Bedotia geayi

I found these Rainbows to be a bit more challenging than the other Rainbows I had been keeping and breeding. These fish, as with all Rainbows, have a reputation for being some very beautiful fish. Here are the three differences I notice:

Madagascar's differ from other Rainbow fish in three ways;

(1) Their shape is definitely different. Most Rainbows are tall thin fish. Much the same way as an Angelfish without the long fins. Madagascar's on the other hand are shaped more like a Killie fish. Longer than tall. Males and females are both beautifully colored but even though females may have red in their tail fins the male still has the most red coloring.

(2) The eggs of Madagascar's are larger than most Rainbow fish eggs. The fry can easily consume newly hatched baby brine shrimp as soon as free swimming. Usually a few minutes after hatching.

(3) The temperature for Madagascar's differ as well. Most Rainbows can handle temperatures up to 82°F. Madagascar's can not. I found out the hard way. I had them in the top row of my breeder stand and during one of our hot spells the temperature in the tank rose to 80°F. I began noticing that the fish weren't swimming like they should. On the 3rd day I put a light on the tank to see what was going on. Ohhh boy! They were completely covered with Ich. I immediately dropped their temperature. I also added a commercial brand of Ich. cure. I followed the directions on the bottle and treated them for three days. On the third day most of the Ich was gone. (I felt so sorry for having put my breeders through such a state.) Once the Ich was completely gone I placed the pair in a tank on the lowest row of my breeder stand.

I also found out the hard way with the fry. Most people who have read my articles know I usually do not use chemicals to treat my hatching tanks. Only heat. Well, here is the exception to the rule. My hatching tanks are maintained at 80*F. With the Madagascar fry this is too high. After hatching the fry they died. I then started putting the eggs in a livebearer basket to hatch and placed the basket in a 2' x 2' hatching tank that I would be releasing them into. This tank did not contain a heater! Now I keep the fry at 72-76°F. They are much healthier and a whole lot happier.

My breeders are housed in a 10 gallon aquarium with a sponge filter. Kept at 72-76°F. and the water is about 80 ppm. I do 50% water changes on both the breeder tanks and the rearing tanks twice a week.

Another item of interest is in the feeding of the Madagascar. With my other Rainbows I could place a thin layer of gravel on the bottom of the tank. I could place live tubifex worms in the tank and the other Rainbows would eat the worms in the gravel. Not with the Madagascar's. I had to remove the gravel from my Madagascar tank because they refused to eat the worms out of the gravel. So, I removed the gravel. I still put tubifex worms in the tank but the Madagascar's are more willing to eat the worms on the bare bottom of the tank.

Collecting the eggs: I used to remove the mops and place them in livebearer baskets. I found putting too many mops in one basket cuts down on the water circulation and oxygen level. I now remove the eggs from the mop and place these in the baskets or fine mesh nets. Handling the eggs in this way does not seem to have harmed the eggs at all. A lot of people will frown on this method but it works best for me.

Whether you choose to leave the eggs on the mops or remove the eggs is an individual preference. Either way is successful, just keep in mind not to add too many mops to the basket if this is your choice of hatching. I would suggest if you choose this method to place only one mop on each side of the basket. (That's if the basket is 5"- 8" on each side.)

At one month of age the males started showing red in their dorsal and anal fins. They were approximately one inch in length.

My pH is 7.2 and the hardness is 80 ppm. Even if your water is different you must try breeding these fish for yourself. All of us in the fish hobby have to try breeding fish with the type of water we have. If I listened to all the information I have collected on Corydoras, I would have given up before I started. Most of the literature states they should be in soft acid water. When I lived in Gerber in 1988 my water there had a pH of 8.2 and was very, very hard and alkaline. I had no problems breeding my corys in those conditions. Here in West Sacramento the pH is only 7.2 and the hardness is a bit on the soft side and I still have no problems breeding the corys.

So even though you may think your water conditions are different and you can not spawn fish try it anyway because you will never know if you can keep and breed them if you don't try.

References: