Sad tale: My GUE eulogy

[whuntley]

This note is by way of a confession. I feel really bad and have every intention of making you join me in my misery.

A while back I purchased a pair of Nothobranchius guentheri from a vendor on aquabid.

They arrived a bit chilled and went into the typical decline I have seen with adult Nothos. After a month or so, I had not found a single egg, so I more-or-less gave up on them. I still fed them nutritious foods as best I could. CA blackworms have been unavailable in Bishop, so they had to make do with mossie larvae, Grindals, and Ostracods as well as good flake food.

While doing a water change on them, today, I determined to have a better look at the peat. Just as I reached for a cover for their temporary deli container, the female jumped out onto the sink. Before I could catch her, she jumped down into the basin. A quick grab was too slow, so I saw her down on the cross-members of the drain, and then she quickly dropped into the trap.

I tried to disassemble the trap by hand. As a low-pressure fitting, it doesn't need to be very tight. When that failed, I found I did not have a big enough wrench, so tried to use a C-clamp to loosten one end or the other of the trap. No way! Some moron had cinched them so tight that it would take a big pipe wrench to ever open them up.

When I gave up, I decided to examine the peat in hopes there would be no eggs and thus that she was no loss.

I have good news and bad news.

The peat was full of eggs, so she was producing again. That's the good news, as I haven't lost the species (yet).

The bad news is that she is still probably alive in that trap, but will freeze, tonight, and I have no way to get at her.

I just hate it when I do something really stupid and my poor fish have to suffer the consequences.

Sad in the Sierras

Wright

[nonamethefish]

Awww...and to think she is still alive right now and you have no way to get to her.

I currently have half a pair of N. kafuensis since both males de ided to kick the bucket. As if to taunt me, the female is getting quite plump....

[Piscesgirl]

Wright! Ackckkk! I wish you didn't tell me that! I'd call a plumber! Now, I'm going to be miserable all day.

[stormhawk]

Shucks. I had the same experience quite some time ago. Was emptying part of the water in a plastic tank containing a pair of australe when the male decided to jump into the sink. Now my sinkhole was not covered with a fine grating that people use to prevent large bits like veggies going into the pipes so the male wiggled through one of the holes in the main grating and landed smack dab in the filter cup that we have here in SG.

I promptly stopped what I was doing, replaced the cover on the tank and quickly unscrewed the filter cup. Lo and behold the male was wiggling about in the muck. Quickly scooped it up and placed in a small plastic container while rinsing off the dirt off the body mucus. The male miraculously survived the ordeal.

Nowadays before I empty anything into the sink, I make sure that there's no fish or fry in the tank. I also make sure I don't place these containers too close to the sink lest one decides to make a jump for "freedom" down the drain like Wright's fish.

Wright, like they always say - "shit happens". Take consolation in the fact that you still have eggs to work with. There's always the option of looking for a new female from people living near you.

I bet the GUE is pretty common in the US? :wink:

[TyroneGenade]

Hi Wright

Sorry for your loss.

We had a lovely fat furzeri Gona Re-Zhou chilling at 20°C. She was about 10 wks old (normally all the little ladies are dead by week 8 ). She was so nice and fat---full of eggs. Of course male Notho sperm generally isn't as motile at 20 as compared to 25 so if were going to spawn her she would have to heated up. So gently we moved her to a tank and slowly raised the temperature... Today: dead.

To warm too fast? I don't know. All I do know is that you are not alone in feeling stupid.

tt

[keehoe]

Yah, i have the same feeling. I have a mesh in my tank trying to setup moss wall and i purposely make it loose so that fishes don't get trap and die inside. When i came back from work just now, i found one of my SAE dead trap by the mesh. Not at the gaps at either side of the mesh but right in middle at the mesh hole. I really don't know how to prevent this from happening again except getting very fine mesh. I think that would looks urgly in my tank.

Anyway i was lucky that i realise at another tank, my cherry gave birth again. After i did some moss carpet in that tank, cherry seems to like it. I have not manage to count all number as they are hiding under the moss carpet. That kind of make me feel a bit better. I think more cherry coming soon.

[whuntley]

snip...
Take consolation in the fact that you still have eggs to work with. There's always the option of looking for a new female from people living near you.

I bet the GUE is pretty common in the US? :wink:

Thanks Jianyang.

Actually, one reason I ordered them was that they have become too uncommon and are such a superb beginner's annual fish. There are many Nothos with a bluish body and red tail, but few with the lovely sky-blue pectorals and rich red tail of the GUE. Most of those are far more fragile, too.

I had to get these shipped in from the midwest, as I have seen none in left coast auctions in the last year or two. I always want a few good beginner fish, so I can hook new addicts.

It is way too cold to ship, now. I have few killinuts living anywhere near me. Howard Wu is the only other breeder in Bishop, and he doesn't do Nothos, usually. [BTW, he found a bag of eggs he is pretty sure are peruensis and got a nothing hatch. The next day he stirred the peat and had a huge number of babies. We can hope he is going to be doing them, again. I need to go get my magnificus babies he just hatched for me.] Next closest breeder is 200 miles south. BAKA meetings are 8-9 tough driving hours away in winter.

My very first killifish were Nothobranchius guentheri in about 1958, so it is a bit of a sentimental journey for me.

At that time, the hobby here was much like you have recently gone through. I could only get killies through academic connections, but those were made easier for I was doing research and teaching at Stanford. The famous ichthyologist, later from the Smithsonian, Stan Weitzman, was just around the corner from my house, and helped me get started. He, too was doing research and teaching at Stanford in those days. He finished his PhD and moved east shortly after that, where he helped found the AKA.

We owe the folks who started AKA, DKG, BKA and KFN (among others) a huge debt of gratitude, for they have made the shipping of eggs and fish possible to remote places. They provide most of the modern collectors who keep interesting stuff coming our way. Without an organized hobbyist base to receive their collections, I doubt if Brian Watters, Peter Tirbak, Andre Schonewille and Steffen Hellner would be so eager to find new species, or to bring them back if they do.

The next BAKA program, on Sat. will feature a slide-show talk by BAKA member, John Boylan, on his recent collection trip to Panama. Sure to be entertaining and informative. Certain to bring in some interesting Rivulus, too. John has collected all over the southern US as well as making several trips to Central and South America in search of killifish, darters, etc. His adventures are always hugely entertaining.

When are you folks going to get organized? :wink:

Wright

[stormhawk]

Organized? Sorry Wright hate to disappoint you but nope that's not quite possible for now. (Although personally I would love to go down to Brazil.. )

The only killifish found native in Singapore waters is Aplocheilus panchax. The local form is a very bluish form with a little iridescence. I think I know of an area close to where I live where these fellas might be in good numbers.

That said, its illegal to collect from the wild here in Singapore. Getting caught by the forest rangers can mean a hefty fine. Even if I said I was catching just for photography they might still give me a fine.

[whuntley]

Jianyang,

The same is true for CA. Here, we are forbidden to catch "minnows" for bait and use them in any other waters, because folks have introduced all kinds of exotics where they don't belong. Live transport or keeping at home are forbidden.

The stupid laws, propagated mostly by statist pressure groups like the Sierra Club and PETA, have made cooperation with CA F&G almost impossible. For that reason, we drive hundreds and thousands of miles every year to work with the cooperative Nevada Wildlife folks on habitat maintenance, fish counts and desert spring studies that cannot be done in CA. Last spring we had a boat ride right to the inner base of Hoover Dam, and a view denied any possible terrorist. :wink:

Nevertheless, for those affluent enough to travel to Tanzania, Gabon, Brazil and Panama, the solid body of established clubs means they can distribute their legally-collected fish to concerned, self-policing organizations that will make their trips more meaningful.

You will do it, eventually, and will be astonished that you didn't do it sooner. I just enjoy tweaking you about it, from time to time.

Wright

PS. I'm still awaiting some of those Panchax eggs from Tim. Has anyone in SG gone back and tried to find them around BK?

[ruyle]

Jian Yang hath written:

That said, its illegal to collect from the wild here in Singapore. Getting caught by the forest rangers can mean a hefty fine. Even if I said I was catching just for photography they might still give me a fine.

If caught, would that include caning (hot-crossed buns)? I mean, what
if you didn't have the money for the fine? Just curious, is all....rilly an
embarrassing form of punishment.

[stormhawk]

Bill, I don't know about the full punishment and whether it includes caning, but a hefty fine and a very stern warning will be issued the first time round. Repeat offenders usually get sent to court for a trial.

[TyroneGenade]

Nevertheless, for those affluent enough to travel to Tanzania, Gabon, Brazil and Panama, the solid body of established clubs means they can distribute their legally-collected fish to concerned, self-policing organizations that will make their trips more meaningful.

Ha ha ha! I doubt any legal fish have come out of Cameroon and Gabon, nor Tanzania. It is just impossible getting permits unless you know some one in the administration. The only person who has exported fish legally from Tanzania is Marc Bellemans and Stefano Valde... the former gentleman new someone in the administration. Brian Watters tried the same guy in 2002 without any luck... He, Barry and Otto spend 2 days in Dar Es-Salaam trying to arrange permits without luck...

We owe a grat debt of gratitude to these people for risking life and limb to bring the fish back!

tt4n