Fry - Gardneri Males!

[Biulu]

the water I am currently using (with tannins from a big piece of bogwood) has a pH of 6, while the water from the bottles I buy have a pH of 8. I should be keeping discus! I do not know the pH at the time of the hatching, as I soaked peat in the water for 3 days to lower the hardness.

As you suggested me Colin, I separated today the australe fry lagging behind in growth in a separate container. This gave me the opportunity to count my babies, and they are still 15, so better then I thought before.

If it is right that the more 'golden' coloured ones are going to be males, I will both sexes in this batch. There is certainly a difference in fry. Some are simply grey, and others have this orangish glow, but it is too soon to tell, so I need to have patience.

The f. gardneri is growing fast now, and I hope they will look like real miniature killies soon.

 

[BigC]

Yeah hopefully you will have some male australe in amongst that lot. (I still sex mine with the fins though) anyway you'd have to be extremely unlucky not to get atleast one male from fifteen.
Gardneri do mature much faster than Australe so you shold have no problem with them.
Just remind me was it Chocolate Australe or Gold Australe you got.

Keep tight fitting lids on your tanks and keep australe females and gardneri females well apart. As they will cross but the resulting fry may or may not be sterile.
Please refrain from doing anything like this and keep the strain pure.

Regards
BigC

 

[Biulu]

Colin, I have australe gold fry. I was immediately attracted to this lovely fish, more than the chocolate strain. I keep gardneri and australe in separate tanks, so no problems with cross-breeding. For the moment I would be too worried the australe might be eaten by the gardneris! I just put the small australe in a separate tupper to give them more chances to get food without the competition from their larger brothers and sisters.

I had a microworm culture that went bad during my absence, but I noticed that larvae from fruit flies are developing in it, and I have started feeding these to the gardneris. They love it! Larvae should be protein rich so should keep their development at the right pace.

 

[BigC]

Fruitfly are excellent both larval stage and adult, I use the wingless or vistigal winged variety. They can make a bit more work for you but they are excellent.
I make my media from a concoction of ingredients. I use 1 pint plastic beer beakers for the nursery. Into this I mix 1 spoon of molassas sugar, a good slice of banana some concentrated fruit juice and I mix it all up into a paste. not too thick as the maggots will have trouble getting about, Then I place in 2 lolipop sticks and a small piece of kitchen roll. I place about 12 adult flies in each container and cover with a cutting of ladies tights and an elastic band. To feed when culture matures I place the beaker in the fridge (my fish food fridge not the domestic food one) to reduce the temperature, this subdues the flies and you can easily and steadily shake a portion (12 or more depending on what you want to feed) into a net and submerge and allow them to float. The killis go mad.
Regards
BigC

 

[Biulu]

I do have gardneri males: 2 definitively! It is just like with humans: males just take a bit longer in their development!

I know these pictures leave a lot to desire in terms of quality, but you get the idea:

IMG]http/i178.photobucket.com/albums/w244/Biulu/DSC01628.jpg[/IMG]

 

[BigC]

Definately a male, did you not spot the yellow banding on the dorsal and anal fins way before now.
Well there you go, nice plump abdomen well fed specimen
Regards
BigC

 

[Biulu]

Thanks! No, I didn't notice it last week. The fish are now around 3 months old and 2 - 2.5 cm. It is a pity that the first picture doesn't want to appear. I will try again:

 

[BigC]

Yeah super,
The first signs are the yellowing and the emergence of the red stripe directly below the yellow band in the dorsal, anal and upper and lower ray of the caudal to a certain extent.
I bet you are glad to see those males appear. Next generation will be your next task. Please be aware of a tight fitting lid, block even the holes where your wiring and airlines enter the tank (with filter wool or similar). I once sent for a trio of Fp. gar. Jos Plateau from Sweden, I inadvertantly left the coverglass open one day and a female leaped to her death as I was at work. Just as well it wasn't the male. So that is why I'm stressing the importance of such practice.
Anyway keep posting the updates especially with the pics.
Regards
BigC

 

[Biulu]

The dominant male has now developed completely, and is already tailwaggling to the largest female. Should I separate males from females? Can I start separating the dominant male and the female to start breeding?

 

[BigC]

Should I separate males from females

Yes!
And also sort according to size, Dont breed with runts choose the biggest most robust and most vibrant in terms of colour and body shape.
Seperate the sexes and feed with a predominant livefood diet if poss. Dont forget the odd flake feed also. The fish are too young yet IMHO, I like to breed from nearly fullgrown fish as I feel that gives the females and the male time to fully develop sexually. I never breed from juves even though they are sexually active.
You will have much more sucess if you wait. Use a trio of similar size 1 male: 2 females.
Regards
BigC

 

[Biulu]

Ok. I spent my whole afternoon preparing a new tank for them, which has a division (I used this tank before to house 2 bettas), So after all the hard work, I went to brew myself a cup of tea, and when I came back to admire the result, the 2 males were already at the other side!

Don't ask me how they did it. The dominant male was able to get back to the other side, but the other had not. So, this division is no good I thought it was a good idea as it would ensure the same water characteristics and would make it easier to put them together for breeding afterwards. Now I will see what I can do with regard to this division. It is made out of acrylic and has holes in it. For a start I am thinking of covering it with musquito mesh.

For the 'lid' I am using a piece of cloth to which I have sewn an elastic band. I thought this might work well, as it ensures that it is tight and at the same time allows air in. I will try to take pictures of it later.

 

[BigC]

You are getting to know killifish, I've had fish literally end up going from the top teir tank only to be swimming around in a tank 2 teirs down.
Everything has to be tight.
Regards
BigC

 

[Biulu]

Should I separate males from females

Yes!
And also sort according to size, Dont breed with runts choose the biggest most robust and most vibrant in terms of colour and body shape.
Seperate the sexes and feed with a predominant livefood diet if poss. Dont forget the odd flake feed also. The fish are too young yet IMHO, I like to breed from nearly fullgrown fish as I feel that gives the females and the male time to fully develop sexually. I never breed from juves even though they are sexually active.
You will have much more sucess if you wait. Use a trio of similar size 1 male: 2 females.
Regards
BigC

I am feeding them brine shrimp 5 days /week. The other 2 days they get spirulina flakes or micro pellets. The reason for this is that the brine shrimp supply only arrives once a week, and after 5 days most shrimp start dying in their bags.

At what age should they be ready to breed? I am not planning on breeding them yet, as I have to make space first...... I am waiting for some kribensis fry to get to the stage that I can include them in one of my community tanks.

 

[Biulu]

A small update on my fry/juveniles.

The gardneri males have now coloured up completely. I am attaching some pictures I took last week, although they don't do them really justice. The colours are much more vibrant. I will have to try to take pictures again and see how I can improve them.

Anyway, here they go:

IMG]http/i178.photobucket.com/albums/w244/Biulu/DSC01650.jpg[/IMG]

With regard to the australe: I am weaning them off the BBS. I have found a certain thin reddish worm which stays alive in water for several days. This is perfect! The fish eat whenever they want and the amount they want, and I restrict myself to monitoring. I found this livefood in Mexico city, so now I need to find a way to ensure it gets to me every week. I will try my local LFS; they are normally willing to provide me with things if they can get them.

The only ones that are still on BBS are the few australe that are behind in growth. From the 5 that I separated initially, 3 are left. The other 2 caught up within notime and are now back with the big batch.

The australe are now around 1 cm and at the same stage as the gardneris 1.5 month ago. I hope that soon they will start getting the juvenile body form. Some are already 'working on it' so to say.

 

[Biulu]

It looks like the pictures are too large. I will try again now resized: