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Fishmonger Newsletter

September 2021

Construction Progress

Concrete framing for the foundation is completed, and now the plumbers are in and digging up the building pad in order to place the complex under-slab plumbing before the cement is poured.

This first pic shows the entrance for the creek water in the far left corner and the cistern which will collect the water once it leaves our aquariums.

Trenching for the central aquarium drain line.

Placement of the main aquarium drain line.

Main aquarium drain line with side lines installed. Open trenching for the main sewer drain on the left.

The drain system undergoing a pressure test.

Another major part of this build is connecting to the city’s water and sewer mains. It is not glamorous, but its necessary. Here’s the installation of the sewer manhole on the street leading to our property. The trench for the water service can be seen on the left.

Progress on the sewer and water service installation.

Installation on the street completed and ready to be repaved. Sorry to everyone who was inconvenienced by the road being shut down while this was done!

Manhole installation on the far side of our property. The sewer line runs from this manhole back to the manhole on the street. Its a big project! Blue water service pipes are lined up and ready to be installed in a separate trench being dug behind the metal skid on the left.

Trusses arrived. Brenda is in the pic for scale. These had been on backorder and we were afraid they might hold the build up, but they arrived well before we needed them, so we are now good to go on the building’s frame once the cement foundation is poured next week! Next month’s newsletter should show the actual warehouse building going up on the construction site. We are looking forward to it!!!!!

Construction Update Video

Here’s a video showing the construction progress we’ve made since last month.

Building a Fish Store! From the Ground Up...LITERALLY!!!

Oryzias latipes:

The Beloved Medaka Ricefish

If you watch aquarium related content on YouTube, you’ve probably seen videos about a fun extension of the fishkeeping hobby: Summer tubbing and patio ponds. Depending on your location, this may mean breaking out the old 100g stock tank to be filled and cycled before adding fish, or simply ramping back up the feeding and maintenance on your large koi or goldfish pond. But if you’re in a part of the world where keeping fish outdoors year round doesn’t make sense, or you simply don’t have the budget or ambition for a large outdoor pond, the medaka rice fish might just be the perfect introduction into the world of summer tubbing, even this late in the season.

A stunning example of the Miyuki strain. Note the glowing dorsal stripe which is the hallmark of this breed.

Originally from Japan and South-East Asia, the medaka rice fish (Oryzias latipes) is one of the most common species in its natural range. Found in habitats as diverse as the marshes, rice fields (from which they get their name) and brackish tidewaters of Japan, this fish is adaptable and thrives in a variety of water parameters. This adaptability makes it perfectly suited for just about any aquarist around the world, regardless of the water that comes out of your tap.

Native to temperate zones, rather than the common tropical zones from which many aquarium fish hail, this fish can survive temperatures from down to just above freezing on up to the low 80s F. The literature often states that their ideal temperature is in the upper 60’s to low 70s Fahrenheit, but here at Dan’s Fish, we’ve had them breed regularly in the upper 70s to low 80s. In fact, many Medaka ricefish are being farmed in Malaysia, Indonesia, and other warm tropical areas. This wide temperature tolerance makes them ideal for outdoor ponds and tubs. Something to keep in mind is that not all Oryzias species appreciate cool temperatures. Oryzias matanensis, paludicola, and many others come from environments which are quite warm year round. The Medaka and a few other species are somewhat unique among the genus in their tolerance of temperature swings.

An Orange Lame’ with its glittery scales.

The medaka rice fish grows to about 1.5in., and in nature is almost translucent in coloration. However, a number of stunning domesticated strains have been developed. From pure white to bright orange, and light blue to almost black, it is sometimes hard to believe that all the color forms available these days descended from their bland counterparts in the wild. The Japanese breeders who have developed these specialized strains keep them in pots, tubs, and ponds, so the focus is on developing a fish that looks good when viewed from above. To this end, Miyuki and Lame’ varieties have been produced. The Miyuki have a broad iridescent stripe running down the dorsal surface from head to tail. This stripe constantly flashes as it catches the light. The Lame’ variety contains glitter spots which sparkle in the light. Other fish lack the Miyuki stripe and the Lame’ glitter, but are boldly colored … some look like Kohahu koi with a high contrast between their orange/red and white coloration. There are others that are solid gold or white. In addition, several body and fin types have been developed. What is common among them is that they look great in a top-down pond view. With so much variety, there seems to be something for everyone. There is also a “glofish” version, but that’s cheating :)

Our Youkihi strain has a clean body without glitter or a dorsal stripe. This is a female carrying her eggs after spawning. In a few hours she will deposit them in a spawning mop where they will remain until hatching.

The Japanese rice fish has long been one of the most common lab animals in the scientific community. It’s ability to be kept without the need aquarium heaters makes it quite economical to keep. When compared to other egg-laying species, its young hatch large and are easy to feed. They also grow to maturity fairly quickly. In addition, it’s nearly translucent flesh gives observers a nearly clear window into the inside of the fish, optimal for observations about organs and other internal traits. Perhaps its most unique accomplishment in the scientific community is it’s claim as the only vertebrate ever to have bred and raised in outer space, having done so under Japanese observation aboard the International Space Station during a study on the effects of low gravity on bone density. I suppose you could say this species is “out of this world”!

The Galaxy strain is a clean bodied white fish.

This fish is so readily adaptable and prolific, it has quickly taken over swaths of waterways in which it has been introduced in recent years, even including portions of the black sea thought to be inhospitable to freshwater fish. Because of this, the medaka have been banned by every member of the European Union, a ban taken so seriously that it is even forbidden among the scientific research communities in those nations. Please, PLEASE, never release your aquarium fish into the wild no matter what the species as ecological catastrophe can, and does, result.

In aquariums, this fish is quite easy to maintain. In Japan, they have been kept for decades in earthenware pots of only a few gallons, often without aeration or filtration. However, in these cases, frequent water changes are probably needed. We keep them in aquariums with sponge filters for biological filtration and box filters to help clarify the water. They eat anything and everything they can fit into their mouths, so they are quite easy to feed. We like to give them a rotation of veggie-based foods such as spirulina flakes and algae wafers rotated with meaty foods such as carnivore pellets, krill flakes, and frozen foods. They are also great tank mates and will get along with almost any other peaceful fish species of an appropriate size.

Lame’ come in many color forms, including white.

Ricefish have a unique mode of reproduction. Males develop extensions on the anal and dorsal fin and also have a distinctive notch in the dorsal fin. During spawning, the male clasps the female with his anal fin and dorsal fins. This is done mid-water with no need for a spawning substrate. We have not observed the exact moment the eggs are expelled, but, when they are, the female carries them around on her vent like a cluster of grapes until they come in contact with a spawning mop, a plant, or the like. The sticky eggs then adhere to the mop or plant and stay there until they hatch. The eggs are like killifish eggs in that they are tough and quite large for the size of the fish. Incubation time varies with temperature, but at our higher temperatures, it usually occurs about a week after the spawning event. Fry are freeswimming immediately upon hatching and will be actively hunting for food within a few hours. We feed ours with newly hatched baby brine shrimp from day 1. The fry are resilient and easy to raise. Just feed them often and change the water often, and most of them will reach adulthood.

In addition to the Medaka ricefish, there are several types of ricefish from tropical regions. Here’s a few of them.

With an iridescent blue body and bright orange/red streaks on the fins, Oryzias woworae, the Daisy’s Ricefish, took the aquarium world by storm when it was first introduced to the hobby.

Many ricefish, such as this Oryzias profundicola, are endemic to a single habitat. This species is only found in Lake Towuti, a warm water lake on the island of Sulawesi.

Oryzias celebensis collected from the wild. This is one of the more colorful ricefish and is seldom seen in the aquarium trade.

This Oryzias matanensis is endemic to Matano lake in Sulawesi. Their home waters are quite warm. The fish in the picture was harvested from the wild. Note the notch out of its lower body between the anal and caudal fins where a predator such as a dragon fly larva probably injured it. Life in the wild can be rough!

Hailing from India and surrounding areas, males of Oryzias dancena develop extensions on their anal and caudal fin. Ricefish are very similar to the Lampeye Killifish, and were scientifically classified as killifish early on. They have since been divided into their own distinct group.

Retraction: We did an Ooopsie!

In our August newsletter, we stated that Mogurnda cingulata is native to Australia and New Guinea. Gary Lange was nice enough to reach out and let us know that this is an error. This species is only found in New Guinea, not Australia.

In addition, Gary warned that in his experience Mogurnda can be aggressive to other species, including rainbowfish. He shared an experience where a pair of Mogurnda adspersa were being kept in a 20 gallon long aquarium with some 3” rainbows. All was fine for a while. The gudgeons spawned a couple of times and there were no issues. However, the third time they spawned they went agro and beat the rainbows up. So, while we have seen Mogurnda successfully kept long-term in community aquariums with active fish of an appropriate size, it seems that caution is in order, especially when they are kept in aquariums on the small side.

Thanks, Gary, for setting us straight and for sharing your experience with these fish!