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Chromaphyosemion splendopleure

Received 5 Chrom. splendopleure 'Muyuka Police Station' C89/15 a while ago. It looks like 3 males and 2 females. They are in a ten gallon tank which they share with a few small H. formosa. So far they have acclimated well and one of the females even spawned with at least 2 of the males. They have been eating a few blackworms and are gingerly eating Hikari micropellets from the top. The largest male and the larger female look a bit thin but I think it might just be temporary.

Here are a few photos. Please excuse the poor quality.
The tank. I will be adding more moss and duckweed to provide more cover
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I added another clump of java moss. I think it would be best to jamp-pack the tank but I still would like to be able to observe the fish. Probably add enough moss for the whole back and that will be it.

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The smallest(and most photogenic) male.

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Either fighting or courting-I think it is the former.
Small male and the larger female(which seems to act very male like)

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Definite female
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Second largest male. Amazing how the color/pattern changes with mood. I think stripes are fright coloration.
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I looked over one of the java moss clumps and managed to find a few eggs(maybe 6) which have been collecting and placed in a Glad storage container(Bobby: Its the same one you sent the grindalworms in) with sprigs of java moss. Plan to change the water as often as possible for these.
 
They look nice.
Good luck with them.
 
Congratulations on getting them to spawn!
 
Thanks guys! I've run into some problems(think the other fish are eating the eggs). So I just go through seperating a pair to spawn. Hope I can get more eggs from these guys.

They are indeed very nice
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Female
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Wow - those are nice
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You always have nice fish though ;)
 
Hi Nflytrap,

Those guys are nice. I'd put them in a tank of soft slightly acid water full of plants and floating plants and let nature take its course. If fish will breed community style it makes your life so easy. Really chop their blackworms. If you collect eggs, try putting them on top of pre-boiled soaking wet peat. That will stop alot of fungus. You can also soak the peat in water with an anti-fungal agent -- metholyne blue. But just letting the eggs hatch in the tank is easiest. Just feed bbs to the tank daily for the suspected fry.

Are the Nothos really males? Pictures?

Bobby
 
Bobby: Thanks for the help! I ran into a few problems-one of which you pretty much predicted and solved before hand. The other problem was that I suspected one of the females of eating the eggs. I wasn't able to find many eggs in the moss. Sure enough, when I moved a pair out and let them spawn for a short time and moved them back I was able to find 3 eggs. If I had a divider I would split them up into two pairs. If I search the moss at the right time(right after the fish have been seen spawning) I can find eggs. I stopped searching a few days ago and plan to just wait it out and see if any fry start popping up.

How different is methylene blue from acriflavine? According to the pages you sent me this is what Chromaphyosemion specialist Oliver Legros does for his eggs.

I tried water incubating the eggs in a small container with a few sprigs of moss but this only seemed to encourage them to fungus. So I've decided to leave the eggs for now. May try your wet peat method...methylene blue will be the last resort.

I'm not sure on those nothos. People think they are females, but shouldn't they be totally colourless? They are 2 months old now-I think that is old enough that any males that would colour up would have. They have a faint bluish sheen and faint showing of the red marks of the males on the bodies and a bit on the fins. You can't quite make it out in the photos.

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I think this set of photos shows both fish. Going by the anal fin, it looks like two females. However, they slight color, body shape, and behavior seems to make me think male. Perhaps with no males present they are trying to be males.

If they do turn out to be both of the same sex(which wouldn't surprise me) I've got about 5 more fry coming along and I'm sure the peat still has eggs in it. I changed my method of harvesting BBS a little. Room light naturally makes them collect at a certain spot near the surface, but under the floating cysts. I got a few pipettes off my friendly chem teacher and it is a simple matter to suck up the BBS with the pipette getting few if any cysts. Only problem is is that this is time consuming and seldom gets all the BBS. I also collect BBS for putting in the fridge for "storage".(they last at least a day like this) After a day and a half I use the BBS net and collect up whatever BBS are left(not worrying too much about the cysts) and give them to the juvenile evergladei. I will soon be setting up two soda bottles at once so I can have a more constant supply.

Also, I got the first issue of JAKA recently(Thanks much Dustin for the membership!) and it is very nice-for one thing the photo on the front is spectacular! Seems like they have changed the format recently as instead of being in typical magazine format it is now a pocket size "booklet". Maybe too many killikeepers would read them in the fishroom and get them wet...LOL I liked Bob Morenski's article on Megalebias wolterstoffi. Those guys look like giant Aust. nigripinnis. I hear people raise other species like N. whitei for use as feeder fish for this genus! Also, his article on Belly sliders was interesting and the idea has potential. On the 3rd wet of kafuensis I still got quite a few bellysliders.

What has been happening with your fish?

~Joseph
 
Hi Joe,

Quick note. Those are definitely 2 females. The males would be a rainbow of red and blue to knock your eyes out.

Fill the Chromo tank with plants and feed bbs daily.

For harvesting of bbs, use a flashlight or workshop type single incandecent bulb in metal funnel like thing. Put light by the bottm of the jar and cover the whole jar with a towel. All the bbs go to the light. keep the room dark. If the bbs are over 48 hours old they have molted once and will go to the top. Better nutrition if fed before first molting.

Bobby
 
Good to know for certain what genders these two are after two months! Looks like you were right all along.

How big do female KAF get? I think they are around 1.5 inches or a little more(based on putting a ruler against the glass for them to inspect).

I remember that it seemed as if the fry affected by velvet were the larger ones...so perhaps that killed off the would be males and left 2 females.

I hope the group of 5 will catch up and have a few males for me
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  • #10
Observed the fry and now I'm sure I have at least one male! Most likely more but haven't checked.

Edit: Might be too early to tell but it looks like all these will be males. Not the outcome I wanted-but better than them being all female.

I'm pretty sure using 2 males per female would not be advised. Could I perhaps rotate the males through the breeding tank or something? I don't know of anyone else who keeps this particular sp./location.
 
  • #11
Hi,

Post some pics of the new fry and let me look. I doubt they are all males although my kykesis (petenensis) are running heavy on males. The females might get to 2 inches max usually smaller. If fed well they get big and big Notho females are best for breeding. Use 2 females to a male as males are rough. Breed as soon as the males sex out fully as Nothos are short lived. There breeding water can be only slightly soft and acid and you might try regular water once and see how that spawning incubates and hatches.

Methylene Blue and Acriflivine are both good anti-fungal agents but most people use MB. You just put the eggs in a mild solution for a day or two and then transfer them to clean tank water. I prefer storing on wet pre-boiled in hard water(and thoroughly rinsed in hard water) peat moss placed in those Glad storage containers and checked and opened daily. But I think community tank breeding and raising is easiest. Just feed live bbs daily for unseen fry.

I have more velifera and kykesis fry and have distributed some. I am slowing down on the killie breeding with the move. The orange picta are producing. I have around 5 orange males now and a load of females. I think the cross of two monty strains has taken as the blue/green females are loaded. I hope they improve the color and size on the spotted. The nezzies are doing great as always. I have an especially nice big male in this generation. The Phalloceros are multiplying. My old lyretail and hi fin swords strains are dropping fry. I will be sending the kykesis, velifera, lyretail and hi fin swords, nezzies and monties if I can. I'm going to take a break from killies for a while with the move as they require more time and special care. I'm sending off my last N. symoensi eggs to Singapore and China!

Bobby
 
  • #12
I'll post photos ASAP. I'm pretty sure at least 3 are males as they show some color even though they are around grain of rice size. They've got some red in the fins and one is even developing that blue anal fin edge. Not too sure how old completely sexed out is but I guess when they've almost caught up to these females sizewize they will be ready. In my eyes these females look pretty big and are growing still. Could be because they haven't been bred so are focusing most of the energy on growth instead on eggs. They chase each other around alot though and act as if they are males.

I'll remove some eggs and try storing them on peatmoss prepared as you described and see how that works.

I'd agree killies are definetly more labor intensive-livebearers seem to produce for themselves. Keep me updated on the monty cross. Great to hear the picta are reproducing! How do the highfins/lyretails look compared to the old strain? Looks like the symoensi are going to be in the FR of many killikeepers
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~Joseph
 
  • #14
Not exactly too sure what you mean by white thing but I see some Najas and Anubias roots near the center of the aquarium. The grey shadow near the top was a piece of duct tape.
 
  • #15
haha Its white and square - mayble a post it note?
 
  • #16
Update photos...
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At least one of the fish in this shot seems like it could be a female. You can also see the males which are becoming very apparent. A few are obviously male due to anal fin shape and a few specks of color but seem to be waiting to color up.

And one of the splendopleure male.
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  • #17
Hi N,

You have males. Now you should be on your way. That Chromo is gorgeous. I hope you get lots of fry. Killies are so pretty.

Bobby
 
  • #18
Thanks Bobby! I definetly agree with that.

The kafuensis males are coloring up and growing quite rapidly. I hope they grow quick and catch up to those females.

Also, the splendopleure have been turning out lots of eggs. I checked the moss today out of curiosity and picked maybe 8 before stopping. One was eyed up. I put maybe 4 on peat and a few including the eyed up one into a small container for water incubation. I hope it works out this time
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~Joseph
 
  • #19
Hi N,

The males will catch up to the females plus you have new females. Growth now is rapid and Nothos raised by you are always easier to work with. Hopefully you'll have lots of eggs/fry in 6 or 7 months. Those Chromos look better ever time I look at the pics. If you found eyed up eggs that means there are more you missed so start feeding that tank live bbs every day. You'll have Chromos everywhere. Use tank water for storage and change it daily. Did the AKA sedn you the new Beginner's Guide?

Bobby
 
  • #20
Bobby: I definetly agree that Nothos raised by oneself are much easier to deal with then those that have to acclimate to totally new conditions. Something not likely to happen in the wild.

I'll get some BBS into that tank. The fry should hang around near the top right? My plan is when I spot them to remove them so they don't get eaten. I hear Chromaphyosemions can be a bit slow growing-think its 3 months for them to sex out and 6 to breed. It will certainly be worth the wait though
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Speaking of plant spawners, how are the calabrica doing for you? I've been following some of your posts on killietalk-as always very informative
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Breeding up a storm sounds pretty good though
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Didn't get the new beginners guide, but did get my second issue of JAKA. The fish on the cover are just plain spectacular! Now I see why you reccomended Procatopus! The articles in both have also been very informative.

~Joseph
 
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