Advertisements
Aquatic Avenue Banner Tropica Shop Banner Fishy Business Banner
Results 1 to 11 of 11

Thread: Nothobranchius rachovii Beira 98 refuses to eat

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Seng Kang
    Posts
    366
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore

    Nothobranchius rachovii Beira 98 refuses to eat

    Advertisements
    Fresh n Marine aQuarium Banner

    Advertise here

    Advertise here
    Hi,

    I bought a pair from Karin just recently. I'm having difficulty feeding them. They are now placed in my 2.5ft planted tank. It's very densely planted, but there is no floating plants to act as cover.

    I'm feeding them tetrabits, flakes as well as frozen blood worms. The female will occasionally take the BW, but the male takes nothing at all. This has been going on for close to 4-5 days now.

    What should I do?

    Side question: What does the Beria 98 represent? Is that the coding system? I couldn't find any answers on the AKA website on this Beria 98 question.
    Cheers
    Boon Yong

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Choa Chu Kang, Singapore
    Posts
    3,148
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore

    Re: Nothobranchius rachovii Beira 98 refuses to eat

    Quote Originally Posted by cheeboonyong
    I'm feeding them tetrabits, flakes as well as frozen blood worms. The female will occasionally take the BW, but the male takes nothing at all. This has been going on for close to 4-5 days now.

    What should I do?
    Hi Boon Yong,
    Nothos are notorious for refusing non-live foods and these were probably raised from young on BBS, tubifex and live bloodworms.

    If you're not too against tubifex, drop in a few and see what happens.

    Side question: What does the Beria 98 represent? Is that the coding system? I couldn't find any answers on the AKA website on this Beria 98 question.
    Beira is located near Mozambique, Africa. See Map.
    The '98' that follows it, is probably the year it was collected.

    How sure am I? heh... your guess would be as good as mine, but hope that helps. :wink:
    I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
    Ronnie Lee

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Seng Kang
    Posts
    366
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore
    I'm dead scared of tubifex, mainly due to fears of parasite/disease. I don't believe there's any way of "disinfecting" the worms before we feed them to the fish, is there?

    I saw Karin selling live blood worms and tubifex, but was very hesitant about buying, as mentioned above. Does using Listerine actually help? Won't the Listerine kill the worms as well?

    Ok, suppose I take a risk and feed live food. Has anyone tried culturing blood worms or tubifex? Blood worms as I understand will morph into some adult flies or something like that, so I guess not quite possible to culture. How about tubifex? Is sterile tubifex an oxymoron? I believe they come from sewerage, normally.
    Cheers
    Boon Yong

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Choa Chu Kang, Singapore
    Posts
    3,148
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore
    Boon Yong, life is like a box of chocolate... you never know what you're gonna get. Same applies to all live foods, including cultured tubifex, if the original starters aren't 'clean'.

    My killies are on a suppliment diet of tubifex, grindals and an occasional red-wriggler that's all chopped up. The corys love it, killies will nibble at it but not very enthusiastic and I'm not too crazy about decapitating worms!

    Sterile tubifex? Don't think there ever will be such a thing but I'd like to believe that it's the occasional coughs and flu that aids in building up our resistance against major hiccups. Any fish that has lived in a 'sterile' environment or closed system, will die a quick death when transferred to our normal tanks.

    I've a friend who's fanatic about these things and his cory sterbais, bred and raised from young in tanks with high UV filtration and canned pellets, that has never seen or tasted a worm, didn't last 2 days in my tanks.

    Introducing a few of my killies literally killed off the few sterbais in that tank BUT my killies are also dead because they didn't get their 'dirty tubifex'!

    You can get a pretty clean culture of daphnia or BBS, but it isn't gonna be very filling. A nice size for adult fishes would be white worms but these will die in our weather unless you have a wine chiller or extra fridge. Blackworms might be an alternative to tubifex, which I understand is similar to tubifex, only bigger. I've never seen blackworms... so perhaps someone else can shed some light.

    Listerine? I tested a very mild solution, using it as an antiseptic of sorts and besides whatever nasties it's suppose to kill, also killed the tubifex! On the brighter side, whichever fish that ate that 'clean' worm also had fresher breathe!

    No one food is recommended as a staple, nor are the grindal worms that I'm culturing. Although fishes up to 3cm will still go for it, it's high in protein and fat, and that aint' good (I have obese cardinal tetras to prove it! ).

    BTW, bloodworms are larvae of gnats, adults looks similar to mozzies.

    I think what I'm try to say is that, I can't have my cake and eat it.
    I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
    Ronnie Lee

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    singapore
    Posts
    407
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    4
    Country
    Singapore
    Boon Yong,

    A notho that don't eat for 4-5 days will be in a critical stage. They have high metabolic rate, give them live food now or risk them wasting away!
    They are best kept in its own species tank with a little salt added to prevent velvet disease. To keep them in a planted tank, you risk disease outbreak, or, if you add salt, your plants will not take it. Beside, Feeding of live food in planted tank create a lot of maintaince problems like algae growth. It's not a definite no to keep notho in planted tank but to strike a balance is not easy. You decide :wink: .

    Gan.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    1,229
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    38
    Country
    Singapore
    Gan,

    I used to have about 10 Sim. Magnificus from Au. They were very healthy and adapt straight from the first day in my planted tank.

    All my fishes are dry food trained munchers, including discus. So, I thought I should do that to my newly acquired killies. After about 4 days, non of them touch the dry food. Then, I started frozen blood worms, they love it. However, there is always fight among them for territory and food, so after some time, some died in hinger. I have half the killies population now and is stabilising.

    As I always under-feed my fishes and I mix dry and frozen food, now even the killies are taking the dry food, they seems to even enjoy it.

    Like all my fishes, they can be dry food trained. Given time and hunger, they learn. I am not out of dry food convenience, mis-treating them but I think dry food is a safer food.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Hougang Singapore
    Posts
    236
    Feedback Score
    0
    I have killies in my planted tank and I give them a variety of food. It is much easier to “train” killifish to eat flake or pellets when other fish (non killies and those readily accept dry food) are around. Monkey see monkey do.

    FC, it really depends on what is your goal. Yours for display as your plants are more important than the fish, thus dry food is more than sufficient.

    However I will never recommend dry food for killifish if you are breeding them though they are safer as what FC mentioned. For killifish to breed (especially nothos) you can’t go without live food. My killifish eggs production went way low without live food.

    Boon Yong, if you are seriously thinking of breeding your rachovii, have a dedicated breeding tank for them. Nothos do not do well in planted tank as you are not able to dose salt in the tank which is essential for nothos for prevention of velvet. To breed them, you will also need live food.

    I hope this help.

    Regards,
    Gwee Sia Meng
    AKA 08742
    SAA 163
    Fish List

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Seng Kang
    Posts
    366
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore
    I guess my primary purpose is NOT to breed them. I only have space for a single planted tank, which I use to put in the Killifish.

    I can only pray that they will take frozen blood worm as I'm not prepared to put in live food as this moment, as I have many other fish in my planted tank as well.

    Thanks everyone for your input. While it has not solved my problem, at least I know my alternatives now.
    Cheers
    Boon Yong

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    558
    Feedback Score
    2 (100%)
    Country
    Singapore
    Don't worry too much. I have a 4ft planted tank with some Nothos in it and I just feed them with frozen bloodworms once a day. Sometimes I even don't feed the for a day or 2. They will ultimately find their way to the frozen bloodworm. All you have to do is to feed them at the same spot and try to make it everyday on the same timing. A few days later, they will get used to the timings and the location of the food source.
    Au SL

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    2,702
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore
    Quote Originally Posted by cheeboonyong
    Blood worms as I understand will morph into some adult flies or something like that,
    Boon Yong,

    The bloodworm is not a worm but a larva of an insect known as a Chironomus. Here's a picture:



    By the way, the term "Beira 98" is a collection code. Beira, as Ronnie pointed out, is a place somewhere in Mozambique, Africa. 98 refers to the year 1998, the year the fish was first collected. Collectors usually name the collection code after the town/village nearest to the pond where the fish was collected from. To learn more about killifish names, you can read up this article at:

    http://www.killies.com/Whycomplicatednames.htm

    If I were to have a collection code after my name, it would be "Kandang Kerbau 54". So, what's yours?

    Loh K L

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Choa Chu Kang, Singapore
    Posts
    3,148
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore
    Quote Originally Posted by cheeboonyong
    I can only pray that they will take frozen blood worm as I'm not prepared to put in live food as this moment, as I have many other fish in my planted tank as well.

    Thanks everyone for your input. While it has not solved my problem, at least I know my alternatives now.
    Boon Yong, I was slow to realize that we're at different levels and priorities.

    Personally, it's alway been "fish tank with plants" and not "planted tank with fish", even from way back in the 70s... when talking plants meant 'sword plants'. For me, plants are replaceable... not my fishes.

    With feeding live foods, there will be some trade offs that I can live with... including possible pantogen infection and furry algae (since I feed generously).


    I did a quickie of a page here.

    I would also like to see the day when most of my killies can take to flakes and recently, someone claimed that Ocean Nutrition's Brine Shrimp Plus is readily accepted by most killies. I still don't know which LFS might have it but if anyone comes across it, gimme a holler.
    I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
    Ronnie Lee

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •