Rachovia splendens.

[KilliNewbie]

Hello People ~~ So i've recieved a bag of peat moss on the 25th of sept containing Rachovia eggs that were spawned from 03.09.13-17.09.13.

So i do know that Rachovia egg may need to be incubated for 3-4 month if i were in Holland but in Singapore where temperature ranges from 24c to 35c . How long do you think do i need to incubate it? As it was a 2 week spawn. there shld be 200 to 500 eggs ( eggs werent from just one pair ) .

So after i hatched it, i would probably be feeding it with Microworms first before moving on to artemiia , living their first week in a 1L before moving on to 1G and finally to a 10G depending on The amt of Fries alive still.

In the raising tank, should plants be included to encourage growth of infurosia ? One of the breeder i know of dont use any plants at all when raising them. How much should i feed them in a day ? And how do i increase the amount of fries surviving their first week?

FYI i'm new in Killies ^^ and may need help getting a microworm culture.

Cheers!

[stormhawk]

Incubation can be different for us. Some species the eggs mature in 1 month in our climate, others may stop developing altogether and some may take even longer to hatch. I cannot tell you how long the Rachovia eggs will take to develop. You have to check them once a week with a torchlight to see if the iris of the eyes have developed. Once you can see well-developed eyes it is time to wet them.

Rachovia fry are large and should be able to take Artemia or Daphnia as a first food. In their raising tank you just need a small clump of Java Moss with some button snails if you have them, or young ramshorn snail. The container should have been aged beforehand with the snails in earlier to cycle it. Alternative to snails would be some young cherry shrimp. You can opt not to use plants but for what it's worth, having at least some moss is helpful. To ensure good fry growth, feed them twice a day. DO NOT overfeed. Change the water in their raising container, say 20% or so, once a week and you will get good growth. They should be able to handle the smallest Tubifex worms by the time they are 2 weeks old. Once that begins you need good filtration, as a diet rich in protein means they will need good filtration. Please try to separate the males from the females once you can sex them or the females may become a lot smaller due to competition from the males for food.

[KilliNewbie]

Problem is due to the already long term incubation. I cant see any eggs as its been covered by the color of the peat.

[Shi Xuan]

Shine a torch over the peat. Fertile eggs will glisten under the light. Eyed-up ones will have the eyes staring at you. If you still can't see, use a magnifying lens to search the peat. That is also how I observe the development of the embryo within the eggs. Rachovia eggs take longer to develop and they can go into a period of diapause. If it is 3-4 months in colder countries, then they will take lesser time than that, probably try wetting them between 1 - 1.5 months' time. This can be tricky, as a lot of factors play a part in how fast the eggs develop. Things like humidity of the peat, surrounding temperature and even Oxygen and CO2 play a vital role in the speed of the development.