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More killies!


VickiPS

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I tried for a week or so, but couldn't resist getting a trio of killies from the lfs -- A. gardneri. They are soooo pretty and cute. The shop has had a dozen in one of the tanks for a few weeks -- $4.70 each. I've read back through the advice and information in previous threads, and have set up a 22l tank with what I had on hand. Black gravel substrate, some silk plants, a couple of small hideys, several bunches of elodea and a ball of java moss. I used a mature small sponge filter, but no heater. I've put an opaque cover on the tank, and some backing. Our water has high pH (around 7.8 usually) so I added PH Down and blackwater extract to bring it down to neutral. Do these guys like a peat substrate? I didn't have a chance to go hunting today, but will look for some tomorrow if that's what they need. They've been rootling aroung the bottom flipping over the few bits of plant material there, so I'm guessing that peat would be a good thing to add. Any further advice would be much appreciated :)

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Well done Vicki! :eadshake: You don't really need peat for gardneri. All you have to do is to make couple of spawning mops. Do you know where did the shop get their gardneri from? There are a few locations of gardneri out there, it would be interesting to find out what you have.

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Far as I know, these came from Bay Fish :eadshake: They look to be the "steel blue" type gardneri. However, there were others in the same tank that were a lighter gold base colour, rather than steel blue/grey, but shape, fins and general markings looked the same. Should I put spawning mop into the tank as well as the java moss ball?

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Yay. Coool! :blush:

I love these fish and that is a great price from a LFS. Did you get a location code with them? If not, it would be worth your while asking the shop if they know it. Failing that, try and find out where they got them from (which wholesaler or breeder) and I can probably work it out :eadshake:.

Your setup sounds good for them. Just make sure there are no gaps at all in the cover : Not even a pencil width gap. Callatya can attest to the importance :giggle:.

You could add a few floating spawning mops if you want to collect some eggs a little easier. You don't need to add a peat substrate, they'll be perfectly fine as is and gravel bottom tanks are much easier to clean.

I wouldn't worry about reducing the pH too far. I keep them under 7.0 only because my water tends to head that way by itself. I'm always fighting a battle to raise it. 7.2, 7.4 is ideal but they are very tolerent IME.

Good luck with them and post some pics if you can. Here is one of mine :

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Dean

[ha, you beat me to it]

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great stuff Vicki I would only furnish the tank with spawning mops, probably a combination of floating and bottom because these guys can be "switch" spawners. That makes finding eggs a much more simple task. The eggs are easily seen in the mops and can be handled without fear of damage. Water incubated is OK and the fry will hatch between 14 - 21 days, depending on temperature. Alternatively, you can collect eggs for a week or more and incubate them on damp peat for up to a month and hatch all together. Good luck Keith

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Ditto to what the other guys saying :D

Here are a few photos of my gardneri -past and present:

gardneri N'sukka (don't have this anymore)

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gardneri nigerianum (don't have these anymore, but I sent some to Turkey 5 years ago and they still have them over there!!!)

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gardneri Akure Blue

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I also currently have Akure, Jos Plateau and Golden but do not have photos of these yet.

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great stuff Vicki

I would only furnish the tank with spawning mops, probably a combination of floating and bottom because these guys can be "switch" spawners. That makes finding eggs a much more simple task.

The eggs are easily seen in the mops and can be handled without fear of damage. Water incubated is OK and the fry will hatch between 14 - 21 days, depending on temperature. Alternatively, you can collect eggs for a week or more and incubate them on damp peat for up to a month and hatch all together.

Good luck

Keith

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah it depends what you want to achieve with them (and how much effort you want to put in). To maximise breeding I agree with Keith the best option is a bare tank with a few top and bottom yarn mops. This will allow you to pick the most number of eggs. If you are not so fussed about breeding large numbers you can stick with your current tank. Some fry should manage to survive, atleast perpetuating the species or you can pick the few eggs that do get laid on the mops or in the moss. I tend to keep both setups. Some in a small planted tank that are nice to look at and others in proper breeding setups. At the moment I have a number of large old gardneri that have past their breeding prime living out their days happily in a planted 18inch cube.

Dean

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