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| ARTICLE INFORMATION Author: Gord Mitchell Title:The Fish Speak: AMECA SPLENDENS Summary: "Susan, Stanley and the Splendens family" tell of their breeding and the tank conditions they prefer. Contact for editing purposes: email: gmitchell@bfree.on.ca Date first published: Part of a series, 2000-2001 Publication: Brant Aquatic Enquirer Reprinted from Aquarticles: July 2004: Translated into Dutch, on Jan Bukkems' Aquavisie web site in Holland, at: http://aquavisie.retry.org/Database/Artikelen/Ameca_splendens.html |
ARTICLE USE: Internet publication (club or non-profit web site): 1. Credit author, original publication, and Aquarticles. 2. Link to http://www.aquarticles.com and original website if applicable. 3. Advise Aquarticles Printed publication: Mail two printed copies to: Gord Mitchell 25 Woodlawn Avenue, Brantford. Ontario. N3V 1A4 Canada. And one copy to: Aquarticles #205 - 5525 West Boulevard Vancouver, British Columbia V6M 3W6 Canada |
The Fish Speak: AMECA SPLENDENS by Gord Mitchell (the Provider), "Well here I am alone. Now what did I do to them to deserve this treatment? They took my mate and all those other nice livebearers away and left me in this 20 gallon aquarium all by myself. Just because I’m pregnant and almost ready to deliver these young of mine, they don’t have to shun me like this," thought Susan Splendens.
Hello there, my name is Stanley Splendens and I have just been moved away from my mate Susan to take up residence with a bunch of strangers. You see Susan is going to have our young soon and I guess they wanted to leave her alone during that period. I know we picked on the other livebearers a bit but we didn’t really want to hurt them so I guess the pregnancy must be the reason for the move. Okay while I am waiting for news from the maternity ward let me tell you a bit about our breed, if I may. Our ancestors emigrated initially from the Rio Ameca and Rio Teuchitlan in Mexico and Central America. We are also known as the Butterfly Goodeid. Normally we desire lots of light, a dark gravel bottom with lots of big rocks and dense vegetation. Even though we prefer this dark dense bottom we still require a good filtration system with a water temperature of from 26 to 32 degrees Celsius. We have from 5 to 30 fry that are connected to their mother by a 6 mm long umbilical cord that falls off within 24 to 36 hours after birth. When born, our young are approximately 2 cm long and the gestation period is from 55 to 60 days. When full grown our males are from 6 to 8 cm and females from 7 to 12 cm long. Oh Oh! Hang on; I just got word from the maternity ward. My lovely mate Susan just delivered about 15 young fry and it seems that Mom and they are doing fine. I’m going to turn this narrative over to one of the fry so they can tell you a bit more. Hi there my name is Sherman Splendens and I’m one of those 15 fry which were recently delivered to my Mom, Susan Splendens. I would like to tell you a bit about our environment and treatment if I may. First of all a few days after we were born The Provider’s lady moved our Mother back into the tank with our Father and now there is just my brothers, sisters and me in this lovely spacey 20 gallon aquarium. We have a carpet of from 1.5 to 2 inches of white gravel with lots of live plants growing in it. Over our heads we have a full size canopy with a florescent light. Under the gravel I’m told is an under gravel filter with a power head over there in the corner. In the other back corner we have a lovely big sponge filter to provide us with some natural food. We even have some large rocks, tunnels and passageways to play in. It’s just like having our own playground and no parents to supervise us. When we were born I overheard one of those big people out there say that we were very big babies and they were surprised that Mom had 15 of us considering our large size. I guess we are, shortly after birth, about 1.5 cm long. Oh yes when we were born we were linked to Mom with an umbilical cord for a short time after birth. Since birth we have been treated quite well by The Provider and his lady. Each Sunday we receive a 10 percent or more water change, then they check our filtration system, reset our plants and clean the outside of our new home. However the best comes when they’re finished the water change. When all of us have been cleaned up we receive a good feed of live baby brine shrimp and let me tell you that is the cat’s meow. Oops let me rephrase that. That is just what the doctor ordered. Each morning The Provider turns on our illumination and feeds us either a special fry food or one of several different flake foods. It really depends on our size I guess. Then for dinner we get a real treat which might consist of any of the following. Frozen beef heart, frozen shrimp, frozen blood worms, freeze-dried blood worms, freeze-dried tubifex worms, mosquito larva, plankton or pellets. We are really putting on the ounces with the excellent diet we are receiving. By the way I overheard The Provider and his lady talking and it seems that we, the fry, and our parents will soon be moving into new homes. It seems that we are to visit something called an auction. Well gotta go now, it’s time for our playtime and my sister Stormy is going to be it for tag. Take care, best wishes and see you at the auction, whatever that is. Susan, Stanley and the Splendens family |
