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I have no idea if they are a "strain" in particular but the pair is one of 2 one guy on killitalk had(Rick Kraft). Apparently this was the one he was going to keep for himself.
Nice, he sent you very good fish.
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Your box is still here as I was out of town for a bit. Would you need it to send the Mambova?...or would the packages be "crossing" each other.
I have another box to use so you would need to return 2 boxes. Now we could wait and let me breed these and then send you eggs as the fry you would raise will be stronger and used to your environment. I will start breeding these now and then wait and send you eggs in the spring. Plus I am hatching my eggs from blue parents the first week of Dec. so I might have more variety in that hatch and could send you pairs next spring or eggs. Let me know.
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Yup, I've come to the conclusion no sand in killie breeding tanks. Watching them grin happily and bury the eggs was bittersweet...heheh. What size "bowls" do you use for spawning? The pair briefly checked out the bowl but hey avoided it after the male was a bit over amorous and both made a sudden burst to attempt to escape. The male got out...the female spent the next minute or so pacing inside before the male finally swam over the container(the same Glad container the microworms came in with a large hole cut into it) and the female managed to find the exit. While the notho male used this thing fine I guess SJO need bigger ones.
Good. I tried sand, green sand marl, crushed walnut shells and glass beads when I was a teenager and concluded that boiled rinsed regular old peat moss was best. SJO need a big bowl. I use a 3" tall 8" diameter plastic bowl for big Fundulopanchax with an inch of peat and a few round stones in the bottom to weight it down. I leave the top off. Peat blows out but its ok. If you are keeping the sexes separate and just put them together to breed in a tank, I would just cover the tank bottom with an 1/2" of peat, spawn the fish for a day (keeping an eye on the male for meanness to the female as males can be deadly) and then collect the peat. Don't feed them as they are breeding that day so you get very clean peat. Store the peat moist in a good quality fishstore plastic bag (freezer bags don't breathe enough). Fishstores will sell you a few or just give them to you. Fluff the peat before storage and seal air in the bag too. The peat should be moist so that when you squeeze a bit between 2 fingers a little water comes out. It should be dry enough to fluff easily and not clump like when soaking wet.
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For softer water during spawning, would I mix my water with R.O.? Would it be advisable to spawn in a smaller tank? If you and I succeed with SJO praps we could cross offspring.
Yes, I mix 10% tap water with 90% RO or rainwater. I keep the fish in the harder tap water and then for breeding I change a 1/4 of the water once or twice a day until I get a slightly acid pH reading and a GH and KH around 3-4 each. The fish need the slow changeover. I will also do it by putting the fish in a bucket with their hard water and then add a 1/4 of that amount in soft water every hour for 4-5 hours. That works just fine too. I'd leave the female in the tank and do it in the tank for her and maybe do the male in the bucket and then add him to the tank. You can just keep them in soft water period but watch for velvet as that is when it attacks. If you keep the water changed though and watch the chemistry permanent soft water is fine. Soft acid water just insures fertile eggs and lots of them.
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Not to sure how different blue and red SJO are but I remember someone(Think it was David Ramsey)showing a picture of a completely blue blue gularis. Very interesting, but the intermediate looks better IMO. I understand why you wanted these so bad when you were around my age.
I have the blues from David and they are beautiful. Yes, blue gularis were one of the first killies brought out alive from Africa (1905) and they have been a favorite ever since. They are big, fun, gorgeous, easy to keep and breed. I am always amazed they are not a staple of the lfs. They are one of the perfect tropical fish. Wait until they get big! If you raise fry out in your pond next summer you will have killer looking males color and size wise.
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Also, how much do you usually feed the SJO. I'm pretty sure they will eat themselves silly, but for the male I try to keep him so that his belly doesn't bulge or otherwise very slightly. The female gets a little more-she's the greedy one anyway.
Oh, let them bulge a little as they are young and growing. As they mature then feed less. For breeding, think about increasing the female's food to ripen her and then when resting her feed less. Always chop the worms. They usually love earthworms chopped too.
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The eggs haven't fungused on me yet...I put two on top of wet peatto see what happens.
Great sign! Yes, the peat when placing eggs on top of it should be wetter than if you were just storing the eggs laid in peat. I used to make peat sandwiches for placing eggs on peat. I'd have a very wet layer on the bottom; a piece of old nylon ladies hose on top of that pressed into the peat so it was wet; the eggs sitting on that; then another piece of old hose over eggs; and then more wet peat on top of the second layer of hose. A sandwich. It worked great but peat itself was easier.
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The pair is still together in the ten gallon. I think I will be moving the male back to the 46 gallon. Yes they did make a little hole in my fry population but most of the juvies are too big for them to eat right now.
Very good for conditioning and population control!
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BTw, would it be possible for you in spring to send over a group of ivory monty fry if you have extras? I could use them for "inoculating" the pond along with some of my own fish.
I could but you may not want them as I am crossing them with my old unspotted strain. The unspotted strain gets bigger and the males have higher, rounder and even more marked up dorsals. I want to improve the spotted ones. The unspotted strain also has males with orange on the sides.
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Btw, any updates on your limias, pictas, etc.? I know someone who just came back from a collecting trip in Southern CA(near the Salton sea) and brought back 100 or so porthole livebearers. They look quite interesting.
They are doing great. I must have 6 pairs of the Limias and a few fry -- the lcortei are eating the babies. I have 40 pictas but no red ones yet. What are porthole livebearers? The Salton Sea had sailfin mollies, platies and swords in it in the 50's as the LA fish guys released them in it.
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I'm not too sure if I'm slow or something...but just today while reading the old posts of yours to get a re briefer on hatching BBS(will be buying a can soon) I noticed that the (notho)eggs you planned to order were the ones I received(now am I slow or what?)
LOLOL. I have a nice tank of N. symoensi sexing out. What a pretty fish. My favorite Notho.
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Forgot to mention this, but I found it oddthat the 2 fish came in itty bitty bags. I was later informed(cut the bags to get the fish) that they were breather bags. Rick mentioned that he has had no casualties using these and will depend on them till he does(he hasn't sent too many fish around though). I mentioned the popping issue and he mused that if they were tied too tight they might pop.
I think the small bags work better than the big ones. BTW, the petenensis have dropped another 10 fry. They have small batches. The males are simply gorgeous. The black swords on the tails are fine and the blue tipped scales are great. I have a huge velifera just sexing out. He is going to be a whopper. The velifera are so robust -- almost like Goodieds or pupfish -- big butter balls.
All my arnoldi are mature and look great and a tank of the bizarre lacortei is a sight to behold --- alien looking fish.
Bobby
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D. muscipula