The praecox has been a hidden beauty that was rediscovered by Heiko Bleher in 1992. Know originally from 31 specimens collected in 1920 from the Mamberano River, northern Irain Jaya in New Guinea, its preserved colors left allot to be desired. Looking at the drawings in of this fish in Rainbowfishes of Australia and Papua New Guinea (Cross & Allen) its a wonder it wasn't rediscribed when it was rediscovered. The colors of the drawn fish are a green top half, silver bottom half, and a slight pinkish tinge to the fins. Even the shape of the looks wrong when I look at my living fish.
The area this fish comes from is a strictly controlled area on Indonesia. Outsiders are just plain not allowed to go there. Also with good intentions, exportation or collection of wild life is strictly forbidden in Indonesian New Guinea. This is to prevent exploitation, and the destruction of the native environment. On the other hand, with the need to raise revenues, this same government issues mining licenses with no restrictions. Raw ore is treated and the tailings are dumped directly into the waterways. This has wiped out all life in some waterways. To make a point on the seriousness of this situation, many species have been found in single a waterway in New Giunea, and no were else. Its impossible to guess how many beautiful species will never be know because of these actions. We are lucky that the praecox was rediscovered and some way was found to get them out of the country.
The next step in getting the praecox in hobby tanks was to breed these first specimens. Of the original spawning, I know nothing but that it was achieved. Now with a fish this beautiful some one decided lets make some big bucks. Lets sell only males. They look the best anyhow, and if no one has females we can charge what we like. Next we get Aquarium Rio (Germany) the EXCLUSIVE WORLD-WIDE DISTRIBUTOR and Ekk Will the U.S.A. EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTOR per an add in Aqua Geographia (GRRRRR). Sorry, I don't understand or agree with the idea of exclusive distribution of a naturally occurring species.
Well some how some females came into the hobby outside of this exclusive relationship. When I saw some pictures of this fish, I knew some day I had to have some. Then I heard about females being Europe and a few hobbyists were breeding them. Then I actually found out about a mop of eggs in America. In fact I was with the person receiving them when word came they were at the post office. Ahh, in 6 months to a year he should be spawning them. In another 6 months to a year maybe I can finally get a pair. Well I've seen allot of fish in fish books I waited at least if not longer before I got some, I've learned patience. Then one day I'm reading my e-mail and at the end was a by the way from this same person-
"My other option of getting praecox (live pairs) just came through. I couldn't resist getting some more and have 1 extra pair available. Do you want them? Let me know soon because they're on their way from Germany and I have to find a home for them."
I couldn't believe it, DO I WANT THEM? Well does a bear ___ in the woods. Is the Pope ______. H___ ya, I want them. I jump up, grab the phone and start dialing. Yes they are supposed to make it into the country on Thursday and he'll rebag and ship them the next week if they if everything goes well. Yes I know, I assume all risks. Dead from Germany and they're mine. Dead at Minneapolis airport and they're still mine. A week and a couple of days and I'm going to the airport. I get to the counter, get the fish, and open up the box, I don't think I've taken a breath since Interstates 494 & 35W whoooooosh, they are alive.
Finally I'm back home with my prizes, which my wife quickly deems with the title their Majesties. They are all I've talked about since I got the e-mail. They are going into a tank I just set up for them. 20 gallons, UGF, established sponge filter, pH 7.0 and general hardness 7 DH. I take 2 hours slowly adding tank water to the bag water, its pH was 7.0 with 5 or 6 DH. I wasn't taking any chances. The fish looked a little stressed after the trip but immediately accepted baby brine shrimp and ate well. The next day they looked like they had been living their whole life in that tank. And they seemed to love both the baby brine shrimp and the spirulina flake I fed twice a day.
In a couple of days I've got eggs in the mop. I return the mop with the eggs and go to check it the next day. Now I have new eggs, but yesterdays eggs seem to have fallen off, or been eaten. This goes on for about a week when I decide to start picking the eggs daily and moving them to a hatching container. It seems that my praecox's eggs aren't all that adhesive. They come off of the mop extremely easily. And each day when their Majesties spawn they knock off the previous days spawn.
My hatching container is actually a floating light plastic container that some fish food came in. I've punched some small holes in the sides to allow the tank water to pass through, but not large enough for fry to leave or eggs to fall out.
After a few days of harvesting egg, I open up the tank top to harvest the mop and notice something small dart on the top. I get down and look through the glass at the surface, and sure enough those eggs that were thrown off during their Majesties pleasures have been hatching. There are about a dozen fry swimming on the waters surface. Well now I've got a big dilemma, move the parents or the fry? I've never had much luck moving rainbow fry. Seems the smallest change in water conditions wipes them out. Move the parents and something goes wrong, (fish flops out of net, cat graps, cat dies) and no more fry. Well I decided to move the parents. The cat, I sent outside. I took half the water from the parents tank, and put it in an identical set up, with the other water fresh and the same make up. Their Majesties didn't even act the least bit stressed. I set up a slow drip to replace the water in the old tank and all the fry lived. Or I think they did, because each day I was getting more fry. I ended up with about 50 in that tank.
The fry needed micro-food to start with. I use O.S.I.'s APR and the fry were eating baby brine with in a week. They grew very quickly and I began to see orange lines on the top and bottom of the fry. This seem's to be related to the growth of the fins and fades shorthly after the fins become present. Also the harvesting was going well. The first picked eggs were hatching ( it seems to take about 7 to 14 days) depending on temperature. And as my picking skills got better I got 100% fertility on the eggs. Or maybe the pair just matured a little and threw a little stronger eggs. When I first started picking I'ld get all fertile one day, half fertile the next, 3/4 the next, the fertility of the eggs just wasn't consistent. As soon as the fry got big enough I began supplementing the brine shrimp with the same flake food the parents got. At about 2 months of age I was able to begin sexing the fastest growers of the spawn. I always seem to get mix of growth rates with my rainbow fry. The fast group (40 % of the fry) grow at twice the rate of the center group, the center group contains about 50 % of the fry, and the slow group (usually about 10 %) grows at half the rate of the center group.
More notes on the parents- there is no way the beauty of these fish can be caught by camera. Even my female, with a good diet, has out colored many photographs of males I've seen. And the male is hard to believe. You just don't find a fish with a red as deep and rich. Combine that with the reflective neon blue and I understand why these are being called the fish of the century. I can hardly wait to have a school of mature adults flashing away in a tank. I do believe you would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful display.