#pseudomugil luminatus

[phosphoresccent]

Mer! Xephos but im also a fish nerd and i make him something weird (a neon red blue eye aka Pseudomugil luminatus)

Honeydew is a (darwins nerite? maybe) snail and Lalna is either a normal human (plot reasons) or a purple spotted gudgeon (design reasons)

[bettas-bitsandbobs]

Finally got some dwarf rainbows and a peacock gudgeon! 

[la-muerta]

How It Started vs How It’s Going, aquarium version :D

So I started a new 23-gallon (87-litre) tank at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately my neon tetras and cardinal tetras died over the year (combination of old age and poor genetics) so I switched to red neon blue-eyed rainbowfish (Pseudomugil Luminatus), which are crazy active and zoom around the tank all day.

Managed to raise some baby fish too, so that has been a fun side project.

After some trouble trying to obtain male shrimp, I’ve finally got a colony of red cherry shrimp going as well, and a little tangle of kuhli loaches, which are the most adorable wriggly fish <3

My old 4-gallon (15-litre) currently contains a single male betta fish named Yiling Laozu, who is a magnificent asshole that tries to fight everything, including the camera.

...and of course, I started a new tank, because I’m addicted XD (Nothing in it yet, still deciding what to get!)

[aquatictimes]

2-3 week old fry of several hard water species: Glossolepis dorityii, Melanotaenia herbertaxelrodi, Poropanchax luxophthalmus and Pseudomugil luminatus. Twice-daily feedings of microworms, liquid foods and crushed/powdered flakes and pellets.

[aquatictimes]

Fish with a broken jaw????

I realised today that what I thought was a ‘skin tag’ on one of my rainbows is actually open wound. It’s the first time I’ve been able to get a good look at him from below (he’s very fast, and usually hunting for food or chasing the others) and it looks as though his lower jaw is broken. He arrived with a large lump there which, other than being a little red (I kept a close eye on that), didn’t seem to be causing him any trouble. He still ate and behaved normally. I assumed it was a benign tumour or the equivalent of a skin tag. 

A few weeks ago, I came in to find that it had partially ‘separated’, and that a chunk of skin was now slightly apart from the lower jaw. From every angle I tried, everything else appeared normal. He continued to eat and there were no physical or behavioural changes over the next week, so I assumed that the area of skin was just coming off, as skin tags often do. I continued to keep an eye on him.

And then today. For some reason, I was sitting on the floor of the shed, looking up at the tank, and he just happened to be facing me directly for more than a couple of seconds. The entire centre of his lower jaw has snapped off. There is a gaping hole between the bone shelf and his mouth through which I can see his throat. A moment later, he turns away and I can’t see it at all. I spent the next 20 minutes stalking him and trying to get him at the right angle - but yes, his lower jaw is definitely broken and has partially come away from his head.

I watched him eat this evening, and he doesn’t appear to be struggling particularly, though it’s true that he’s largely feeding from the bottom, while the others eat in the centre. Areas at the tips of the wound are slightly red, but there doesn’t appear to be any swelling and his behaviour continues to be normal. I’ve honestly no idea how he’s managing at all.

Thinking back to that lump he arrived with, I’m wondering if it was an old break disguised by the skin of his jaw, and that a physical trauma of some kind (with one of the other boys, maybe?) must have aggravated the break further and caused the skin to tear and reveal the wound. 

I have no idea how to go about treating something like this. Obviously, the likelihood of him developing a bacterial infection is extremely high, particularly if life in the tank worsens the state of the injury, and I can’t be certain that he is eating enough. I can quarantine him for now, but I have no permanent solution: the quarantines are far too small for a rainbow to live in long-term, and the stress of being apart from the shoal wouldn’t help if extended past a few weeks.

Part of me wonders if it would be possible to ‘splint’ the bone? But doing anything like that would be extremely risky and I have no experience with surgery or anaesthetics - even of the mildest sorts. Seeing the state of his jaw today, though, I don’t know how he’d be able to survive more than a few months, at most. And that’s being optimistic. 

What can I do??

(Tank stats: 0, 0, 0, 7.6, 25C, heavily-planted, 171g, two canister filters rated for up to 250g each, a small powerhead for current and circulation. It’s heavily-stocked: 6 Glossolepis doryiti [of which he’s one], 6 Melanotaenia herbertaxelrodi, 3 Tateurndina ocellicauda, 12 Pseudomugil gertrudae Aru IV, 14 Pseudomugil luminatus, 12 Pseudomugil ivantsoffi, 4 Pseudomugil furcatus [arrived with severe ammonia burn and lost several because of it], 5 Oryzias woworae [am growing out fry to join them], 14 Aplocheilychthys normani, 30-50 Poecilia wingei [majority fry], 13 Phenacogrammus aurantiacus. Stocking is certainly not ideal, but is temporary and all fish are being provided with more appropriate water chemistry over the coming months, separated, boosted in number or given species tanks. Nonetheless, all are very peaceful, and I have observed no behaviours that concern me with regard to aggression or violence that could cause an injury of this sort.) 

[aquatictimes]

Some of the babs arriving next Friday:

Glossolepsis dorityi, x x

Melanotaenia herbertaxelrodi, x x

Also have another 10 Pseudomugil luminatus, 5 Notropis chrosomus and 4 Pseudomugil ivantsoffi coming, too. Want to boost their numbers.

[aquatictimes]

Update

I reaaaaaaally need to do an update soon. So much has happened, but there’s not been any time!

Basically, the fish shed is up and running, and many critters have arrived. Currently, I have:

- Macropodus ocellatus

- Oryzias latipes - mixed strains: Panda, Black Panda, Orange, Myuki, Ogumi Tri-colour and several I still need to identify)

- Oryzias woworae

- Oryzias dancena (lots of fry, all growing up!)

- Poecilia wingei, Blue Star (must have over 50, now)

- Aplocheilychthys normani

- Tateurndina ocellicauda

- Chromaphyosemion poliaki, Bolifamba

- Chromaphyosemion volcanum, Ekondo Titi

- Pseudomugil ivantsoffi, Kopi RIver

- Pseudomugil gertrudae, Aru IV

- Pseudomugil furcatus

- Pseudomugil luminatus

- Rhinogobius rubromaculatus

- Notropsis chromosus

- Neocaridina heteropoda, Blue Rili

- Channa micropeltes, aka Beast (Yep. As in the Giant Snakehead. Will need to do a massive post on that friend and that situation, in general.)

There have been a few disasters, as well (all of which are on me), and some pretty significant losses...I’ll go into that in more detail, at some point, too.