Botia clown is an aquarium fish that is becoming more and more popular every day, not only in Russia, but throughout the world. Bright motley coloring, cheerful and peaceful disposition, as well as a fairly long life - all this justifies the purchase of this fish. There is, perhaps, the only negative - this is a rather high price. The cost of fish in pet stores in Moscow varies from 300 to 400 rubles. But the botsiya clown fish is not one of those who will live alone. Therefore, buying it in a single copy is just as stupid and useless as buying one barbus. Given the cost of buying a flock of bots of clowns will fly a pretty penny. But let's not talk about sad things ...
Where is the motherland
Botsia is a clown native to the islands of Indonesia. Initially, the habitat of this fish was the reservoirs of Kalimantan and Sumatra. Botsiia prefer rivers in which the water is quite soft and acidic.
Later, these fish began to be bred on special farms in Southeast Asia. Therefore, today the fish that you purchase at the pet store will most likely be of "Asian" origin.
Appearance
Botia clown is a very beautiful and unusual fish. Her torso has a bright yellow or orange hue with three wide black stripes. Botsia has six fins: the upper one, located on the back, is black, and the lower ones are red. The mouth of the fish is small and curved; antennae are located next to it.
An interesting feature of the clown's bots is the specific spikes. They are located directly under the eyes of the fish and in the usual, calm state are hidden under the skin. When the bobia clown senses danger, the spikes shoot out with a clicking sound. You can see this process when catching fish from the aquarium. At this moment, she thinks she is in danger and releases her spikes. And some varieties of bots of clowns even in the calm evening just like to “click”.
Speaking of sizes. In the wild, the bots reach 50 centimeters! Aquarium individuals are much smaller - no more than 26.
Botia Clown: Content
Despite the great popularity, these fish are quite difficult to maintain. However, difficult does not mean impossible.
In order for the bots to feel comfortable, provide them with a voluminous and fairly long aquarium. The ideal container size for large individuals is at least 180 centimeters long and wide.
Fish of this breed are very sensitive to poor conditions. Therefore, do not run them in a newly purchased aquarium. Do not forget to change the water on time. The water in the aquarium should not only be clean, but also soft and warm enough (26-28 degrees Celsius).
Botsi clowns love freedom and space. Therefore, do not overpopulate the aquarium with other fish. And they also love to eat plants. Therefore, for the maintenance of this breed, artificial shrubs are best suited. Otherwise, you run the risk of peeling and eating algae in your aquarium.
It is recommended to place as many any snags, smooth stones, coconut shells and any other items in the aquarium as possible, which will serve the fish as an excellent shelter. They love it.
The bottom of the aquarium is a thin layer of substrate. The bottom filter should be excluded when keeping the bots.
Choosing neighbors
One more thing needs to be foreseen before the clown bots settle in your aquarium - compatibility with other fish. Botsi are quite peaceful and do not suffer from aggression towards their neighbors. However, this species is very playful and active. Therefore, their behavior can cause constant stress for more melancholy and calm inhabitants of the aquarium.
As neighbors, clownfish are definitely not suitable for fish with veil-like fins: guppies, males, cichlids. But barbs and other carp-like breeds get along well with them.
So, bots clowns are peace-loving fish. But still they should not be launched into an aquarium with smaller fish. And do not contain them one at a time. There have been cases when lone fish began to show aggression towards other, smaller neighbors.
Still, the botsiya clown is a flock of fish. She just needs constant communication with her relatives.
What to feed
As mentioned above, bots clowns are aquarium centenarians. Their age can reach 20 years. But in order for the fish to please you with its beauty as long as possible, it must be well and properly fed.
Botsi just love to swarm in the ground. Therefore, their ideal diet is worms and other invertebrates that live in the ground.
In aquarium conditions, an alternative would be a frozen bloodworm, mosquito larvae or small cut sea creatures (shrimp, for example). For bots of clowns, special types of dry food are also produced.
A sign that the fish is unhappy with its diet is a faded color.
Botia clown: breeding
This is a very complicated matter. Today, only a few manage to cope with this task at home.
But if you still decide to try, then some breeding tips.
1. Spawning should be large enough.
2. Water parameters: hardness - up to 15 degrees, temperature - about 26 degrees, acidity - 6.5-7.2. Water should be as clean and fresh as possible.
3. An important condition for spawning is a strong current. To create it, a special device “turntable” is used. This is a kind of mechanism consisting of an electric motor with a gearbox, on the shaft of which four blades are installed. The device is covered with a casing of vinyl plastic or plexiglass.
4. For spawning substrate, smooth stones or driftwood are suitable. They are specially located where the strongest current passes. The power of the current directly affects the intensity of spawning.
5. There are three males per female.
6. After spawning, the fish-producers must be dropped from the aquarium. In this case, it is necessary to increase the temperature to 31 degrees.
7. Fertilized caviar should be transparent, unfertilized - white. Unsuccessful caviar must be carefully removed immediately.
8. The incubation period is 18-20 hours.
9. Fry begin to eat on the fourth day. Their diet should be the smallest types of rotifers, nauplii cyclops and green euglena.
10. The most critical period in the life of fry is the first month. Be especially attentive to them at this time. And then by the end of the month they will begin to accept the coloring of their parents.