Breeding Red Neon Blue-eye (Pseudomugil luminatus)
Breeding Pseudomugil luminatus: sexing by the filament-finned red male, soft acidic plant or mop spawning and rearing the tiny fry.
Overview
Pseudomugil luminatus is a recently described blue-eye, named in 2016, recorded only from swamps near Timika in Papua Province, Indonesia. FishBase lists it as a very small species and gives a maximum standard length of 1.9 cm, with adult males distinguished by an elongated filament on the second dorsal spine and the first segmented pelvic-fin ray. It is listed as Endangered. As a Pseudomugil blue-eye it is a continuous plant-spawner.
Sexing
FishBase describes males as generally yellowish to reddish with a neon-blue stripe along the uppermost part of the body and median fins bearing widely scattered black spots and white-to-yellow tips. Males develop the elongated dorsal and pelvic-fin filaments; females are plainer and rounder-bodied.
Conditioning
Condition a small group on varied small live and frozen foods until the females round out with eggs and the males show their fullest red colour and display strongly to one another.
Breeding Setup
- Provide fine-leaved plants such as java moss or nylon spawning mops as egg sites.
- FishBase places the species in freshwater, tropical habitats.
- A small group with one male to two or three females encourages steady spawning.
Spawning Behavior & Trigger
Like other blue-eyes it is a continuous spawner, with the displaying males courting females that deposit small numbers of adhesive eggs into the plants or mop each day over an extended period rather than in a single batch.
Egg & Fry Care
Eggs attach to the spawning medium by fine threads. Following the pattern of the genus, the very small fry begin on infusoria-type foods before taking free-swimming foods such as brine shrimp nauplii and microworm as they grow.
Common Challenges
Adults will eat their own eggs and fry, so removing the spawning medium for separate hatching greatly improves results. The very small first fry need infusoria-sized foods and clean, stable water. As a recently described and Endangered species recorded only from swamps near Timika, it also benefits from maintaining pure, well-recorded aquarium lines rather than mixing it with other blue-eyes.