raising Fp. gardneri N'Sukka

[neb123]

Hello,
I am currently raising 4-5 Fp. gardneri N'Sukka fry in a 5 gallon planted tank, teh tank has been up for about a month and a half and was cycled before i put the fry in the tank, the fry are about a week old. This is my first time raising killifish and im having a lot of trouble finding info on this particular species, i have been dropping a couple drops of bbs in the water every day, but i cant really be sure that they are being eaten by the fry because it is difficult to spot them in such a heavily planted tank, my question is how long can they survive off the microorganisms in the tank? and at what age should i start feeding them something else? and what should i feed them? thanks for your help

[Michsoon]

Hi Neb123,

Please sign off with your real name as per the rules of the forum.

Some have mentioned Fundulopanchax gardneri N'Sukka's are like the guppys of the killies world, really easy to breed once you know how.

I have not have much success with the planted tank method as I believe the frys are eaten by the adults. What I do is I use spawning mops and either air drying the mops till it's just damp or taking it out and placing it on damp peat every three or four days. I will collect a week of eggs and keep them in a semi dry state for a week or two before I wet them with some plants and liquidfry to create infusoria. I start feeding them BBS about 3-4th day onwards. If you can get daphnia you can start them once you see that they are big enough to eat them and move on to worms (microworms are great for frys) and flakes as they grow. The kind of food that they will eat very much depends if it can fit into the mouth and with a bit of training they even eat flakes or pellets.

Well that's what I do and it seems to work.

Regards,

[timebomb]

Michael,

The Fp. gardneri N'sukka won't eat their fry. I've seen an adult gulped down a fry only to spit it out again. I've also seen, on many occasions, very tiny fry swimming among a group of adults without making any effort to hide.

To spot fry in a heavily planted tank, the best way is to shine a torchlight on the surface of the tank when it's dark. The eyes of the fry reflect light and they hang around the surface when they're young.

Loh K L

[whuntley]

KL

You didn't mention that the larger babies will eat the smaller ones. I never raised many in a so-called natural tank because "something" ate all the eggs and babies. Other females will also follow a breeding pair, eating the eggs as fast as possible, particularly if you only have a trio.

IMO, it is best to collect eggs and put on quite wet peat for gestation. Watch for eyes to develop, and dunk when about 3/4 of the eggs show a complete gold ring around the eye.

Wright

[Michsoon]

Hi Loh and Wright,

Thanks for the tips. Never had any success in a community planted tank not even a fry. Guess the other fishes are eating the eggs or there is not enough plants for the eggs to be hidden.


Thanks again.

Regards,