Aquarium fish lalius: content, care, compatibility

Aquarium fish lalius belong to the family of labyrinth fish. In their homeland (north of India) the habitats of these fish are small, but necessarily overgrown with lakes. They also like small streams or streams, where the current is rather weak.

Lalius is a veteran of decorative fish culture

Laliusov can be considered veterans of decorative fish farming, and their popularity among domestic fish lovers only confirms this status. Bright colors, calm disposition, small size, unpretentiousness in care, and also omnivorous - all this provides these fish with constant interest. And not only beginners, but also "sharks" aquarists sometimes decorate their indoor pools with lalius.

Lalious fish: content

The content of these fish is not a problem, but there are some subtleties.

Aquarium

For a couple of lalius will be enough aquarium, the volume of which is 20-30 liters. Ideally, the male should have 2-3 females, but this can affect the colorfulness of the aquarium, as the females even look much more modest than males even during the mating season.

For the successful breeding of lalius, the aquatic surface area of the aquarium is important. It is desirable that it was as large as possible. The fact is that aquarium fish lalius practically spend their entire life at the surface of the water. Here they receive food, fill the atmospheric air with a labyrinthine organ, arrange their unusual foam nests to reproduce the offspring, and then take care of it for a short time.

Soil for the bottom

Some kind of special soil for the aquarium, where it is planned to contain the lalius, is not required. Even you can abandon the idea of closing the bottom of the aquarium, but light reflected from the bottom of the indoor pool can disorient fish, introducing nervousness into their behavior. To avoid this, it is sufficient to cover the bottom with a thin layer of fine gravel (preferably dark shade) or coarse sand.

Vegetation of an aquarium

In the natural habitats of lalii, floating plants with finely divided leaves are preferred. In the thickets of these plants they like to relax. Separate parts of such plants are used in settling a nest.

But the use of only such plants makes the aquarium visually unattractive, since the lower water level looks empty. Standard plants for domestic water bodies, such as vallisneria, elodey, peristawist and Thai fern, will not only decorate the aquarium, but will also serve as a protection for the female, which has become the target of a too annoying male.

The background

You should give preference to dark tones. Such a "substrate" makes the bright coloring of the lalius even more intense, and the fish itself feels calmer.

Although in natural reservoirs lalius live in bright sunlight, but they do not tolerate bright light. Typically, fish hide under the mass floating on the surface of water plants, performing the role of a light filter. Therefore, as decorative ornaments of an aquarium it is possible to use various коряжки. Aquarium fish lalius do not need houses, so the stone structures in such an aquarium will be superfluous.

Chemical composition of water

The composition of the water in the aquarium does not play an important role. Lailiuses feel great both in soft and hard water. The permissible temperature regime of water is in the range from 22 to 28 degrees. But try not to let the water temperature drop below the 26 degree mark.

Lalious: compatibility with other fish

Neighbors of the Lalius, if you want to purchase such, can become any fish that have the same quiet disposition and similar requirements to the habitat. But nevertheless it is necessary to choose the individuals preferring to live in the lower and middle horizons of the aquarium.

First of all, by their presence they will give life to these empty layers. Do not be too active to invade the measured life of the Lalius, who prefer to spend almost all the time near the surface of the water. Do not ruin the nests built by the Malians, and if the spawning of the lalius suddenly happens in a common aquarium, this guarantees the survival of the offspring.

Fish lalius, the compatibility of which with other ornamental fish is relatively good, still does not work well with too active representatives of the fish kingdom. It should be abandoned the acquisition of such fish, which are much earlier than slow labyrinthic relatives get to the trough, having time to eat the most delicious bits. Sometimes they can leave their slow competitors at all without food.

Food for lulius

Aquarium fish lalius have a good appetite, but are not inclined to excessive overeating. In the natural habitat, the basis of the diet is flying insects, which accidentally fell to the surface of the reservoir.

Nourish these fish is not difficult. Lāliusy perfectly eat any food suitable for them in size. The main condition is that the food remains as long as possible on the surface of the water, without sinking to the bottom. The fish descends with great reluctance.

Koretta, Daphnia or Cyclops are perfectly eaten by the Lalius. Small bloodworm will also be a huge success. You can also diversify the feed for this fish, adding a balanced in its composition flakes. It will not be superfluous and the periodic addition of food products of plant origin, in particular, wolfia.

Lalius fish: maintenance during spawning period

Their sexual maturity is achieved when they are six months old. All the free time males devote to the construction of nests. The relationship between the male population of the aquarium begins to change. If before the males had completely peaceful relations, now the division of territories begins. A spacious aquarium quickly enough solves this problem, and the fish again return to the usual peaceful rhythm of life.

Spawners

If there is no possibility to select a spawning fish for fish, then it is quite possible to follow this process in a common aquarium. But in this case, the big offspring of the Lalius will have to be forgotten. Despite the fact that the male very carefully looks after the nest, he can not provide complete protection of eggs. Fry left the nest, also can not be protected from attacks from other inhabitants of the aquarium.

To get offspring, fish should be planted in a special aquarium. Sign of the fact that the couple is ready to spawn, there will be a specific bustle of the male, trying to collect in one hand a piece of floating plants. Noticing such activities, it is necessary to prepare a spawning site. In general, it does not differ from the usual aquarium, but the water in it should always be warm (28-30 degrees), and you should turn off the filtration of water.

The spawning process begins immediately after the construction of the nest. The female spawns eggs, and the male puts it in foam, and then covers another layer of vesicles. As soon as the female finishes casting eggs, it should be removed from the spawning, because it will only prevent the male from maintaining the integrity of the nest. The aquarist at this stage should simply maintain the required temperature regime. Even a slight interference in the incubation process will result in the male killing the nest along with all the caviar.

Aquarium fish lalius, the content of which during spawning does not require special effort, is extremely fertile. And in the event that part of the eggs die, the offspring will still be large enough.

Mali's fry

The offspring of these ornamental fish is distinguished by an excellent appetite, therefore in the spawning aquarium there should always be food.

Lalious - an aquarium fish, the photo of which you already saw above, is rather unpretentious in both care and feeding. For beginners aquarists it is an ideal option.