It can take as long as 6 months to raise fry to juvenile sizes where they are capable of eating live daphnia on a regular basis. During this time, they are likely to be sensitive to sudden changes in water chemistry, and managing pollutants in the fry aquarium is made all the more difficult by the need to maintain low mineral content in the aquarium water during development in order to prevent sterility affecting the fishes—the buffering capacity of the aquarium is likely to be low as a result of the low concentration of bicarbonate ions that is needed in addition to the low concentration of calcium ions. Taking all of these factors into account, the fish is a major breeding challenge for the aquarist, and success may depend at least partly upon luck.