Fundulopanchax sjoestedti

[biggun110]

Dustin,

Good news on the latipinna. With mollies it is all about space, water and alot of food. They should do well for you now and when you get their fry start them right with lots of bbs and as the fry grow graduated larger tanks and you will get big fish. Pick the late developing males and keep the females virgin and then mate and you can breed some big beauties.

I wish I had a camera but I don't. The old Innes book has a great photo of velifera. You can find one on the net but find a photo of a wild male and not the hybrid domestic stuff.

Lord knows what a dwarf blue gularis is. In the old days a dwarf red was smaller than a regular blue as the blues were 6-8 inches then. Not any more. Dwarfs reds have much less finnage. I have to breed my blues as they are nice but not great. We need wild stock and don't get it.

The kafuensis came down with velvet. Ugh. Nothos are a pain compared to SAA's. They are responding to the salt so it should be ok. The females never got as robust as I like but they are ok. The symoensi look great and the calabarica are like rabbits.

I have a bunch of monties ready to drop and it looks like I have a few of the unspotted babies coming along. I hope they cross as I want the unspotted's body and fins on the spotted fish. The little red pictas are producing well. Not fast and not all red males but a stock is growing.

i still cannot get over how hardy the petenensis mollies are. They are great. I really love those guys.

I will be moving to NYC in the Fall so it will be interesting what happens with the fish. I will need to store eggs and send live fish to friends there if I can even set up enough tanks. I may have to choose a couple of species or just be a keeper for a while until all is settled. It's a bummer but such is life.

I haven't forgetten the package Joe, just being slow.

Bobby

 

[Nflytrap]

Bobby: Just popping in real quick but in regards to be package youi don't need to include the airpump-I managed to get myself 7 outlets...the plants you sent me(including duckweed) have worked well for trades! I was a bit amused people wanted duckweed(I usually just dumped it) but I guess if you aren't annoyed by it overunning your tank then it is a cute little plant. ....you might not even have to send grindals as I managed to get a start of those too.

Wow! 6-8 inches! Those most have been absolutely breathtaking(but taken for granted). What do you suppose caused shrinking? Some kind of unintentional selection by us? Not too sure where blue gularis live(think it is Western Cameroon)-but I always thought it funny that their were no recent "collections". Of course, once they do go collect blue gularis they will assign them a location code of sorts at it will be considered unethical to breed them to aquarium strain...


The 2 remaining kafuensis are doing well and are big enough to eat daphnia. Can't think of something to compare to size but they are growing very fast.

Hope all is well and this move goes smoothly for you
~Joseph

 

[biggun110]

Hi Nflytrap,

Glad the plants worked so well for you. Are you sure you do not need the pump or worms as I can still send? Try Omega One flakes on the worms and keep the soil moist to almost a bit wet.

The 2 kafuensis may very well be a pair. It can happen that way. Do you still have any unhatched eggs? Having a pair you raised will make all the difference.

They don't bring in the wild gularis as they are expensive to pack and ship. The Japanese have but we don't. I have tried, believe me.

No you could cross a new collection with the old strains but just label them aquarium strain. The aquarium strains are all old crosses from the 60's and such.

My Mambova look better. I am keeping them in the soft water and adding the salt (2 tsp per gallon so far) to see if that works. Usually I treat in hard alkaline water. The plants never like this period.

I think the gularis got smaller as in the 80's so mmany new species came that people got careless and let them go by the wayside.

Bobby

 

[Nflytrap]

Bobby,

Counting the ones I have now I have enough outlet to run 2 BBS hatchers(enough for them to overlap), put corner filters in all the 10 gallons(3) and still have 1 more outlet laying around. Would aeration be necessary in sweater boxes?

Didn't you mention you had a book? That would be one thing I would be interested in

Also, remembering what happened last time their is always that chance of having the worm culture crash.

BTw, I managed to stumble across this site

www.dallaskillifish.com-in the messageboard they have instructions for a really neat DIY corner filter. You use an airpump, airline tubing, small PVC piping or something similar, and a container. Some people use film canisters, others fishfood cans, I may end up using those small plastic yogurt cups with lids.

Also(providing I can replace an old heater) I may be getting some Chromaphyosemions for one of my ten gallons which for the whole winter has had no permanent residents. Specific ones I will be getting should be Chromaphyosemion splendopleure 'Mayuka Police Station' C89/15. I also know a source of Chrom. splendopleure 'Tiko green' eggs but the former is a nice sized group of fish.

Great to hear the Mambova are getting better! I've always thought that SAA's were more difficult based on popularity. But then again Nothos for the most part have more coloration but some of the SAA's sport nice patterns and others outstanding finnage.

I hope they do bring in some wild gularis too. If they are willing to try to bring back Nothobranchius ocellatus and Fp. fallax(are fallax comparable in size to SJO?)then blue gularis shouldn't be too much harder.

I haven't checked the peat for eggs but I am pretty sure their are a few. How often do 3rd wettings produce fry? The kafuensis are starting to look too big for BBS. How do you go about weaning them onto things like frozen bloodworms and blackworms?

The worm bin seems to be working well. I've sacrificed all kinds of things-banana peels, some old fish food, a teabag or two, pear cores...etc. A few pieces of brown paper, cardboard, and then plastic keep things moist for as long as possible. It would be nice is perhaps their was a source for large insects that could be cultured with little hassle.

Thanks!
~Joseph

 

[biggun110]

Hi Nflytrap,

Yes, the book is there. I will mail things tomorrow no matter what. Send me your address again.

You could get kafuensis fry on the thrid wetting. I take it you traded the Chunga for the Chromas? Keep them in soft water and you will get fry. Have you seen the huge Chroma site from Europe? The owner is one of the authors of the book I have for you -- amazing set up.

The Dallas club is hooked to our club. They are growing fast.

The Mambova look about cured. Salt always works. The symoensi are now all nice and fat but I have to breed fast as 4 people want eggs and I do too.

The N&RSC of the AKA want 20 pairs of the calabarica to distribute which is great. They discovered that there is a place in Seirra Leone called "Calaba" and the sailor in 1935 said he collected them their and not "Calabar" in Nigeria. The Germans uncovered this information so now maybe they can check the original location after it was lost for 70 years.

Fallax should be around as alot of wild stock came in in the last 2 years. Brian Watters likes ocellatus so it comes back in when he collects and he collects alot. Gularis does not get attention as it is not a new species. Hopefully. Maybe I will soon have some gularis eggs for you.

As the fry grow just start adding new foods. If need be chop the larger food a bit. They usually go for everything live or frozen. The more live food the bigger the fish. I hope you get a pair. Bob Morenski will have more this summer so you can check with him if you want.

I may get another dream fiah Protonothobranchius kiyawensis. Hopefully, I will get the furzeri soon too, maybe just the old location as the red ones are aging and throwing bad eggs. Oh well.

Bobby

 

[Nflytrap]

Nope. I'm debating what to do with the bag of Chunga eggs. I'm thinking the best thing to do would be to find someone who already has this location of fish to get the bag as opposed to someone trying to start them in their tanks-as the first hatch I tried didn't work very well(few fry and bellysliders).

If you mean the "Chromaphyosemion Study Group" yep I've seen the site. Makes me wish I could read German! The West African killie site you pointed me to long ago has been a great resource. As for the Chromaphyosemions...According to the owner they have given him no problems whatsoever and he has managed to distribute them. He's downsizing his FR so offered to send the ones he has left(3 females 5 or so males) for shipping. I'm probably going to bite on this one.

Great to here the calabrica are going to get another chance in the hobby! If they do collect it wil be interesting to see how the wild fish measure up to the ones kept alive in aquariums of hobbyists for 70 years since.

Gularis eggs would be nice. I've got lots of sweater/salad boxes around. It would be best if I would be able to get a female to pair up this male. Maybe oughtta contact Al or post a "lonely hearts" message to killitalk.

When should I be able to tell sex on these 2 kafuensis? They both are a bit "territorial" so it seems and try to avoid each other-or the larger one may chase the smaller. I added chopped blackworms and the fish ignored them(I may try to put the worms in something that floats). I've seen them yawn and the mouths are definetly big enough for the smaller ones at least. More eggs would be nice but I've only got room for one species of Notho(and plus I would be apt to get them mixed) on the rack at any given time.

Found a few photos of your dream fish. The coloring and pattern look almost like a cross between a Notho and an SAA. The shape is also very interesting-a kind of rounded off look with the head fitting better into the body than Nothobranchius(which have a clearly distinguishable head).

Thanks! Let me know when you've sent the stuff

~Joseph

http://www.killi.co.uk/SpeciesDetails.php?ID=462

 

[biggun110]

Hi Nflytrap,

You know your hatching problems might have been from the cooler temps in your area in winter. I'd try the Chunga again and see. With spring and summer things may change. Of course, it might have been from too of an incubation too but I dount it.

The Chroma. study group might be the same of the guy's site from Belguim -- Legros or something like that. That's all he raises.

Definitely ask for a female gularis there are lots around.

Nothos sex out in 4 weeks but sub males can look like females. They will take the blkworms soon. Just chop them small.

Kiyawensis is a real odd little fellow both in looks and in breeding. I hope I get them and soon so I can store eggs for the move.

I may be getting back my old great strain of hi fin and lyretail swords. They were the best I'd ever seen and I stopped raising them when the 6th generation was not so good. Well, I had given some to a friend who runs a small commercial hatchery and he still has them going and in many colors. He says they are very nice so he is bringing me some for the sailfin molly species. I hope they are what they were. The females were 5 inches and the males 4 with huge wide hi fins. I was a nut to stop working with them when I did.

Bobby

 

[Nflytrap]

Heya Bobby,

That is a possibility. The water I dunked them in probably was at 70ish but warmed to the set 75 eventually. I was thinking that having it cooler at first was actually a good thing. The Kayuni are nearing the hatch date so I'll see if a 3rd wetting would produce any additional fry.

I can't keep track of dates(I think I may be at 3 weeks) but what are the first signs? Gut feeling(based on how the fins look at that the outer edge where the rays divide is ever so slightly lighter) seems to tell me I might have 2 males. Hoping it is otherwise of course. Dunno if it is due to age difference but one(smaller one) has a blunter mouth than the other(who has a pointed one). Both are now busy biting pieces off of blackworms which crawl around on the bottom of the tank.

Notho eggs sure are interesting. I wonder how they manage to keep track of when the rains will come or if perhaps they respond to some kind of outside stimuli(increased moisture maybe-some people claim spraying bags of eggs with water a few weeks before hatch date encourages them to eye up.) I read that someone kept a bag of those P. kiyawensis for 30 years(makes me wonder if this is a typo)! Also, it seems normal practice to leave peat in with the parents for a week...besides peat fouling are their any other reasons? I'm pretty sure the pools in the wild don't instantly dry up one week after the fish spawn...lol

Those highfin lyretails sound great! Just about the size of the monties. Don't they require a certain crossing procedure to maintain both highfin and lyretail traits? I still remember a very nice swordtail bought when I was probably five. It was a green Hi fin Lyretail(if my memory serves correctly). He didn't last too long in our tank unfortunately but I think he or someone similar may have fathered a few fry. The "F1's" had a mix of standard fin and lyretail, and probably 3 generations later a hifin popped up randomly. Of course they all eventually reverted to standard fin after some time.

Hopefully I can find a nice female for the now lonely male. He's really nice looking and the tail has grown nicely. Have you seen any blue gularis that sport a strong blue trim on the pectoral fins? With such large fins I think one like that(as long as everything else is nice too) would be particularly flashy.
Dunno if I ever showed you this but although this is old its a pretty good rep of how he looks. I think the tail streamers may be a bit longer. Its pretty amazing to compare this photo to the very first photos that launched off the topic!

Keep me updated

~Joseph

 

[biggun110]

Hi Nflytrap,

I sent your box and mail yesterday.

I'd try the kafuensis again. I've never done the cool hatch water. I use room temperature water at say 75F. They say adding fresh boiled cooled peat helps prevent belly sliders as does an O2 tablet. Never done that thought.

Collecting eggs weekly helps prevent them from going into resting stage. They will develop on schedule for the most part. If you do it every month or more the eggs can be triggered to rest and development is then slowed.

The males start getting thicker bodies and the fins enlarge. If you shine a light on the sides you should see color on the scales.

The kiyawensis 30 year old eggs are possible as that species like furzeri comes from erratic rain areas and they lay weird eggs that can hatch in 3 weeks or years.

To get true hi fin lyretail swords and not just lyretail swords that carry the slight fin enlargement that comes with that gene you must cross hi fin male swords with lyretail or hi fin lyretail females. In the stores it takes some experience to see the difference in young skinny fish but there are 2 distinct genes involved that appeared as separate mutations almost 10 years apart -- 1958 and 1965 -- in CA and FL.


I've seen gularis with the blue pectorals and have had some in the past. I bet if you raised 30 fry you'd find a male with them. The old strains used to all have them and with long white tips trailing an inch or more down.

See ya later.

Bobby

 

[maylandi]

Hey Guys!

Ive been scanning through the posts... I dont have alot of time to keep up right now, Im trying to finish (or at least make functional) this fishroom.

I see you mentioned grindals bobby........ I got a start from Al Anderson.. Any pointers on keeping them going?

I hope your both doing well. Ill post again when I get a few minutes to read/absorb/think.

Ttyl

Dustin

 

[Nflytrap]

Some photos of the fry

Maybe 1 week

Estimated 2.5 weeks

maybe 3 weeks

I will need to take some new photos real soon as they are now much larger! Boy do they grow fast.

 

[RamPuppy]

wow guys, this is a great topic and the fish/fry look great!

 

[Nflytrap]

Rampuppy: If you have any experience etc. you'd like to add to this discussion we'd be happy to hear from you too

Good to hear

. I'll notify you when the box arrives.

The weekly collection routine makes more sense now. Just for fun, have you ever tried seeing how long eggs in a bag of peat would last? I've heard of some people keeping bags of N. rachovi for six years and wetting them to get fry. Also, would it be a no-no to mix new eggs into rewet peat(making it so the hatch dates are the same)?

To the kafuensis fry- I think I'm seeing the beginning of the red matte over the scales as seen in many photos. Just a couple places with pigment on one of the fish. Not sure on the other one yet.

I will definetly see if I can get additional fry. I remember something involving SAA annuals that the presence of other fry helped determine sex ratios-if two fry were kept alone they would become a pair. On the other hand-large groups of fry might spawn only 1 male for 20+ females(and vise versa). Any thoughts on this?

Being for blue trimmed fins will be priority if I get eggs from my fish. Getting longer tails(though this is hard to select for as it is age dependent too) would be nice also. Do you, by any chance, happen to know when the photo of the fish in the AKA logo was taken? Most photos of blue gularis don't show anywhere near the amount of finnage that one does. But then most people take photos of young males which may not have had the chance to develop. I also noticed that someone on Aquabid is offering some SJO which he calls "Nigerian Wilds". They look very different from the ones we currently have.

~Joseph

 

[maylandi]

Holy Wow! Those do grow fast!!!

Well bad news on the micro worms and grindals

Micros didnt restart well, and I only recultured once becuase i was in a hurry.... and the grindals - well no one told me i had to vent them........ so they create gas apparently and when i tried to open the container it blew up on me........ smells like the ferrowing house...... (yeah yeah laugh it up....)

Grindals lasted 48 whole hours and the micros about 3 months..... anybody have a start i could ship in?

Having problems last minute on fish room.... did you know they make 2 diff sizes of 10 gal tanks? well the one i used to measure is 1/8 smaller then the aga... so my racks that were to hold eleven 10 gals per shelf will only hold 10.6

And for some reason those drip emitters dont like 25LBS of water pressure HAHA - anything over 1lb and they leak.......

On top of that Ken Menard from kensfish.com is in the hospital so shipments are slow... waiting on filters...... so i have to do water changes in all these tanks regular.... Thats what I get for buying so many fish I guess.

Hope all is well - Keep updating those pics Joe!

(everybody get their taxes done? Joe Excluded)


Dustin

 

[Nflytrap]

Maylandi:

Sorry to hear about the grindals. Mine appear to be doing well but I am not seeing much of them(just the fish flakes dissapearing or occasionally a small writhing ball devouring one of the flakes). If you want I could send you microworms and perhaps the grindals if they do well for me. I'd just need time to set up cultures.

Odd on the ten gallon thing-I think I might have seen it before. Will you be replacing them all to get the thinner size so your rack can hold 11 as planned? Good luck getting the fish room sorted out

I'm sure you will be able to.

Minding filling us in on a few of the species you got?

Bobby:

Got(both) of your packages today. The N. orthonotus article is a nice one and has posed some interesting "hypothesis's" made by this killinut. My remaining bag of N. orthonotus MOZ 99/3 doesn't seem to have any eggs but I will be wetting it just in case(or sending it to someone who already has this pop. to wet). I'm assuming the next JAKA will be sent out in May? I got the BNL but not the JAKA so I'm assuming this is one of the alternative months. The prices in the BNL are, for the most part, cheaper than Aquabid(no bidding...LOL) I do notice that people with rare species seem to prefer auctioning them off on aquabid as opposed to using BNL/Online listings.

Also got the articles you sent in the big box too. I have yet to read most yet but the one in which Fishkeepers are interviewed looks very promising.

I did read the article on the bluespotted sunfish and other native "sunfish".(taxonomists are unsure of where the pygmy sunfish should go). Funny thing is that after reading how the writer said breeding was "the easiest thing in the world" I went to observe the 10 gallon tank which my pair of bluespots was in and then spotted fry! They look very similar to the pygmy sunfish fry I'm currently raising(but sadly only have a lone male). Adults seem to be ignoring them so they will remaing where they are for now. I've given them some greenwater and microworms-they fry didn't notice the micros perhaps because they sunk. I hope the bluespotted fry prove as easy as the evergladei fry have been to raise.

The airpump is huge compared to the ones I'm used to. I will probably be using it and one of the double outlet pumps so I have fewer plugs to find homes for.

Thank you for taking the time/effort to get the packages out! It is much appreciated.
~Joseph

 

[maylandi]

Hi There -

Just taking a short break.. have to drill more tanks tonight.. if i get filters in tomorrow i will prob move fish in on tuesday! ROFL that would cost another $100.00 plus who knows how long to drill and paint the tanks, so nope Im just going to be lacking the one per each shelf.. Ill put them somewhere else.

Ill send a species list as soon as I move them in and write em all down.

Microworms starter would be great

AFter I get this room up (next week or so) you can send over your package.. since ill be ready


Ttyl

dustin

 

[Nflytrap]

LOL Hope the work goes smoothly! Let me know what species you got! I'm looking forward to it!

Most of the juvies(as expected) that I reserved turned out to be males. I don't quite see the usefulness of sending them but I could pull a pair(or reverse trio...or 1 female and a bunch of males ) of the monties. 2-3 Females should be enough to keep me safe. I spotted a young fry so I may have another batch of juvies to grow out. If only these would produce more females! Maybe when these bluespotted fry(I counted 20 and stopped) I could give you a few of them too

~Joseph

 

[biggun110]

Hi,

Glad the box made it. The interviews are the book on breeding killies. It is a winner.

Looking at your fry I'd say one is a female so you may have a pair.

I'd still wet the orthonotus peat and see.

Great news on the sunfish. I'd thought you'd like those articles. Wolfsheimer was one of the greats.

Try to save as many monty fry as you can as you should get more females than you're getting.

JAKA comes out pretty regularly but don't count the months. It gets there when it gets there. The new Beginner's Guide should be great. I cannot wait. Several top breeders did it.

That airpump is top of the line and can pump alot of box filters and stay quiet. You will like it.

The AKA blue gularis photo is an old one and is more representative of the old strains. The guy in Japan on Aquabid with wild gularis eggs is a famous old breeder and has great fish. The Japanese probably brought in wild fish. We just don't do it. They look like great fish. Yes, people now sell the rare stuff on aquabid. The BNL is best for more common species but not always.

All the fish got peat last night and the gularis were breeding up a storm. The Notho males are fighting over who controls each bowl of peat. I have to produce lots of symoensi peat before I move as everyone wants them. I culled out the non-red picta males so now I have 5. I added to virgin females so hopefully I will get more red males. I culled the monties and nezzies. I have 2 plain monties that look like females so hopefully they will cross with the spotted males. I think I already ahve a few crossed fry from the unspotted males mating with spotted females. I also culled out all the early developing velifera and petenensis males to start line breeding the stock for big males. I have a nezzie male that is just huge -- a real bull.

Sorry on the microworms and grindals but I discontinued my cultures a while back due to the move. I will breed everything as much as possible and distribute eggs and fish hoping I can get things back once I settle in after the move.

Bobby

 

[Nflytrap]

I've started reading the killie book-wow is their a lot of good info here! The breeders, though they each say different things do to different specialties, agree on many important things. I was pretty amazed that one person used 2-3 gallon tanks for his adult killies. Plastic tanks(brand new at least) cost almost as much as ten gallon tanks do. With summer coming along I may do some garage sale scrounging as I'm sure that these things pop up all the time.

So are you saying that no one no longer maintains blue gularis strains that can fit the AKA logo? Seems rather ironic. Aquabid seems to be a great place for sellers(with good cameras and photo skills) to sell. BNL and registry doesn't allow you to post photos so people simply buy by the type/location of fish and by trusting the person on the other side will provide the quality.

Great to hear of the breeding success! Keep note of how the gularis eggs go along if you will-that info would be of much interest. Hope those symoensi produce lots of eggs for you-I can see why people would want them!

I noticed that many people use large numbers of females/ males in breeding tanks. I also remember(I think it was the guy who on killitalk as "Tyronegrenade") claim on his website that a 4 cm female can lay more eggs than 3 3cm ones. Typically how many eggs should you expect from pairs? Bob Morenski claims the black strains of N. rachovii are his most prolific and he collects a few peats every year with over 500 eggs.

Also, how long does it take for Nothos to color up? Its pretty hard to believe that these guys will soon be sporting the colors of the adult males in photographs. The transformation must be very interesting to observe.

I heard with microworm cultures you can put them in the fridge so they last a real long time so you have backup. Haven't tried it yet but if it worked it would be a nice peace of mind.

Also started a large vinegar eel culture. Dunno how much I will use these but I think many fry will take them better than microworms as they swim instead of sinking slowly.

Good luck on the picta and montie breeding project. Those red pictas sound very nice.

Chromaphyosemion project looks like it will be stalled a bit as I think it would be best to have a heater for this tank(unless the fish would like 68 or so degrees with a drop at night).

The worm bin appears to be a success-seeing baby worms in the soil and the blue gularis male is now a very happy fellow

Good luck on the move and again hope it goes smoothly for you and your fish.

~Joseph

 

[maylandi]

Beginners guide? I never got abeginners guide from the AKA... Wonder if they still send such a thing..

Bobby: Where are you moving? A long distance from your current location? I must have missed that in earlier posts. Also, I sent a msg to Joe on another board about Malt Vinegar for vinegar eels. Someone I know is saying Malt Vinegar will produce so many eels they will crawl up the sides of the container like micro worms? Any experience with this?

Joe : Blues fry would be awesome! You can find tanks at garage sales almost all summer... I bet 2 out of every 5 around here includes an aquarium or two.. Just two weeks ago my mom was at one and passed up 2 - 29 gals a 10 gal and a double 29 gal iron stand for $25.00 total. I was out of town.. by the time I could go STEAL THEM for $25.00 it was all gone.. the seller sold it to her sister

.. But used stuff is much cheaper!

Hope your move goes well Bobby - How many tanks are you moving? Ill eventually have to move my setup as well.. Which ive kind of planned for by making the racks able to come apart in sections...... but isnt that a Huge Undertaking?

Best Wishes

Dustin