suns for my other tank.
You should consider writing a TFH article because your nanfa article is just great.
Edited by Sal, 26 November 2012 - 11:48 PM.
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