Native Fish: Firetail Gudgeon (Hypseleotris galii)

[@tkgwtys]

Lovely video.😍

[@snells-window]

thanks, glad you enjoyed it

[@australianbiotopes4563]

Nice looking habitat they have, these were the first fish I ever used in a biotope about 40 years ago, I was 10 years old and back then a biotope aquarium didn't even have a name, I wen't and collected some from a small dam and replicated their habitat as a blackwater aquarium with local native waterlily as the main plant with a lot of of wood and leaf litter, we find them in a lot of swamps up this way, a beautiful little fish when they are breeding with the males turning black with a large hump on their heads, they also guard their eggs, probably the first egg layer I bred as well, it is a shame they are so under rated in our hobby here in Australia and just used as a feeder fish as they are a great hardy cheap nano fish that are easy going, good starter fish for kids. 🙂

[@snells-window]

thanks for all that info Jason, and yes I hardly ever hear about people keeping them. You can see a couple of adults in the video with the red fins and they look quite pretty. I'd imagine they would colour up even more in a planted tank. I first saw these about 8 years ago at the dam and they weren't recorded by an old Angfa member who used to live near by and keep watch on the various fish. Were they overlooked, or are they are more recent introduction? Fisheries do stock the dam with bass and there have been other stockings of golden perch etc in the past. Good chance they may have come in with those stockings if they hadn't been recorded earlier.

[@australianbiotopes4563]

@@snells-window They can be pretty prolific in their range and they are quite tough, they could of come in with fish stocking.

[@katpocketmonster3281]

Know what their lifespan is? I caught a few that are around 1cm, so still young

[@fencepostturtle6269]

I keep some native fish including some Firetails in an aquarium. The Firetails are very hardy fish but I find them quite fussy little things with food. They tend favour live food like brine shrimp, blood worms and glass shrimp more than other species. They are very predatory in nature and if you don't keep up with the live food you can end up with "accidents". I have found the Western Carps and Smelt easier to keep as they are garbage guts and will eat anything that is placed in the aquarium.

[@england8331]

Excellent camera work...beautiful

[@snells-window]

lol...thanks, glad you enjoyed it

[@fencepostturtle6269]

I just came across your video. Just something, I think these are actually Western Carp Gudgeon (Hypseleotris klunzingeri), not Firetails. They are a similar specie and the Carp Gudgeon's do overlap some of the Firetail's range. Firetails generally have bigger heads and do not school in the middle of the water like these fish are doing. I keep some Firetails and Western Carps in the same aquarium. The Western Carps are very active and great little fish to watch. Nevertheless, regardless whether they are Firetails or Western Carps, this is still great footage of a native freshwater fish in its natural habitat. Thank you for uploading it.

[@NaturalBiotopes]

A nice place.