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RE: Last nights "raffle" killifish
Holly,
Great questions... and I was planning on posting this morning about
them, but you prompted me to do it sooner rather than later.
Anyone who got killies last night got Nothobranchius palmqvisti Ramisi
River KE 01-11. There were three bags that had pairs, and then two bags
that had 7 or 8 males a piece. Obviously if you got all males, you
won't be breeding them. Those that got pairs, should take care to raise
the females up, as they are small compared to the males. Notho males
are notorious for beating up the females. Just make sure she is a
decent size compared to the male (at least 1/2 his size) before
attempting to breed. If you are worried, you can put them together for
an hour a day to breed, but otherwise keep them separate.
These killies are pretty tolerant in water parameters. Hard water, soft
water, generally neutral pH, etc. are all good. I keep the temp.
somewhere between 72-77 degrees F, but usually keep my breeding pairs up
at 77.
As with most Nothobranchius, these fish are generally susceptible to
velvet, and so you will want to keep salt in the water (1 tsp per gallon
should do the trick).
Food - Killies tend to like live food the best. They were getting baby
brine shrimp, daphnia, fruit flies, etc. If you don't keep live food,
then frozen foods should be accepted, especially blood worms (though you
might have to chop them up to be small enough for some of those little
guys). Flake food is generally not accepted, though I have read that
some people are able to get them to take it. My opinion is that flake
food is a way to end up with dead killies more often than not. I've had
bad luck with flake food. YMMV.
These fish are peat spawners, so when you are ready to breed them, go to
the local garden store and get some peat moss. Boil the peat moss, let
it cool, and then bag it up in a zip-lock still water-logged. Take out
enough to cover the bottom of the breeding container to about a 1/2",
and put the breeding container into the tank with the fish. I like to
use glass jars, like pickle jars, or I just cover the bottom of the fish
tank with the peat moss. After a week or two, or more for some people,
use a fine net to collect out the peat (or siphon the peat from the tank
into a fine net). Squeeze out the water so the peat is the consistency
of pipe tobacco, and put it in a zip-lock bag. Find a shelf, drawer,
etc. that is in the mid 70's or so, and store the bag of peat/eggs
there. About two-three months later, you can try "wetting" the peat to
see if you hatch out any fry.
To wet the eggs, crumble the peat into a small container so that it
forms a thin layer on the bottom. Pour in some dechlorinated water so
that it covers the peat to about an inch or so. Break up any floating
clods of peat moss. Give it 15 minutes or so to separate. I then scoop
out any floating peat moss to make catching the fry easier, but it isn't
strictly necessary. After 24 hours, check the container for fry (using
a good flash light the light will reflect off the eyes of the fry). I
usually feed a little baby brine shrimp right into the hatching
container and let the fry rest in there for an extra day. Then I
separate them out into another small container with some java moss, and
a few snails. Foods like microworms, vinegar eels, and baby brine
shrimp are good to get them growing.
That is the gist of it... Hope you enjoy them! Anyone who didn't get
some killies that wants to try them, let me know and I'll drop you a
line when I have some more fish that need homes.
Anyone interested in killifish is also encouraged to join our local
killifish club, which meets once a month, and will be meeting this
Saturday in Redmond. Meetings are held at different members' homes, and
so you get to see all sorts of set-ups (as Clay talked about last
night). A good group of people that are fun to get together with. Feel
free to contact me off-list to get directions, etc. if interested.
Cheers,
Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark Pearlscott, killifish addict.
A Member of:
AKA - http://www.aka.org
NWK - http://nwk.aka.org
PSK - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pugetsoundkillies/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gsas-member@thekrib.com
[mailto:owner-gsas-member@thekrib.com]
> On Behalf Of Holly
> Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 10:59 PM
> To: gsas-member@thekrib.com
> Subject: Last nights "raffle" killifish
>
> Ben and I actually got 2 bags (so 16) of killies and I didn't get a
chance
> to thank the person who brought them. Ben gets up at 5 AM for work so
> tonight's meeting ran very late for us and we had to check out early.
> Anyhow, I have the babies all settled into my 10g quarantine tank.
These
> are my very first killifish! I tell myself I don't have space for any
> more
> fish until we have a house but I cannot resist the monthly fish, heh.
> It's
> my favorite lottery! So what species are these little jewels? Ben
> mentioned they won't take flake and that's fine since I don't feed
flake
> anyhow but what type of food do they prefer? Is frozen OK? What
> temperature and pH is ideal? Any tips on care would be appreciated
since
> I'm already smitten with the little guys and want to see them do great
:)
> Thank you so much!
>
> Holly ~
>
>
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