Nothobranchius rachovii Beira 98

[stormhawk]

The RAC Beira 98 is also my favourite Notho too.

Ahh, my first killie and very first notho was the KAF Kayuni State Farm from KL himself. Didn't succeed with those but I'll try them again in the future.

Nonetheless, my favourite notho is the fuscotaeniatus and I've ordered some eggs. I know it isn't easy but I suppose its worth a try.

[hobbit6003]

The RAC Beira 98 is also my favourite Notho too.

Ahh, my first killie and very first notho was the KAF Kayuni State Farm from KL himself. Didn't succeed with those but I'll try them again in the future.

Nonetheless, my favourite notho is the fuscotaeniatus and I've ordered some eggs. I know it isn't easy but I suppose its worth a try.

JY,

If you are willing to wait for another 2-3 months, I may have some KAF eggs for you to try again. I've just bought some KAF Kayuni and Nega Nega eggs, and are due to hatch in 2 weeks' time, mostly eye up already.

Abt the fusco, the bag of eggs gave me 3 veeery slow growing frys, and I don't think they're doing well at all, although they still eat. It's already more than a month, but they look like a week old GUE fry, about 10-12mm in length.

[stormhawk]

JY,

If you are willing to wait for another 2-3 months, I may have some KAF eggs for you to try again. I've just bought some KAF Kayuni and Nega Nega eggs, and are due to hatch in 2 weeks' time, mostly eye up already.

Thanks for the offer. Hopefully when the time comes, I have enough tank space since 3 species are heading my way.

Abt the fusco, the bag of eggs gave me 3 veeery slow growing frys, and I don't think they're doing well at all, although they still eat. It's already more than a month, but they look like a week old GUE fry, about 10-12mm in length.

I suppose Ron and Au can tell you more on the slow growth rate of this species. However, the colours and the beautiful patterns of the male and female are worth any amount of time spent waiting for them to grow up.

[stormhawk]

Thought I'd share this link:

http://www.killi-foto.de/nothobranch...taeniatus.html

Take a look at the image on the webpage.. one of the best shots of the fusco I've ever seen.

[stormhawk]

An updated image of one of the breeding RAC Beira 98 males from Andrew. The pic's quality is nowhere close to Au's image hosted on his personal site but the male's colouring up very nicely. They are breeding alright since I see some peat thrown out of the shallow bowl I gave them and the peat in the bowl is all messed up.

Will be checking for eggs tomorrow when I collect the peat from all of my tanks so will update via this thread.

[hobbit6003]

Hey JY,

U surely can take a much better pic than me! So, it proves once again, the man behind the camera is more important than the camera itself!

Kenny

[stormhawk]

Gimme your camera and I'll see what I can do.

This shot was taken in total darkness with only a small torchlight providing the light source for focusing and my camera's flash that did all the work.

[hobgoblin]

Guys,

I feel pangs of heartache as I read all the posts on RAC Beira. Haha, I got to thank Kenny for the eggs, albeit a bad hatch rate due to inexperience. But it's been one of the memorable experience I had raising Killies. I came to recall the failures I had with the non-annuals such as Australes and Fundulopanchax GAR. It's slightly more than a week before I enlist, apart from my fishes, I'll miss you guys also. I doubt I'll have much time in the days to come, and I'd better do it now-

To Mr Loh, thanks for getting me on the right track and a starter package (pairs of Australes) to begin with, Jian Yang, for his constant advice on MSN messenger (he's like a 911 call centre for me). To Ron for the many things I 'kapo' at his place (mostly live specimens), and also, Kenny for eggs and advice on breeding the RAC Beira.

I traded all my existing RAC Beira with Ron for zebra shrimps and ramshorn. At this moment they're doing well, and I finally got to see cluster on Ramshorn eggs in the tank.

As for the many other members in this forum I've yet to meet and know, the opportunity will come one day. So, in the meantime all the best to you folks, and continue to raise more frys, (haha, maybe we should have a slogan for killies.com along those lines).

Au revoir and take care,

andrew

[stormhawk]

Andrew, don't worry about the RAC. They're in good hands.

Take care of yourself during BMT and it was a pleasure to be of help.

[hobbit6003]

Dear Rec. Andrew,

Go forth and serve the country, and don't worry about us, as we'll always be around when you've the time to come back to fishkeeping.

As promised, when you're ready, I'll have a batch of notho eggs ready for you to hone your fry raising skills.

Cheers,

Cpt. (NS) Kenny Poh

[timebomb]

Andrew,

I hope this forum will still be around when you have completed your national service. Actually, there's no reason why it shouldn't but just in case it no longer exists when you leave the army, you can still look us up. Make the best of your time in the army. I know many young men think national service is a waste of time but how you spend the 2 years there is all up to you.

Loh K L

[stormhawk]

Quick update, collected the first peat from the reverse breeding trio. Very few eggs (saw only 3 or so) and they're quite small. I suppose the female's not fully mature yet.

[stormhawk]

Did a check today after a few days of incubation and it seems the eggs are no longer in the peat. Shucks. Another try I guess.

[RonWill]

Andrew,
While I can't promise that the Beira 98 line will be maintained indefinitely, be assured that your fishes will be 'well fed' and here's 2 pics that you can print out (to keep in your wallet??)



Being enlisted is when boys become men and be enlightened, in more ways than one. Take care of yourself and call on me when you're ready to get those fingers wet again.

[stormhawk]

With reference to Kenny's post in the nigripinnis thread, I wonder if the female rachovii are really unmarked. I browsed through some images online and yes, the females do come across as plain with no discernible patterns on the body and having hyaline (colourless) fins.

I was surfing Killi-Data just awhile ago before I posted this and an image of an aquarium strain female by J.F. Fels shows some red on the body of the female.

Nonetheless, the theory of sleeper males does occur with many fish species and it might occur with the rachovii too. That said, I'm wondering if these sleeper "males" are actually functional "females" that just happen to exhibit some male-associated patterns.

[hobbit6003]

Hi Jian Yang,

As far as I know, the parents come from pure RAC strain, although they're from separate breeders.

The females that I have and are laying viable eggs, have no colour or markings on the body or fins.

The ones like what you've described, suddenly spring to life recently and developed and exhibited full RAC Beira 98 colours. One thing I noticed though, is that these fishes are relatively smaller size than their male counterparts, and I've always regarded them as runts. But recently, as they colour up, they experienced a growth spurt as well.

If the female looking fishes aren't females, then I can say that the batches from the parents are extremely male heavy, as only 1 in 10 are females.

If these fishes are indeed females, then I better trace the roots back and se if they are not what they are supposed to be, hmm....

Haha, I suppose another way to tell that they're females or not, is to see if you can collect viable eggs from them.

Cheers,

Kenny

[stormhawk]

Ah, it's confirmed. The "female" that I have is indeed a male. It developed pigments in the anal fin and is apparently a sleeper male as suspected. Shucks.

[RonWill]

Kenny,
I'm not convinced there isn't even a single female in the Beira 98 growout tank, so in went a breeding bowl and guess what... they're having an orgy of a time!!!

Let's see if there are any eggs by tomorrow, before I consign the whole lot to EcoCulture.

[hobbit6003]

Kenny,
I'm not convinced there isn't even a single female in the Beira 98 growout tank, so in went a breeding bowl and guess what... they're having an orgy of a time!!!

Let's see if there are any eggs by tomorrow, before I consign the whole lot to EcoCulture.

Hi Ron,

Show me the eggs and we'll talk.

Kenny

[stormhawk]

Kenny, you'd be surprised but I did a quick check on the RAC tank and found eggs scattered on the tank bottom! It could only have come from that supposed "female"!