Fp. Gardneri Lafia

[Loko17]

It's been a while since I've been on here because I've been swamped with school work so I thought I'd get on here and give some of you an update on my Fp. Gardneri Lafia Pairs. The first pair in one of the 5.5 gallon tanks are doing awesome, They eat well and breed like crazy fish. The ones in the second tank arent such avid breeders and the male seems kind of sluggish lately and he isnt eating as much but this morning he did eat a lot. Well anyway a few weeks ago I was feeding my killies before bed and It'd been a while since I'd really looked in there and studied because school took up most of my time and I had decided I wasnt even going to collect eggs out of the spawning mops until summer. So I look in there and a small dot of light darts across the tank wall and I look closer and I see 5-6 small fry. They were pretty big so I realized that since I hadnt been cleaning the killi tank like crazy they must have found something to eat to get as big as they were. So for the past few weeks I've been checking up on them and crushing the freezedried food I feed the adults into tiny pieces for the fry to eat. The biggest ones are big enough to eat larger pieces of food and I've noticed 2 of them have a blueish sheen on their bottom fin.
Here's the catch, everyone I've talked to said its better to collect the eggs and then put them in a seperate tank and feed them brineshrimp etc. well these survived for probably a week without me even knowing they were there and I didnt feed any live food or anything and they are still in the parent tank and oddly enough the parents dont even pay attention to them so even the smaller ones that have hatched out since I noticed the first ones arent eaten. Anyone know when I can sex these little ones and how old they might be exactly? The biggest ones are probably about a centimeter in length and they're big enough to nibble at large pieces of food.
Anyway just thought I'd update a little and share my exciting experience with you guys here at TFF.

 

[4ftguppy]

cool

I breed my gardneri the same way. You'll be able to sex them at about an inch, when you'll see some colour on the fins

The adults don't eat the fry if well fed, like you've observed, but the fry will eat other fry - to an extent. If you feed them microwrms and newly hatched artemia nauplii you'll get more fry - but you'll soon have all you can handle anyway

artemia can improve their colour too - so its worth getting some if you can

I just take the adults out a couple times a year and sell them at a fish show

 

[Loko17]

Yea When they get to an inch or so I'm gonna move the bigger ones to a 10 gallon growout tank so they wont eat the smaller fry. Once they are big enough I'm going to sell them to my LFS and I've got so many fry with more and more everyday that I'll make a pretty good profit off of them selling them 4 dollars a piece.

 

[BigC]

Anyone know when I can sex these little ones and how old they might be exactly?

I have currently a batch of fry of Fp. gardneri Nig. Jos Plateau which are somewhat similar to your strain except for colouration.
If fed well and waterchanges performed on a regular basis then the fry will reach ½ inch at 3 weeks and 1 inch in 5 weeks. You will notice the slight colouration in the unpaired fins first to signify that its a male. Don't be surprised to get skewed sex ratios mostly males or mostly females this is due to a number of factors to do with water conditions either at spawning or on hatching. More experimentation is needed. There is an experiment going on presently. It involves raising only 2 fry in each container, reports say that you will get 1 male and 1 female by using this method. Not having tried this and due to space limitations I cannot personally substantiate these claims.
I hope this was of some help to you.
Regards
BigC

 

[Loko17]

Hi again,
Today I moved 3 fry to the ten gallon to see how they do and if they live well then I will probably start moving the fry to that tank as they get bigger. I moved they two biggest ones that are about an inch and I got one of their little brothers/sisters by mistake so I thought I'd just keep that one in there its a little smaller than a centimeter. You should see the parent tank, there are probably 20 or so fry in there ranging from about 1/2 inch to 1/2 centimeter. One thing that troubles me though is the fact that I have another pair in another tank and so far i've seen 1 fry once and i cant find it again and both of the parents are acting strange. Anyone know what could be going on. I've treated their tank the same as I've treated the parent tank that has all the fry and they act sluggish and act sick but I know they arent. Anyways I'll try to get some pics if I can figure out where they camera is. Thanks for the help.
Oh and one more thing, I noticed that some fry have bigger heads than the others and noticed that my male has a bigger, rounder head than my female and was wondering if they ones with the bigger, rounder heads are all male or if its just a weird genetic thing that could've been picked up by either one of the parents. Ok thanks again.

 

[BigC]

Hi,
I have never come across the "Big Head" thing, perhaps they could have disease like a gill infection which would explain the head swell or as you suggest have some form of genetic defect. In any case. I presume that you are keeping these fry in small tanks/tubs. Small tanks (although essential) present a myriad of problems if not kept clean. You need to be feeding the fry at least 3-4 times per day (artemia nauplii & microworms). This in itself poses problems in respect to cleanliness. Any uneaten food at the end of the day is sucked up via a syringe and disguarded and the fry tank topped up with fresh water. Every other day perform a 50% waterchange in the fry tanks, this is essential for growth.
I hope this was of some help to you
Regards
BigC

P.S. Males flare their gills and body shake in a sort of territorial stance especially when there are females present. Although your fish are quite young are you sure it's not this that you are witnessing.

 

[Loko17]

Yea I realized today that the ones I thought had bigger heads dont really they just had less fat bodies. But all of the fry that I've moved into the fry tank which is about 10-15 are gettin fat now that they dont have to fight for food with their parents. I'm glad i got a 10 gallon growout tank so they have plenty of room to grow. I'm thinking the bigger ones are going on 5 weeks. Anyone know when they will be big enough to be shipped off to my lfs to be found homes?

 

[BigC]

LFS will usually take almost full grown adults of your hands but you'll end up getting a pittance for them. I myself offer a trade for frozen food. I hope you don't think that you can make a profit from breeding Killifish as this is a total misconception. Believe me in the last 25 years of Killi breeding I am still a pauper as by the time you weigh up what it's cost in money, time and effort getting your fry to saleable size then add on the postage costs and sometimes heatpacks to send them then in reality you are maybe working at a loss or a few quid up. I sometimes end up giving fish away which to me is more satisfying to see the faces of a novice really appreciate them.
As regards to moving them on then you will be looking at between 8-10 weeks properly fed and waterchanges performed regularly.
Regards
BigC

 

[Loko17]

Ok thanks, I realize that I'm not going to make any money out of it with costs and things looked at but since I'm going to get store credit for them I wont have to pay for the low dollar items like food etc. Also I thought yall might like to know that the biggest of the fry is sexable size and he is a male. Another thing is, there is one fry that has a black tail. Is there something wrong with this fry or is it just a weird coloring because he's about as big as the biggest fry. Thanks for all the help.