Can I breed killie this way?

[hamamatsu1999]

Dear all,

I have been keeping one male and two female australe chocolate in a 3ft tank heavily planted with moss and riccia. There are also a few otto and many shrimps for cleaning up algae. I have been the australes mating regularly but I just don't see fries swimming around? So I want to ask if I can breed australe this way? Or do the parent fish eat them up?

Thank you.


Regards,
Tong

[erikthur]

In Sweden we call it the natural method - it works - at least sometimes...

[stormhawk]

With a thick plant cover, yes it is possible to breed them in such a set-up. Predation on the eggs by the shrimps or even the Otocinclus can take its toll on the numbers that survive. Another explanation as to why you don't see fry is that the eggs that are produced are infertile, meaning one of the parents or both, are infertile. These eggs usually fungus away leaving no trace. Another explanation would be that of the filter sucking in young fry. A strong power filter can cause some fatalities amongst the young fry, if there were any in the first place.

[TyroneGenade]

You cannot have an infertile female fish that is laying eggs. Male fertility can be problem and can be linked with hard water, poor water quality or low oxygen.

Can you tell us more about your tank and the age of the fish. What shrimps are they? The same as the ones featured elsewhere on this site in egg tubs? Do you have any snails? What are you feeding the fish? They may not be getting enough vitamins.

A. australe can spawn from as young as 3 months.

tt4n

[shortman]

Dear all,
So I want to ask if I can breed australe this way? Or do the parent fish eat them up?
Tong

Yes, I do it exactly same as yours and get fry recently but I have not being changing water for some time just top up.

Also parent does eat fry.

Regards

[hamamatsu1999]

Thanks for all the responses. I guess both male and female are pretty old, they are quite big in size. I have malayan and cherry shrimps, they are reproducing with small shrimps though. I also have many many snails in the tanks some are as big as half of the small fingernail. I don't think the filter has suck them up because I covered the filter inlet with a layer of filtering sponge and I am using a overflow filter. I have CO2 injection, would this decrease oxygen too much? And I seldem change water like once 3 week 1/4 tank, because I think there are very little fish and many plants. I am feeding the australes with fry blood worm which they have been eating aggrassively. Is it ok if i put a few more pairs of killies in, in the hope that they will breed?

Tong

[turaco]

Old australes give lesser eggs compare to the younger ones or if it's too old, no eggs at all. If they're fry eater, adding more of them means you have more predators. Australe fry tend to stay at the bottom & that will much reduce their chances of survival as compare to the Fp. gardneri fry(stay at the surface of the water). In fish point of view(that is, your inhabitant), it's much easier to hunt from the gravel than from the surface(I got fish brain ). Try Fp. gardneri, you will get more fry(at the expand of your shrimps ).

[timebomb]

Unlike the Fundulopanchax gardneri's, Aphyosemion australes don't seem to produce many fry in a natural setup. I beleive this is because the fry are being eaten by the parents. With the F. gardneri's, the fry swim on the surface where usually, there are better hiding places. A. australe fry tend to hang around at the bottom of the tank so unless you have very thick ground cover, chances of them being eaten are high.

The only time I got quite good numbers of A. australe fry in a natural setup was when I removed the Hornwort from the tank and soaked it in a tub. I got about 10 fry a week later. If I had left the Hornwort in the tank, I'm quite sure there will be zero fry.

Loh K L

[CM Media]

Try to place a thick spawning mop into the tank. The australes will spawn on the mop and collect the eggs daily. In the past, I've used a 3ft planted tank to spawn my australes. I'll collect around 50 to 100 eggs per day from the group. :P