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Australe


Wild Nut

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There was an interesting article on Seriously Fish debating the use of peat in aquariums and the like -

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/for-peats-sake/

Your little fry raising tank looks cool, is the water shared by all of the containers or are they all separate? are they filtered?

I ask because now you're making me consider a similar setup :)

Can I ask what the pH and hardness is (roughly) in your tanks?

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Yeah I've seen that article before. I was going to mention it in my previous post, but honestly I only use maybe 500g - 1kg of peat moss a year and my fish seem to prefer it over any other substrate type I have used previously. The killifish are always bulldozing through it hunting grindals or blackworms.

Containers are separate but share the same tank like a bain-marie type system. They are only in 1L containers now but will be getting upgraded soon to a 4L container or so. I am taking it nice and slowly with these fry. Water changes are done every couple of days with water taken from the main tank holding the parents.

The only container that is filtered is my egg hatching one and that is with an airstone on low to help prevent fungus on the eggs.

Have no idea on the pH/hardness. I rarely if ever check. I know my tap water that I use has basically no hardness and my pH was at least as low as the API test kit goes (think that's 6 or so).

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Pictures are terrible, but my biggest fry moved into their new 8L home the other day. I put them all together and they are thriving. They get grindals in the morning and BBS at night and seem to be getting bigger each time I look at them.

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They get water changes with water from the main tank still (thinking of setting up a special container full of aged water and IAL for them) and I am just taking things nice and slowly.

I also have four very young fry in my egg hatching container and when I had a peek with my torch today there were four or five very eyed up eggs I could see also in there so more australe fry on the way! I think I have mastered my hatching technique with this species as I seem to get a good hatch rate.

I haven't picked the spawning mop for a while now and I think there must be eggs in there as the parents are spawning all the time.

The female australe is so tame now she hangs off my tweezers while I am trying to feed her. They are right by my bedroom door so every time I walk into the room she is there begging for food.

I ordered them the terracotta spawning cave so that should hopefully be arriving in the next couple of weeks. I plan on spoiling them now I have some money in my pocket.

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Well their parents get the leftover BBS so there's no real cut-off age. It just should be part of a balanced and varied diet once they get past the size/age of being restricted to smaller foods.

At the moment it's just grindals and BBS, but when they get bigger I will be introducing pellets, frozen foods and live foods such as blackworms and white worms.

I keep thinking that they aren't that big and then I compare them to my newly hatched fry and the difference in size is pretty obvious. I think I have over 20 fry all up now.

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Some photos of everyone from earlier today. Got a big chunk of bolbitis yesterday at Subscape so they have all be amusing themselves with that. Had heaps of fry hatch out in my hatching container so I have another one going and picked 15 eggs to put into it.

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Then here is a slightly better shot of my biggest batch of fry

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Have no idea on the pH/hardness. I rarely if ever check. I know my tap water that I use has basically no hardness and my pH was at least as low as the API test kit goes (think that's 6 or so).

That's cool; I have the same system :)

Thanks for the information.

It sounds like your fish are going great. On that topic I think your pictures have convinced me to get some myself.

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Yeah they are doing really well. Biggest travesty was that I was a few hours late in feeding them yesterday *lol*

I have so many fry growing out I am going to need to expand my current set-up.

Australe are a good species of killifish to play around with. They are so easy to care for and breed. I believe Coburg Aquarium still might have some pairs left as that is where I got mine.

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A couple of crap quality videos of my pair playing around in their new floating spawning mop. Male loves the fact they have two whole mops now. I had a temporary one in there I didn't like, and the stinkers put five or so eggs in it before I got it out.

Not sure how to make my videos better quality so apologies.

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*lol* Got a present for my killifish delivered just before and they love it.

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Really happy with how this pair and their fry are going. The biggest fry are starting to recognise me now and I hope it won't be much longer before I can start to get an idea of gender. Some are quite feisty and chasing each other around already.

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Anyone with any experience raising this species able to tell me if male fry gradually get their colour in or are they simply darker from birth? I've gone over mine with my strong torch and they seem to all be showing the same iridescence the female has in her anal fin. They are also all this pale yellow in colour. Just wanted to get an idea of how soon you are able to at least guess at the sex of this species.

Anyway, here are some photos.

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Looking like real fish now!

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These guys are so absolutely adorable they blow betta fry right out of the water. They all recognise me now and it is so cute having them swarm around when they see me coming with their breakfast/lunch/dinner.

I have to have at least 30 of them now with eggs eyeing up every day. Mum and dad are spawning like mad still and I am still regularly picking eggs from their mops.

Going to Exotic Aquatic hopefully this weekend to look at what smaller cubes are there as I think I may need to expand my killifish production line.

I want to scrounge together my pennies from my wild betta sales and put towards some killifish eggs. Now I think I have the knack for hatching and raising fry I think I am keen to give some other species a go.

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I was going to try Serkan/KillieorCory. He does seem to come on the AL forum but his inbox there was full when I tried to message him the other day.

I would like to find a single poliaki male whose strain matched up with the female I currently have, or get some eggs if that is not possible.

She is so plump and healthy it seems a shame to have her sitting around going to waste.

Found all the nice photos I took of my Ijebu Ode pair and I was like :(( Why must I be so poor now haha

I think my mum is sick of my constant killifish fry updates. I was telling her that they were getting their speckles in the other day and I think I saw her trying to smother herself with her pillow.

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Ahhh okay. What other killifish are on your wish list?? Haha, that sounds the same as my Mum, I just don`t get why they don`t like hearing about how the fry have grown a few millimeters or that you one of your shrimp are berried.

Dan.

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This is my current killifish wishlist based on what I have seen come into Australia/what is available here

Chocolate Australe

Cap Lopez Australe

Striatum

Poliaki

Ijebu Ode

Chromaphyosemion biaeteniatum Lagos

Fundulopanchax amieti

Fundulopanchax sjoestedti

The annoying thing is I have had a lot of these species in the past but was inexperienced/had some bad luck that made me lose them. That was also when I had money. Now I have very few savings so can't just go out and be like "BUY ALL THE KILLIS!" *lol*

I finally talked my mum out of the macrostoma pair she wanted and into a pair of sjoestedti. So if they pop up on the AI wholesaler list she will be paying for them. She does like my australe pair and thinks their constant begging for food is endearing.

I realised today when I was doing water changes on my fry grow-outs that I have heaps more fry than I thought with eggs still to hatch. So I am going to stop collecting eggs until this group of fry is at a sellable size.

To continue with the picture spam got this photo of what I think is a little male based on his orange anal fin

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Then dad cruising around tonight wanting dinner

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I approve of that list :P

i like most of them fish as well although i like gardneri makurdi alot. and have clown killis

they are definately a cool little fish.

me and james bought an australe pair today hopefully soon we can pick some eggs of thier spawn mop :)

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I find them pretty easy to spawn so I don't doubt you will. I am also getting a good hatch rate with the eggs of these two so that is always nice. Now I just hope my luck holds out and I end up with a even spread of sexes for my troubles.

I swear each time I look in the tank the male's tail extensions just seem to get longer and longer.

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Compared to the ones we got yours are quite long it seems.

You can check bayfish stock as well for Killis available as well as AI

The gardneri have been spawning of late so we will see. Eggs will be hatching right around when we are redoing our tanks so at least space will hopefully not be an issue then :)

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Mine are from Coburg Aquarium. Took me a two hour bus trip in about 10 degree weather and drizzle to get them *lol*

I want the Cap Lopez strain at some point. Just need room and money, every hobbyist's brick wall I think.

Okay I think I am a tad obsessed with these fish. They just seem to grow by the day and I love watching them. Reminds me why I got into this hobby after all the hassle I have had recently with my wilds.

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Edited by Wild Nut
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