Labeo - popular among aquarists small fish, reminiscent of their appearance of miniature sharks. Despite the external similarity, Labeo are relatives of not sharks, but carps.
Labeo description
The body of the aquarium fish Labeo stretched, slightly compressed at the sides. In an aquarium rarely grows in length more than 10 cm, in natural conditions reach a length of 20 cm.
Color is unusual: a dark body with the same dark fins and a bright red tail. The green labeo fins are also painted red, and the corpuscle is olive.
The content of the Labeo
By the nature of the fish are quite aggressive, with a lack of territory, males will fight each other regularly. Therefore, for the Labeo, large aquariums are needed, at the rate of 80 liters of water per fish. But it is not always possible to create such spacious conditions in an apartment, therefore, in the aquariums with Labeo, distinctive delimiters of the water area necessarily create: plants, stones, driftwood and shelters in such a way that the aquarium is divided into zones. Each male will occupy one territory and will guard it from other males of the Labeo. Together at one site the males will not get along.
However, this dislike of males of their kind does not mean that fish are aggressive towards everyone. With whom the Labeo get along, it is with representatives of other species of fish, quite unlike them. Therefore, do not be afraid to place Labeo with other fish. They treat the "outsiders" quite peacefully.
Reproduction of Labeo
Labeo is very freedom-loving. For a quiet life they need a large area, and if they can still live with a small aquarium, spawning from them will be very difficult. For spawning Labeo, aquariums of at least 500 liters are required, with strong flow, good aeration and a water temperature of 28 ° C. But this is not all the conditions necessary for breeding Labeo.
In captivity, Labeo refuse to spawn, so females have to be stimulated by hormones, to do hormonal injections. Hormones are injected into the back of each fish, after which the fish are planted from each other for 3 hours. Then the spawning will begin in a couple of hours. Fish-producers devour eggs that fell to the bottom, so immediately after spawning they are planted from the aquarium.
You need to sort the caviar. White eggs are unfertilized, they have no interest in breeding fish. Fertilized eggs are transferred to an incubator with the same water and mild aeration.
What to feed the Labe fry?
For small Labeo, the best food is infusoria, rotifers, and algae nutrition. Two days after the transplant to the incubator the fry begin to eat independently.
In general, Labeo is quite unpretentious, but reproduction at home is unlikely.
Diseases of the Labeo
The most frequent diseases among the lobe are the dropsy and mucus of the skin.
The cause of the disease is overpopulation of the aquarium, improper feeding or bad water. During treatment, quarantine and specialized preparations with formalin in the composition are required. The dropsy is manifested by a swollen abdomen, ulcers on the body, reddening of the fins and abdomen. Fish can refuse food. The treatment is rather difficult, it may be necessary to feed a wide range of antibiotics.