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Nothobranchius kafuensis

  • Thread starter Nflytrap
  • Start date
No guessing at what gender this one is!

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Hi N,

Now that is a nice looking male. KAF are such fine looking fish. Won't be long before he's breeding size.

I just found out I'm getting another population of petenensis. I hope it has a better sex ratio! I won't raise it but I will get it to people who can establish it.

Bobby
 
Thanks Bobby! Without your help and guidance I wouldn't have ever been able to get this far. Just wondering, but is it these early ones that usually turn out better or is it like the swordtails where the ones that wait to color up come out the best? He has a few other males of more or less the same size following him that are only just developing color. They are currently being fed a mix of baby brine shrimp, grindal worms, and I introduced them to small blackworms yesterday which they were definetly ready for. Hope to give chopped blackworms and eventually frozen bloodworms.

Btw, looking ahead to when these start breeding, how many eggs do you usually keep for yourself? I'm assuming several bags in case something goes wrong and then you can distribute the rest.

For the P. petenesis...are you sure this is the correct spelling? If so I still haven't been able to find anything about it...Google does give me Apistogramma pertensis though. Good luck with these new ones! Seems way more people have the problem with too many males as opposed to too many females(except for that guy with 150 female E. annulatus!)

I'll keep you updated
~Joseph
 
Hi N,

Yes, the later developing males can be better in killies but not as dramatically as in livebearers -- the velifera mollies produce males that sex out at a 1/2 inch and then the 6 inch monsters! I'd keep at least 3 bags of peat. The more often you collect peat the better the eggs store and resist prolonged resting stages. Collect every week or two. Try "Poecilia petenensis" or the new name kykesis. Look at Margaret Ptacek's lab site under the biology dept. at Clemson University. They are doing sailfin molly research. <http://people.clemson.edu/~mptacek/>

Bobby
 
One photo I forgot to add.

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Is this P. petenensis?(kykesis)
http://gpas.org/pub/flash/2004/feb04/P_petenensis1m.jpg
bad photo. Btw, do yours have that extension on the rear as well as the front of the dorsal fin?

From the looks of it I will have a breeding group of around 7-8 with at least 4 males. Btw, what kind of bags do you use for storing eggs in? I heard normal ziploc bags were bad as they don't allow breathing.

Also do you keep a journal of any sort for your fishroom? It might be useful for keeping track of things like spawns etc. and successes and failures that have occured. Also less likely to forget than a mind will.

Best
~Joseph
 
Hi N,

That's a male kykesis albeit a dead one. They have a black sword on the bottom of the caudal. The dorsal is not so pointed at the front.

That is a beautiful kaufensis. You should be proud. Nothos vex even advanced killie keepers. Your colony sounds great. Just feed well, keep them clean, good water and collect the peat. I use fishstore plastic bags for storage and check once a week to see that moisture content is good. I store them in a styrofoam box where the temp is good -- 74-76 F for Notho eggs.

I've never kept a journal but it is a great idea as many hobbyists do keep one. I often wish I had so I could see what I was thinking 25 years ago.

Looks like you may soon have lots of killies to trade. I'm glad I could help. You did what few do -- listened.

Bobby
 
Interesting that the photo didn't show that trait. The petenensis specimen looks like it has been damaged so maybe it isn't too surprising.

Btw do the females only produce eggs when the males are around or is it dangerous not to breed them? I've been keeping the feedings a little less than I would if they had males to breed with-they absolutely adore chopped redworms and bob up like corks at the sight of them.The males seem to know they have females waiting as they are impatient and so are growing fast! LOL.

Any signs besides body size I should be looking out for to show the males are ready for breeding? Also, is it bad to have a size difference between the pair? I'm pretty sure with a female that would be risky. The only problem I see with a small male would be that perhaps the male would have trouble clasping the female during spawning.


I'm very happy that I've managed to bring these killies this far. It was a pretty steep learning curve not without failures but it has been a great experience! I still can't get over that you can put seemingly lifeless peat into the water...go to bed, and wake up the next morning to fry in the tank!(if not earlier) Even at the small size these males are more colorful than I dreamed of(oh...and yes I did have lots of dreams of them LOL). I'm also very grateful for your support, wealth of information(that is an understatement), and your generosity. I had never thought anyone would go so far out to help out someone else in the hobby.

~Joseph

And in the meantime some more photos
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Hi N,

The females should be ok not being bred but just don't feed too richly so they don't produce so many eggs. Those males are almost ready. Are there females their size with them? Are they chasing those yet? I'd wait maybe 2 more weeks and then introduce one of the older girls in the tank along with a bowl of peat moss and see what happens. Maybe in 6 or 7 months you will have 80 young kafuensis growing up. Now that you have the hang of it most other Nothos will be pretty easy -- same with most Aphyosemions once you master the Chromos.

Those are beautiful photos. some of the best I've seen of kafuensis. You ought to check with the JAKA editor to see if he needs some young Notho photos.

My pleasure to help. Most things in life are a tradition that require one generation passing on to the next. You can't be a good teacher without a good student. I was a good student 30 years ago and absorbed everything anyone taught me on fish.

Bobby
 
Bobby:

The kafuensis males continue to grow. By now some of the other males have reach the stage of the largest male in the first set of photos. Its quite interesting watching the colors come in. I think this is an all boys group. Their is one runt that I missed but it also appears to be a male. They are chasing each other around so I guess that is a good sign. I can hardly wait for them to get to the point where I can give breeding a shot!

Who is the JAKA editor? I would be very happy if I could contribute some photos to the JAKA.

Thanks!
~Joseph
 
  • #10
Hi N,

Marshall Ostrow is editor -- look inside your issues on the front page or so. When you are ready to breed the kafuensis add a male to the female's tank. That usually works the best. Have the bowl of peat in there already and have a bowl no taller than 2 inches with a wide surface area.

Bobby
 
  • #11
Bobby: I'll probably be using the same Glad™ storage container that you sent the grindals to me in. It fits the measurements pretty good. If I can find the lid that I cut a hole in that would be even better...LOL

How are your Mambova as of now? I dug up some old photos and it is surprising how different they are from the 'Kayuni' I'm raising now. The main thing I see is the color scheme and the anal fin pattern. Bad photo but as you know in life the colors were Red, blue, and Yellow. The body shape looks different but we'll have to wait for my males to grow to this point to compare. I have a feeling Mambova is more enlongated than 'Kayuni'...which is stockier.
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I'll have to get new photos of the 'Kayuni' up. They are looking better and better each day.

~Joseph
 
  • #12
Hi N,

The Kayuni are alot different but as they grow the similarities will appear to be stronger than the differences. I think too many populations are listed as kafuensis. I bet we get separate species in time. I like the Kayuni more than the Mambova. I have to add peat to the mambova today as they are aging and I need eggs. Thanks for reminding me. The glad container should be good just watch to see if the height bugs them at all.

Bobby
 
  • #13
Sorry about the overabundance of photos but just like a parent taking pictures one or their kids I end up taking lots of them...LOL
Again change is noticeable between this and the last set of photos.

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For one, thing, the males are beginning to fight more and more often. Right now it seems to be mainly over food/territory but I bet if their was a female in here thats what they'd be after.

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The same male I have been photographing through these 3 photo sets. Biggest and also the most photogenic(probably because everyone else gets chased away from the camera...hehe).

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Bad photo...but as you can see, the smaller males are catching up.

Keep me updated on how the Mambova proceed and how you go about it
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~Joseph
 
  • #14
Hi N,

Male Nothos are kind of nasty and more so around girls so keep a watch on. I have learned the hard way that it is best to separate the sexes for raising and even a 30 gallon is not large enough for 80 young male Nothos. I sent 18 pairs of calabarica to the AKA's New and Rare Species Committee and have not heard a word. I am worried. I hope its just an oversight. I still have around 20 pairs and new fry. I'll let you know on the Mambova. I have a peat of Nanzhila kafuensis put away too.

Bobby
 
  • #15
WOW 80 young males! HAHA I cant even get my N. Foerschi to lay eggs yet! Im fallin behind ;)
 
  • #16
Hi M,

No eggs yet? Odd. Foerschi are real producers. Did you get the big container for the peat and 100% peat yet? Nothos eggs are tiny and hard to see in peat.

Bobby
 
  • #17
These guys are still growing rapidly. I'm itching to get these guys spawning!

A few males have now reach the appearance of the second set of photos. A few more still at the first set and maybe 3 which have little more than red X's on the sides plus the black anal fin margin.

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I just looked and these pictures show the change about 1 week makes.
 
  • #18
wow
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whats the life span for those? Must be short they grow so quick.
 
  • #19
Edit: My bad...its been two weeks!
 
  • #20
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the current dominant male(believe it or not!)
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The largest male.

Best shot I could get of the males fighting.
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I decided to jump ahead and have a go at spawning them. Once again same problem came up. The Nothos much preferred spawning in the peat thrown out of the bowl and never found their way into the bowl itself! However, the female did drop a few eggs...one which I pulled up with a pipette and placed into the bowl of peat. Now they are seperated again but I'm thinking of doing a 1 gallon or so spawning tank and just putting them in for a few hours and taking them out.

Also some bad news. Woke up and noticed that the smaller female was in an odd position. Turns out she couldn't swim properly and was extremely uncoordinated. Body is in the freezer now. I have no idea what happened but looking her over my only guess would be internal injury. Besides the slight bulge which could have just as likely been food she was flawless. Unsure what happened.

Any suggestions or advice would be most helpful. The males sure are acting like they are ready and the one female is very plump!

~Joseph
 
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