Dottyback

[thepufflife]

Hello All. I have silently been at work stocking my tank (not that there was much to stock). Well, now im looking at a 150 gallon tank. The plan is to sell my current fish back to the lfs, and begin a completley new kind of tank.
An article in Coral Magazine has sparked an interest in the family Pseudochromidae in me. I would like to set up a dottyback-only tank, mainly consisting of the genus Pseudochromis, but also some Pictichromis such as the paccagnellae and flavivirtex species. I think I'd like to start out with a couple of Pseudochromis aldabraensis. I really love these little guys.
Now, I know I would like to use Miracle Mud from EcoSystems as a part of filtration. I am also considering the BakPak bio-filter. Has anyone had any experiences with it?
Any comments on this idea are quite welcome.

[Tony Gill]

That's great you are interested in dottybacks! However, a dottyback-only aquarium is a very tricky thing to tackle. In short, most species will tear each other to shreds! You might have some luck with a large aquarium and a single pair of a given species. I've kept pairs of Ogilbyina novaehollandiae, O. queenslandiae and Pseudochromis cyanotaenia with some degree of success. Two species are a little more social: P. sankeyi actually forms loose schools in the wild, and it's close relative P. fridmani lives in very closely spaced territories. There's also a hybrid between these two species now available, and it's supposed to behave much like P. sankeyi. (I'm not sure if I approve of hybrids however.) There is also some indication that some of the captive-bred specimens are a little less nasty than their wild-caught counterparts.

I'm afraid most of my experience with dottybacks over the past couple of decades is either in the wild or through the lens of a microscope. They are very cool fish though (if I have to say so myself) - tough as nails - and there are new species turning up on a regular basis. (My colleagues have been discovering new species at the rate of 2 or 3 a year - the latest one was collected last Friday in Borneo by my colleagues Jerry Allen and Mark Erdmann. Unfortunately, it's not particularly pretty. We did describe a couple of nice species earlier this year, however (Pseudochromis jace and Pictichromis caitlinae), and another (the sunburst dottyback) should be published in the near future.) Hopefully, some of the other forum members can fill you in more on aquarium requirements, and characteristics of captive-bred dottybacks. I wrote an article on keeping dottybacks for TFH many years ago (I think it was in the November 1993 issue), but it seems to have never been cited in the aquarium literature. If you can get hold of a copy, it does give a reasonable breakdown of the major species within the subfamily Pseudochrominae and their biology. Aside from that, I've been the most active researcher on the classification and taxonomy of the family for the past twenty-five years or so (I've named about a third of the currently recognised species in the family), so feel free to contact me if you need information of that type.

Tony

[melosu58]

Wish you the best on your endeavour. I`ve never had any so I cant be of much help. Will this tank have a refugium or sump?

[thepufflife]

Tony: Thank you for that. I honestly did not consider the aggression factor, but that is certainly something to put into consideration.
Melosu: I'm honestly not sure, I havent really looked at the tank a whole lot yet, not sure if it's sump-ready. I really much prefer the mechanical filters, though i know that sumps are generally better. I have never had a dottyback either, though i have had relatives who have kept them. (Well, two types-- Congrogadus subducens and Pseudochromis diadema, though i dont know if the former counts...)

[thepufflife]

Here is a possible sotcklist, though perhapss to risky:
2X Pseudochromis aldabraensis (neon dottyback)
Pictichromis paccagnelae (bicolor)
Pictichromis flavivertex (sunrise)
2X Pseudochromis fridmani (orchid)
Pseudochromis sankeyi (striped)

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

[thepufflife]

Well, after thinking about it, I decided that it's just too risky to go through with. A short-lived project. Many thanks to those that helped.

[Tony Gill]

The list you gave would be too risky, but you could try a small school of P. sankeyi (they live in schools of up to several hundred) or a group of say 5-6 P. fridmani. Another option would be to try a pair of a larger species (say Ogilbyina queenslandiae or O. novaehollandiae), along with say a trio of a much smaller species like P. cyanotaenia. (The latter lives in small groups of a single male with several females and juveniles.) As for obtaining pairs, it seems that most (if not all) pseudochromids are hermaphroditic, which allocate to one sex or another. In other words, they appear to switch back and forth between functional sexes. Actualy they simply retain both testicular and ovarian tissues, but one tissue predominates depending on social and other cues - and with a given functional sex, the fish changes colour and other characteristics to match. The upshot is that you can add any two fish together of a given species and eventually end up with a pair. (This has been at least shown for P. cyanotaenia - though the authors of the paper that described it misinterpretted how this actually happens.)

Tony

[thepufflife]

Yes, thank you for that, tony. Another reason for my backing down was remembering how badly my last, for lack of better word, family only (some called the tank species only, but it was a few different specimens). My leopard puffer went on a killing spree. I'd like to avoid that. I think now i might set up a fowlr. Of course, ittl be quite a while until I can eve obtain this tank, just thinking long-term.