What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

My annual killie attempt (Nothobranchius palmqvisti)

  • #41
That tank shot puts things into perspective. You have a wide range of fry sizes in there, which isn't that unusual for nothos. Make sure those small fish are getting as much to eat as the larger ones. By the time the small ones are as large as the fish in the middle of the photo your population will need to be thinned.

That Java fern is probably reponding to the increased nutrients and water changes.

Was that largest fish the one with the blue on the gills? Most likely a male if so.
 
  • #42
I don't remember, he does have them though at the right angle. I've noticed a slight speckle on some of the others also, again at the right angle. :p I'll definitely make sure the little guys are getting enough as well.
Thanks again for all the help Duane =)
Andrew
 
  • #43
I'm here to announce I was wrong again. I was told earlier in this thread they needed to eat more "till they look like they're going to burst" I believe is the quote I was given.. I upped their meal size, and figured I was on point. This evening, I left the collection canister on the hatchery too long, and collected tons of shrimp, I have done this before and dumped them back into the salt water to only find them dead. So this time, I figured I would go ahead and dump the whole thing in, and just be sure to do the water change tomorrow... Well, a bit later, I went back to find SUPER plump fish... But sure enough, brine shrimp still collected under the light. Just as I walked away, I noticed my big boy going back to the shrimp to eat more! I captured him in action, and it shows his blue very well. He ate another 10 or so as I watched and then swam away... But maybe he'll come back, yet again! Amazing eating machines. So, when you decide you want to try these guys, here is the belly I assume you are looking for!

Andrew

IMG_1864.JPG
 
  • #44
:bigthumpup: for the well fed fish. Not necessarily wrong were you Andrew..... just got to learn on your own sometimes. Now keep putting enough BBS in there that all your fry look like the one in the picture and they will be adult fish in no time.
 
  • #45
Quick video update now that they are just over a month old.
Andrew

<object width="853" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KLtoKrkdZnU?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KLtoKrkdZnU?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="853" height="505"></embed></object>
 
  • #46
Cool thread. I wish I had some african peat:p.
 
  • #48
So can the peat from west-central USA!! :p (uhm, where mine came from)
 
  • #49
Cool little fishes, have you tried sprinkling the fruit flies from Petco on the water surface? I bet they would really go for them! Petco sells D. melanogaster (small) and Petsmart sells the D. heydei (large). I suggest starting your own culture from either of these sources before using the containers they sell you to feed with. The retail cultures aren't really very good setups for a long term culture and are stored badly in the shop on top of it but they will work in a pinch and are a good way to get your own culture of each species started without paying shipping if you have all the other stuff you need like culture medium and cups with nylon lids.

If you have no fruit fly supplies this is the guy I buy my all-in-one fruit fly culture kits from you get 10x 32 oz bug cups, a bag of culture medium (food), raffia and yeast (I don't use the yeast) and your choice of fruit fly species (large or small or wingless) already seeded in a culture: Fruit-Flies-Culture-Kit-Makes-10-Cultures
Don't worry about the notes which says the larger species is more difficult they are all easy, the D. heydei just take longer to get started so this discourages some people but they're fruit flies, put them in the cup and set them in a room temp area in 2 weeks or so you have fruit flies hatching every day more and more. I've never noticed anything "difficult" or "easy", just faster production with the small species.
 
  • #50
I've not ever tired it but thanks for the info. Today I will start working them over to blood worms- sounds easier than BBS and fruit flys. Drop a frozen cube of blood worms in a cup with a little water, use a turkey baster to suck some up, trickle them in so the fish figure out what's going on, do that for a couple days as they learn and still supplement BBS then drop the BBS when all the fish seem to know what the blood worms are all about.
Duane, ever heard of fruit flys for these guys?
Andrew
 
  • #51
Duane, ever heard of fruit flys for these guys?
Andrew

Live fruit flies work great for surface dwelling species. Nothobranchius in general tend to be more likely to feed at mid level or from the substrate. I personally have not tried fruit flies with my annual killies. Frozen bloodworms and spirulina enriched frozen brine shrimp work well for all my large juvenile and adult fish.

I suppose if you are into culturing live foods, the fruit flies could double as CP treats also :-)).

Duane
 
  • #52
Yeah, frozen blood worms are great! I feed 'em to my vampire crabs and apple snails a couple times a week. My old A. australe killies liked them but they also liked the action at the surface of the fruit flies struggling. If any LFS near you sell "glass worms" alive in a bag of water my killies liked those a whole lot too but only one shop here ever carries them. Not sure if you can culture the glass worms at home or not.
 
  • #53
Well, didn't take long on the worms for a male to start showing his colors :p

IMG_1895.JPG
 
  • #54
:drool:

Nice... very nice... got an estimate for how many fry there are, Andy? :-O
 
  • #55
Man, between them all moving around all all the moss/plants that they hide in it's hard to say... But I'm thinking 16ish
 
  • #56
I have maybe 4 starting to have color now, but the one is still by far the best looking!
Andrew

IMG_1946.JPG

IMG_1948.JPG
 
  • #57
Very nice! I am yealous!
 
  • #58
Great looking fish!
 
  • #59
Well, they're showing breeding behaviour now, so I added a bowl of peat I guess I should have cleaned the glass too.. Oh well. Here is a video of some getting the job done. Now I'm going to leave 1 male and 3 females in this tank and move the rest to my planted 29g and put a bowl of peat in there as well.
Enjoy, this took me a while to get!
Andrew



<object width="1000" height="587"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/As9ZeoV88CY?fs=1&hl=en_US&hd=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/As9ZeoV88CY?fs=1&hl=en_US&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="1000" height="587"></embed></object>
 
  • #60
Very awesome! How big are these at the spawning size?
 
Back
Top