Breeding the Peacock Gudgeon
by Don Zilliox
First published in Some Things Fishy, Newsletter of the Tropical Fish Club of Erie
County
Aquarticles
The "Peacock Gudgeon" or Tateurndina ocellicauda is a small goby from
the Australasian region. To me it is the most colorful little freshwater fish to be
imported from any area. A mostly pink body with purple, orange, yellow, blue and black
vivid colors is seen at all times. The males are about 1" and the females a little
smaller. When fully grown the males have a stocky body with a very blunt snout area and
very pronounced pointed dorsal and anal fins. The top edge of the two-part dorsal is lined
with bright yellow, while red blotches are seen at the start of each dorsal ray along the
body. A prominent dark blue blotch enhances the caudal peduncle. The female has almost the
same brilliant coloring but a little more subdued. Her snout area is mostly pointed
and she has a much more slender body. When ready to spawn, her belly area becomes quite
swollen and has an almost silver color.
Originally I was told that this was a brackish water species but over the years I have
found this to be untrue. Actually I receive a more even sex ratio using some RO water to
obtain a hardness of around 60ppm. As with all the tanks in my fish room the temperature
is maintained at 76 degrees. They show their colors much better in a fully planted tank
but for breeding purposes I usually keep them in bare bottom ten gallon tanks with a few
clay flowerpot shards for hiding. The most important items to include are two to three
3" sections of ¾" or ½" PVC pipe for each pair. This way I can keep as
many as three males and a half a dozen females in the same tank and some Java moss is
included in hopes keeping the males apart. Just be sure there are enough PVC pieces for
everyone and then some. The males pick the location and the narrower the better. Sometimes
I wonder how they both even get in there. Once the spawning is completed the female leaves
never to return again for fear of her life. During the remaining days the male rarely even
leaves the nest, constantly fanning the eggs that are usually hanging by threads from the
top portion of the tube.
If you witness the actual spawning, you are much better than I am as I have only seen
it once over the course of quite a few years. All my PVC tubes are placed so I can view
through them to find the eggs. A good sign of a spawning is when you find the male staying
inside the PVC. Upon finding the eggs I ready a small tank with water from the breeding
tank and add a sponge filter. Covering each end with my thumb and forefinger I remove the
entire tube with the male inside. This way he hardly realizes he has even been moved. I
very sparingly offer food but he rarely leaves his post at this time. About 4 days later
little black eyes are the only part of the tiny fry that are noticeable darting about the
tank. At this time I pick up the tube to release the male and carefully net him out to
return him to the breeding tank. All eggs will not hatch at the same time so the tube must
be returned to the fry tank. Those very tiny fry will eat newly hatched brine shrimp but I
also add paramecium just to make sure they are taking some nourishment the first few days.
In about a week they will begin taking the parents' shape and you will notice those nice
orange bellies. From this time on there is no feeding problem at all, just continue with
plenty of newly hatched brine shrimp and add a few tiny Cory cats or snails to take care
of the uneaten food. As soon as they are large enough I replace the sponge filter with a
bubble-up type.
I feed all my adults either live brine shrimp or frozen brine but rarely offer flake
food, as they are not anxious to take it. They will chow down on tubifex or black worms
but I dislike using them myself as they can carry disease. In about six months the new
fish are almost ready to spawn and repeat the process all over again.
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