Oxygen Stone

[timebomb]

Hi, fellas,

Ronnie and I were at the fish shop at Beauty World Plaza this afternoon, the one called Choong Sua Aquarium. It was the first time I visited the shop. The owner was friendly and they have quite a few species of interesting fishes. Besides the Pseudepiplatys annulatus, I also bought 4 Tiger Otos. They are very cute but the price burnt a small hole in my pocket. The Pseudepiplatys annulatus though were, as Ronnie said, going for a song but unfortunately, there were only males. We put in a new order for "females only" but we are not sure if the owner can get them.

Anyway, the reason for this post is that besides the fish, I also bought 2 packets of a product known as oxygen stones. These stones purportedly generates oxygen for about a month when immersed into water. Au told me once he uses these stones to hatch the Simp magnificus eggs to great effect.

I have one or 2 bags of Simp magnificus eggs but they are not due for hatching yet. When the time comes, I will try hatching the eggs with the oxygen stones in the hatching trays and let you all know the results.

In the meantime, if you want to visit the shop, here's the address:

Choong Sua Aquarium
#02-10 Beauty World Plaza
140 Upper Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 588176
Tel: 64663512

By the way, we bumped into Gan (Turaco) when we were there. It sure is a small world.

Loh K L

[CM Media]

For those who wants to know which Oxygen Tablets I used for hatching my Simp. magnificus.

The product is from JBL. I've also tried one from Japan but the thing just don't dissolve in the water. And worst still I paid double the price as compared to the JBL type.

Make sure you dissolve them in the water first then pour in the peat where you incubate your magnificus eggsinto it.

I'm open to questions if you have any doubts. Just shoot and I'll try to help with my limited knowledge and experience:wink:

[A.Rashid]

how much do they cost?

[gweesm1]

Hi all,

Have you guys ever been confused by when to use oxygen and when to use CO2 for hatching?

Nothos + non annuals = CO2
South African annuals (SAA) = Oxygen

I have been doing a lot of research by writing to killitalk and breeders for them to share their experiences especially on usage of oxygen after Au told me his successful attempt on oxygen tablets. Quite a lot of the SAA breeders mentioned that using of oxygen tablets is to solve belly slider problem.

Most of the time the SAA fry are a lot larger that the Nothos and Non annuals. Being bigger in size, forcing themselves out of the eggs is not an issue to them. However strangely, they do not dash up the water for air to fill their swim bladder after they hatch. According to some breeder, the SAA requires colder water to strive. This also means that higher oxygen content in the water. (cold water have higher the higher concentration of oxygen). It could be a genetic in built that the do not dash up to fill up their swim bladder as oxygen is available in their colder water; they might just take air from the water. However with our climate, the oxygen content is too low for them, thus we saturate the water with oxygen using oxygen tablets.

Then why CO2 for nothos and non annuals??
As you notice the fry of the nothos and non annuals are a lot smaller than the SAA (Fundulopanchax aside, they are quite huge!) There are time they refuse to hatch. Have you wonder why?

The outside of a fish egg consists of a tough protein coating known as chorion. This is exceptionally thick in killifish and one of the reasons annual eggs are so durable. When the embryo is ready to hatch it produces an enzyme (chorionase) that breaks down this protein, softening the outer shell so the fry can break through. The production of chorionase is triggered by rising levels of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) around the egg. In nature this occurs when soil containing fish spawn is wet by rains. Mud holds less oxygen than moist earth, signaling the developing fry that conditions are right for hatching.
Extracted from G.C.K.A. Newsletter, Sept/Oct 1998 written by Donna M. Recktenwalt

I guess the SAA does not require the help of the enzyme to hatch, as it is huge enough to breakthrough the eggs.

One more thing to note, do not use oxygen tablets to hatch nothos and non annuals. According to the extract above, the enzyme which will soften the outer shell is triggered by rising the CO2. Your fry will not hatch if you use the oxygen tablets. This has also been proven by Au, his nothos refuse to hatch with oxygenated water.

I hope this helps.

For your interest.
A few months back I had come out with my own version of oxygen generator. It uses hydrogen peroxide and carbon as catalyst to generate oxygen. I try to post up a image of the generator.

Regards,

[CM Media]

As a guide, the JBL oxygen tablets cost between $9.50 - $10.50 each box of 50 tablets.

Please do not use it for the Nothobranchius group as it only beneficial to the South American Annuals to overcome bellyslider problem.

[timebomb]

As a guide, the JBL oxygen tablets cost between $9.50 - $10.50 each box of 50 tablets.

That's a lot cheaper than what I paid for mine. The oxygen stones I bought are made in Japan and there's only one stone in each packet. One stone is $1.80 each. I take consolation from the fact that my oxygen stones should be a lot bigger than Au's.

Loh K L