HUS­BANDRY GUIDE­LINE — PROJECT

The Parosphromenus Project is help­ing Chester Zoo cre­ate Hus­bandry Guide­lines for BIAZA (British and Irish Assosi­a­tion of Zoos and Aquar­i­ums) and EAZA (Euro­pean Asso­ci­a­tion of Zoos and Aquaria)

In order for dif­fer­ent Zoos in Europe to be able to main­tain and keep pop­u­la­tions of Paros, it is essen­tial that guide­lines for best Hus­bandry Prac­tise is created.

This is not just describ­tions of expe­ri­ences, or guide­lines, this is at best a col­lec­tion of pre­cise data and infor­ma­tion, gath­ered over a period.

Andrea Swat­man is the respon­si­ble per­son at Chester Zoo ini­ti­at­ing this, and the work began already in Sep­tem­ber 2019, at the Inter­na­tional Meet­ing in Chester.

As a begin­ning, — a lot of writ­ten mate­r­ial has been given on from the Parosphromenus Project, — describ­tions of our known expe­ri­ence, as well as data con­nected with habi­tats — water con­di­tions, lev­els of ph, and other things. Not habi­tat data in terms of dis­tri­b­u­tion is nessesary.

But mainly we have pro­vided basic expe­ri­ence and knowl­edge about keep­ing paros in tanks, — food, breed­ing behav­iour, fry devel­op­ment etc.

Also a spread­sheet is being devel­oped, — con­tain­ing all impor­tant doc­u­men­ta­tion and infor­ma­tion about all species.

To gather all this infor­ma­tion is a con­tin­u­ing pro­ces, and we invite every­one to take part in it by offer­ing their knowl­edge and spe­cific experience.

If you have any infor­ma­tion which you would like Chester Zoo to incor­po­rate in this Hus­bandry Guide­line, please write to This email address is being pro­tected from spam­bots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (IN ENG­LISH, PLEASE)

Your email will then be viewed by the PP and Chester Zoo, and any con­tri­bu­tion will be accredited.

Cap­tive management

• Enclo­sure
• sub­strate
• fur­nish­ing and maintenance
• envi­ron­ment (water qual­ity and water chemistry)
• envi­ron­men­tal enrichment
• light­ing
• life sup­port

Behav­iour

• activ­ity
• social behaviour/​social structure
• life sup­port systems

Breed­ing

• repro­duc­tion
• egg lay­ing and devel­op­ment times
• devel­op­ment and care of young
• clutch sizes

Diet and feed­ing behaviour

• Basic diet
• fry
• large juve­niles to adults
• spe­cial dietary requirements
• method of feed­ing or prepa­ra­tion of food items

Spe­cific problem

Rec­om­mended research for in-​situ (cap­tive pop­u­la­tions) — Chester Zoo has access to MSc and PhD stu­dents, — are there any ques­tions we want answering ?