Aquarium fish glass perch: description, maintenance and breeding

Keeping aquarium fish is always interesting. It's nice to watch the fish, they help calm down, put your thoughts in order. One of the most unusual underwater inhabitants is glass perch, which got its name for a reason. If you have ever thought about purchasing such a pet, you need to familiarize yourself with its description and needs in advance.

Glass perch is a truly unique fish that can delight everyone who sees it for the first time. Another name for this type of perch is “mirror”. In nature, such a fish lives in India, Pakistan, Asia. It is noteworthy that glass perch can live in water with a low salt content. This fact has caused a lot of speculation and myths, popular so far.

To this day, most sellers claim that for glass perch it is worth buying exclusively marine aquariums, but because of their high cost, not everyone can afford such a purchase. Fortunately, these allegations have no basis, since perch lives quietly in both fresh and salt water.

The length of the mirrorfish is small, reaches about 8 centimeters. The peculiarity of the fish is that it is half transparent, so you can easily see the spine and internal organs of the pet. The body of the fish is flat, in the shape of a rhombus, the lower jaw protrudes forward. Head and abdomen have a silver tint, fins are large.

From time to time on sale it is possible to meet painted perches, for this very saturated and bright colors are chosen. Such a perch will be transparent, and the back will be colored. It is worth noting that such fish do not exist in nature; pigment is introduced artificially.

Glass perch is in great need of relatives, so it is absolutely not suitable for solitary confinement. A frightened fish will constantly be under stress, hide among pebbles and rarely appear on the surface. And long-term stress becomes the cause of many diseases, therefore it is better not to take risks and buy several fish at once, optimally - 8-12 individuals. The capacity of the aquarium should not be less than 110 liters.

A very important step is to consult with the seller about the type of water in which the fish lived before the purchase. If they lived in fresh, then the transition to salt will take time, and vice versa. In order to properly retrain the fish and help it to acclimatize in the new conditions, the process should be gradual. Individuals are placed in a separate tank, then successively change about 15% of the water in the right direction.

Replace the water in the tank once every 7 days, while the liquid must first settle for a day or two, which depends on its condition. Fresh water will cause stress, so they change no more than 25% of the volume. As for the soil, gravel or sand will be a good solution - both options will do. Light fish need bright, especially they enjoy the natural light. The presence of filters and aeration systems also becomes mandatory. Fish do not produce too much waste, so manual cleaning of aquariums is rare.

Many owners of aquariums are interested in the question, what kind of plants can be selected for an aquarium with transparent residents. In freshwater tanks you can afford any assortment: ordinary duckweed, cryptocoryne, and Javanese fern will look beautiful here. Highly recommended Asian flora, close to the natural habitat. Of course, the aquarium will need to be decorated with snags - they will help the fish to safely hide in case of fright.

Mirror perches do not cause any trouble in terms of nutrition. You can feed them with both natural and artificial compounds. However, it should be noted that artificial food can cause infertility, and if you want to avoid this, give preference to natural species. The perch will gladly eat bloodworms, artemia, tubule, daphnia, cyclops. From "human" food can be offered to pets lettuce, slices of cucumber and zucchini.

Glass perches are fed no more than 2 times a day, in small portions. Do not forget that the fish is prone to obesity, so you can not overfeed it, this will lead to health deviations and poor health. If the pets have not eaten the offered portion within 5 minutes, all residues should be removed, as they will contribute to water pollution and the growth of harmful bacteria.

When choosing "neighbors", it is important to consider that glass perches are rather shy, so they will gradually get used to new fish. At the same time, perches are rather peaceful creatures, they have a calm character, which excludes their coexistence with predatory fishcapable of destroying the entire colony in a few days.Examples of predatory fish include cichlids, piranhas, males, and goldfish.

For a freshwater aquarium, guppies, neon, cardinal, zebrafish, and pecilia can be picked up in the company of perches. In salt water, some species of gobies, guppies, splashing fish, blue-eyed neons, and mollies can take root quite well. The main rule that should be followed when choosing “neighbors” is the similarity of fish characters and the same requirements for conditions.

Mirror perches reach full maturity at 6 months - it is after this period that you can engage in planned breeding. The first thing the owner needs to do is determine the gender of the future parents. The male and the female have several clearly visible differences:

• the fins of the females are completely transparent, the males are not;
• the air bubble of a female fish has rounded outlines, male - sharp;
• on the scales of the female there are no stripes and glare, and males can clearly see the overflow.

When the fish are selected, they are placed in a spawning area lined with moss, the temperature of the liquid should be at least 30 degrees. First, female individuals are planted, giving them a portion of natural food, after a while the males are allowed. Pets are in spawning for about 4 days, during which time the female manages to lay down enough eggs. Then the fish are returned to the aquarium, as individual individuals can eat caviar.

After 3 days, fry hatch from the eggs. Here, the aquarist will have to carefully monitor their diet. Toddlers are required to be given a rotifers, and when their age reaches 14 days, then cyclopean nauplii should be present in the diet.

As for ordinary glass perches, they rarely get sick, without causing their owners trouble. But painted individuals are another matter; diseases are rarely avoided here. If the conditions do not meet the norm, then the fish can pick up several serious ailments.

• Oodiniumosis. This is a contagious disease characterized by the appearance of a golden rash on the body of the fish. If treatment is not started in time, the affected skin will begin to disappear in layers. Sick individuals are placed in special baths, where they are treated with malachite green, as well as copper sulfate. In addition, the temperature in the bath should be about 32 degrees.
• Dropsy. It provokes bloating of the abdomen in fish. To cure a pet, it should be protected from stress, only high-quality water should be supplied, and an antibiotic, for example, Bitsilin-5, should be added to the diet.
• Fin rot. This disease is characterized by damage to the fins, as well as the tail. With inaction quickly leads to death. They treat her with malachite green baths.

Most owners leave only positive reviews about the content of silver perches. Many people like the unusual appearance of these fish, their calm and peaceful disposition, as well as the fact that for maintenance especially difficult conditions are not required and even a beginner will cope with this.

Some negative feedback is due to the fact that the owners were disappointed in the short life span of the painted individuals. But here you can only point out the guilt of those who still practice such barbaric procedures, condemning healthy animals to a short and not too healthy existence.

About the features of glass perch, see below.