One of the most common and beloved aquarium fish is the veiltail. The beautiful and calm inhabitant of the water element is a real decoration of the aquarium and many associate it with a goldfish from the tale of A.S. Pushkin.
A bit of history
Veiltail fish was bred several hundred years ago; Japan is considered her homeland. Only the "elect" (emperors and their entourage) could contain such eye candy in their Mikado gardens. In the 19th century, 2 pairs of these fish were donated to Daniel Amman, the Rear Admiral of the US Navy, a passionate aquarist. Within a few years, the American managed to breed 140 offspring. Most of the young fell into the hands of noble persons and was placed in cages with goldfish. The result of this neighborhood were crosses that lost their original characteristics. To save a unique variety and keep completely clean the type of this breed was managed by a certain Mulert, into whose hands only 2 pairs of decorative fish fell.
Veiltail Fish: Description
The most prominent part in the structure of a decorative fish is its tail, associated with a light, weightless fabric. Its length sometimes reaches 30 cm, which is 3-6 times the size of the body. The tail and fins are transparent; dorsal stands upright, anal bifurcates.
The veiltail has a short, oblate torso of an ovoid or spherical shape. Eyes are large. Body color ranges from bright red to light cream and golden. Purely black specimens are rare enough. Spotted veil tails are very popular among aquarists.
There are such varieties of veil tails, such as:
- skirt and ribbon (depending on the shape of the tail);
- scaly and scaly.
Goldfish Veil Tail: Contents
The correct maintenance of veil-tails requires a high spacious aquarium - at the rate of 50 liters of water per fish. So, for two veil tails, a 100-liter container with clean, clear water is optimal. 3-4 fish can be accommodated in a 150-liter tank, while ensuring powerful filtration and good aeration of the water.
Veiltail fish, the content of which is not particularly difficult, is slow in movement and loves to dig in the ground, so it is recommended to place coarse sand or pebbles on the bottom of the tank. It is advisable to choose plants with hard leaves and a strong root system: egg capsule, vallisneria, sagittaria, elodea.
Veil-tailed goldfish love cool water: recommended temperature is + 20-21 ° C. Every week it should be updated to a quarter of the volume.
Feeding
An important part of veil tail care is feeding: decorative fish are very voracious and can eat non-stop. Therefore, you should not allow overeating and feed the feed at the rate of 3% of the weight of the veiltail.
Feeding should be done twice a day: in the morning and evening hours. The amount of feed should be calculated for 10-20 minutes of consumption, followed by the removal of food residues. Once a week, a fasting day is recommended. Dry aquarium feed, plants (scalded lettuce and nettle) should be present in the diet.
Breeding Features
A component of the correct maintenance of veil tails is their breeding. One female should have 2 or 3 two-year-old males. Before spawning (in March-April) for 2–3 weeks, heterosexual fish should be kept separately, providing them with plentiful feeding. Then determine in an aquarium equipped with sandy soil laid at an angle to one of the sides, a spawning grid, a bunch of plants with small leaves.
Female readiness for spawning can be determined by a thick abdomen; male - according to the presence of a spawning rash on the gill cover and notches on the pectoral fins. Spawning can be stimulated by a gradual increase in water temperature (up to 24-26 ). The males then activate, start chasing females. The latter spawn: about 10 thousand eggs at a time. Most often this happens early in the morning, with the advent of the first rays of the sun. At the end of spawning, adult fish must be removed from the aquarium. The duration of the incubation period is from 2 to 4 days; the appearance of fry occurs within 5 days.
It is recommended that you first feed the hatched fry with “live dust” - the smallest microorganisms that can be grown independently or purchased in specialized stores. The traditional starting food is rotifers, ciliates, slippers, brine shrimp. 2 weeks after the appearance of young fish, you can translate into small cyclops.
Veil-tail cock: structural features
Veil-tailed cockerel (fish) is a striking representative of the aquarium inhabitants. It is characterized by an almost round body, long and pointed at the end fins: caudal, anal and dorsal.
Voiletail males have a different type of color:
- one-color (blue, violet, red, green, white, yellow, black, cream);
- two-color (trunk of one color, fins of another);
- multicolor (multifaceted colors in the color of the fins and torso).
With a sharp change in the conditions of detention, the fish may discolor.
A fighting fish, which is a cockerel, is able to breathe not only with its gills, but also with a special respiratory organ called the “labyrinth”. When in a water that is poor in oxygen, a rooster swims up to the surface and swallows air with its mouth, which in the maze saturates the blood with oxygen. That is why labyrinth species of fish are undemanding for water quality, which greatly facilitates their maintenance in the aquarium: there is no special need for filtration and aeration.
Ensure proper care
In the process of caring for fish, it is important to protect them from damage to the magnificent tail fins. The aquarium should not have snags with needle-like knots and stones with sharp edges.
The voiletail is characterized by a peace-loving, calm character, so you should avoid the proximity to aggressive fish that can pluck its luxurious fins. With quality care, the veiltail fish can survive up to 20 years.