Glass perch - aquarium fish. He is very unusual and stands out among other inhabitants with the transparency of his body. The integumentary tissue of this fish allows you to see the insides and bones. That is why it was called "glass perch". Indeed, everything is visible through a small body, as through glass. Caring for a perch in an aquarium is not at all difficult, it is quite peaceful in relation to its neighbors and is relatively hardy. In order for the fish to feel comfortable, you need to know some rules for caring for it.
Transparent fish - glass perch
As mentioned earlier, the main feature of the glass perch is its transparency. The fish is laterally flattened and high, with a diamond-shaped body. This feature is especially well manifested in fry, with age, unusual perches change.
Males and females differ in color. The first in adulthood become orange with a golden hue, females at the same age are silvery with a steel tint. When the male perch is ready to spawn, a bluish border appears along the edges of the dorsal and anal fins, and specks appear on the elongated swim bladder. The female swim bladderround, in general they look less interesting than males.
Aquarium glass perch: lifestyle
Natively a transparent fish from South Asia, in its homeland it lives in both fresh and brackish water, feels more comfortable in reservoirs with stagnant water. Under natural conditions, perches live in flocks, they do not like loneliness.
Glass perch is also known in our area. Aquarium fish, as already mentioned, does not like loneliness. Gather a flock of 10-12 perches, together they will feel good and calm. Young people quickly swim around the aquarium with the whole company, while adults are looking for places to procreate. Having decided on a place for spawning, the male begins to show his competitors his right to housing. If a stranger encroaches on the occupied territory, then a fight will be the result of such impudence. As a rule, in such battles there are no casu alties. The aquarium should be at least 50 liters in volume, otherwise the fish may have he alth problems.
Glass perch practically does not quarrel with neighbors in the aquarium, so the issue of sharing is easily solved. Carpet eleotrises, bee gobies, catfish, rasboras can be excellent neighbors … Provided that the water is brackish, you can safely add guppies and mollies to perches. When choosing neighbors for transparent beauties, follow one rule: do not add too active and aggressive fish to them.
Containment conditions
When keeping glass perches in the aquarium, if the neighborsnot required, fresh water does not have to be s alted. The reaction can be from slightly acidic to slightly alkaline. The water temperature in the aquarium is recommended to be maintained at 26 degrees. It is necessary to change a third of all water every seven days, aeration and filtration are required.
If you want your fish to feel at home, create a natural atmosphere for them in the aquarium. For this, special efforts are not required, the very first thing is to make a dark substrate from fine gravel or coarse river sand. Then you need to plant thick algae, also place floating water greens in a glass house for fish, now add driftwood and stones. That's all, the natural atmosphere for glass perch is reproduced!
What and how to feed?
In order for the glass perch to develop well, it must be properly fed. In their natural environment, fish feed on larvae, crustaceans, insects and worms. In the aquarium, the diet of transparent aquatic inhabitants consists of daphnia, coretra, tubifex and small fodder bloodworms. It should be noted that perches do not really like dry food and are reluctant to consume it.
Reproduction
At the age of six months, the glass perch is ready for breeding. Males at this time begin to divide the territory, choose places for spawning. Foreign males are not allowed to enter the occupied territory, females, on the contrary, the “door” is always open. "Boys" actively invite "girls" to their place. The mating season lasts four days, during which time a couple of perches in love spawn several times.
The female glass perch immediately lays six eggs, the male immediately fertilizes them. During one spawning, the female can lay about three hundred eggs. The incubation period lasts 25-30 hours.
Fish larvae swim after the second day, at this time they need to be fed. The diet of the larvae is living dust and rotifers. When the babies grow up, after about fourteen days, they begin to eat Cyclops nauplii with appetite. You need to carefully look after small fish and feed them regularly, then they will grow up he althy and well developed.
