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Nothobranchius palmqvisti *pic warning*


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Firstly a big Thanks! to Keith (Handsfree). Who has been so kind and generous with not only his Nothobranchius palmqvisti eggs, but also his time and knowledge.

Since this is my very first effort at hatching and raising Killifish of any sort I thought I'd share it with you guys. This might also serve to pinpoint where I go wrong should I have any problems.

I can't tell you how excited I am.. I've never had instant fish before! :eadshake:

Ok so we take one bag of dried peat that has 3 month incubated eggs in ... somewhere

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Drop it in a shallow container and add a small amount dechlorinated/aged water

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Ok.. made my mini mud puddle. Now to sit back and wait a couple of hours and hopefully see some fry! Posted Image

will update soon!!




			
		
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Your so proud of your mud puddle aren't you mousie :thumbs:, Ok jokes aside.. This is interesting to see how they go, and future drying out of the moss for more fry. It's like instant pudding really, add milk and tadar! well in this case your adding water. I can't wait to see those little frybabies. (you should make this a hatching killifish blog :)) Damn you Mouse, your making me clucky :eadshake:

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they are hatching! :thumbs:

next step.. take trusty fry suckerupperer (pipette) and chop the end off so you don't injure the fry when you remove them from the tank.

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Omg this is so awesome!! I have removed a few fry from the peat using a torch and pipette and even sat there fascinated as one hatched. I actually saw it!! It was this little twitching ball with a pair of glowing eyes in it :eadshake: The way the eyes glow in the torchlight is a major bonus.. I don't think I would find them otherwise.

They are quite a bit bigger than betta fry, but look basically the same.

Will try and get some pics but my camera isn't being helpful.

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This really is exciting! :photo:

I've never seen an egg hatch before .. my bettas always make their nests too far away for me to see! Next time I might try to position the nesting material so its more visable and have a go. I was seriously awe-struck watching this little fry hatch.

I've removed a good 2 or 3 dozen fry from the peat so far and I think they are still hatching, so I'm going to leave it stand over night and see what awaits me in the morning.

Your so proud of your mud puddle aren't you mousie :)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am!! my little fish spawning mud puddle rocks!! :cheer:

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Congrats! Keith is a great guy. He would have told you all you need to know but here is a little bit of an input from me. -Notho species are quite susceptible to velvet so keep your water quality up. Some people suggest having a little salt in the water to keep velvet away somewhat but it all boils down to water quality. In the past I've kept Nothos in tanks with little bit of salt also some with no salt in them (in these tanks if velvet broke out I just added salt and 'Bob's your dads brother!' it clears). I would read up on annual killifish which you might have already done. -The fry might grow at slightly different rates (and they grow very very fast you'll be amazed!) so you might want to seperate them into two or more lots as some put on size faster (to maximise the number you raise) -If you keep them in group stiation to breed make sure you have a breeding tub for every male present. Have fun with them :photo:

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Thanks Serkan! Every bit of information I can get is useful and helpful!! I have been doing a fair bit of reading and Keith has been an invaluable source of information and so patient with all my questions. I'll keep an eye on the sizes and definitely seperate them out if need be. I would like to have these little fellows grow up and spawn..spawn..spawn!

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That is great to hear. The Notho species have nearly died out in australia (I havn't been able to get my hands on any) so a good hatching is very pleasing to hear. Do you plan to re-dry the peat and wet it agin in a month or so? You should be able to get more fry a second or third time. Keep us all updated on how they are going. Dean

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I do feel really lucky to have this species. Hopefully I can get a few good spawns happening and I'll be able to help spread them around a bit :)

I'm fairly sure that there isn't going to be any more fry hatch this time around, so I'm planning on drying the peat back out again and going for round two in a few weeks. I also have a second lot of eggs that I have yet to hatch which while are still the same species may (or may not) be from a different locale. So once these little ones are on their way I will wet that peat down and hopefully be off again :P

Some of them have nice orange little tummies on close inspection, so they are taking the bbs well, and I am assuming that the ones with white tummies have been eating mw's

They seem to prefer to hang out at the top of the water..buzzing along the surface, so these pics are taken from the top...and they are terrible! My light above the tank blew (with slight help from me :betta: ) so it was a bit dark, but I'll try and get better ones as soon as I can rig up a light source.

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tell me, how do these eggs work? drying the peat, going for a second round of hatching???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The fish live in seasonal bodies of water. the fish bury the eggs in the mud, water dries up, fish die, next rainy season the eggs hatch when the water arrives. You collect the eggs in the peat the fish spawned on, dry (moist) the peat, bag it and drop it in water a few months later. In the wild not all eggs hatch at the first sign of water so if the water dries up before more rain some survive. You can keep drying and wetting the peat to simulate this. You get less hatching each time but you can get fish for 3 or 4 wettings (if you don't already have fry coming out your ears).

Dean

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Thanks *lol* so it's sort of like brineshrimp. I like that idea *lol* instant fry, and if one batch fails, you can wet the peat again a few months later for another round. :cheer: say you wet the peat again, and the fry hatch, and you collect them, but you miss a few....and you dry the peat out, those fry are gonners, right? and if the parents die once the water dries up after they spawn in the wild, do they still die in a full tank environment in captivity?

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once hatched the fry wouldn't survive out of water for too long and I don't imagine decaying corpses would do much for the peat during storage - might get a bit festy. I'm pretty sure I haven't missed any though. Being an annual species I expect them to live around 4months.. give or take. Unfortunately the short life span is built into them.

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Being an annual species I expect them to live around 4months.. give or take. Unfortunately the short life span is built into them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You should be able to get the best part of 12 months out of them, particularly if the temperature is not too high.

Dean

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excellent!! Thanks for that Dean! I had read somewhere about 4 months, so I assumed that to be correct. It was on a random google search though and not from any major killi site. Thats made my day :cheer: I'm going to have to keep a major eye on the water temperature being in Perth I guess. Summer is likely to get a little nasty, but perhaps ice might help things.

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You might be able to spawn them at 6-8 weeks of age! Also like Dean said expect them to live around 10-12 months. A common misconception of their short life span stems from their natural environment where the adult fish die due to water completely evaporating from their water hole hence prematurely shortening their life. In tanks at home they'll live much longer than in the wild - like most small aquarium species really. Remember once they are old enough they'll breed like there is no tomorrow and in the wild there is no tomorrow in most cases! So you'll need to keep their feeding up especially when you are breeding them, so that they do not get weak. In the past I had rubripinnis korthause Yellow sp. Lake Victoria (I think it has a name now!) rachovia I hope they have not dissapeared from the Australian hobby. Never had PAL. Between you and Keith they might be secure for now. :cheer:

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I'm planning on feeding them pretty much the same sort of high protein diet I give my bettas. Lots of Frz Bloodworms, Blackworms, Grindal Worms (cheers Keith!), mossie larvae, with other bits thrown in as suppliments. Is there anything else you would suggest? I was considering making up a batch of betta goo I've had a few people ask about these guys now, so once I have some successful spawns I'll be sharing them around :cheer:

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