erratum: Ep fasciolatus zimiensis SL89 not SL99

[RonWill]

I think some congrats are in order for both you and Kee Hoe
resurrecting this specie

Bill, I should be quite satisfied but I'm not. What I raised are indeed male-heavy and of the 11 ZIIs, I suspect only 3 are females.

I've also decided to transfer the remaining ZIIs from the 4ft tank but managed to catch 4 so far. All boys, I'm afraid, but very active and eating like pigs. These 4 are about 6cm and unlike Steffen, with his cat chow for protein, I use endler fry from corrupted lines and Sera's "Meat" granules. BTW, they also relish Tim Addis's coarser 'Grade 8' granules too!

All 15 of them will show their faces during meal times but I think the focusing light from my digicam scares them, so still no pics for now.

I do have a mop in there in case they get horny but at what size do these fellas start spawing? Anybody? Kee Hoe?

For the setup, I did encounter problems in getting it to look presentable. It's a very shallow tank and water column, from top of substrate to water surface, is only 6+inches or so. I was just lucky to get a rather panaromic-looking arrangement.

It's getting warm here and although the 2-tier Henri filter is running 24/7, I'm looking at 28°C during the day. More updates when available.

[keehoe]

Hi All, Ron becareful about tubiflex. I suspect many of the big chest disease comes from feeding too much tubiflex.

One of the AKA publication mention about having black worm as daily food will almost always cause abnormal developement of big bossom.
Lost many fry before reading that publication.

They started to breed about the size of 5cm (when i bought it).

[RonWill]

Folks,
I tore down the 4footer and amongst the Ekondo Titis, I could find only 1 ZII, which brings total count to 16 in the partition. Not sure what happened to the missing fella.

There are also 2 smaller and more skittish ZIIs which looks like females to me and my instinct tells me to condition them separately from the larger males (and there are many of them).

I suspect many of the big chest disease comes from feeding too much tubiflex

Kee Hoe, IMHO, a varied diet is still best and nothing beats tubifex for conditioning. All things in moderation though.

Since breeding season is over [1], I've reduced live-food feedings, especially tubifex. Their main diet is mostly dried foods [2] supplimented with live daphnia.

[1] - It is my observation that the killies are most prolific during the Monsoon season when temps are lowered. The current warm spells and windless nights result in lots of fuzz balls but I'm sure that for those who are using chillers, the eggs will still be viable.

Degassing filtration, like the Henri wet/dry, will help too, since I'm still collecting good eggs from my Tiko Green. The temp in there fluctuates between 26~28°C.

[2] - I use a fair bit of Sera products, not because I'm endorsing it, but it's what I trade for with my store credit. These includes Sera Goldy, Meat, Discus Red, FD Tubifex, FD Daphnien, Flake Menu, Mikropan and Sera San flakes. Also used are Aquaz 'Golden Pearl', Tim Addis's granules, Aquarium Münster's Biofood and an assortment of algae wafers, spirulina tablets and Hikari pellets. [yup, looks like the menu for a 10-course dinner!]

These food items are either used straight or blended together with a combination of the following;
Artificial Daphnia granules, brine shrimp flakes, Cyclopeeze, FD Rote Mückenlarven and FD Cyclops. [Hope this answers all those emails regarding how I feed my fishes]

[RonWill]

For those still following this thread, another update.

Back-tracking a bit. Of the original 19 fry, I lost 2 (probably due to sibling predation) while in the growing out containers.

The remaining 17 were later consolidated into the 4ft partition; 11 from 2ft tank & 5 from another 4ft tank. One went MIA, bringing a balance of 16.

Conditions in the 4ft partition (half-tank) was quite favorable, I think, with good aeration flow and moderate trickle from the Henri. Temp was consistent at 26°C.

However, their temperament changed rather drastically, with the larger males becoming very aggressive; flaring like Bettas, locking jaws and a deadlock on opponent's fins. I'm not sure what caused such psychotic behavior but in the mayhem, there were 2 casualties, leaving 14.

Since I was cutting back on tanks, I thought it best to leave them to establish an 'hierarchy', and they did. All is well now, co-habitating with a few female adult Endler's livebearers. They are receptive to my presence and will take to most dry foods readily although they still relish the occasional tubifex treat.

I was distracted during feeding time yesterday and neglected a 1" gap in the cover... and sure enough, another nice crispy was added to my collection. That leaves 13.

As for gender ratio, I'm almost afraid to say this but it looks like there's only one. Another 2 which I had earlier suspected to be females turned out otherwise.

This imbalance, or skewed sex-ration, may be one reason why David and others haven't had much success in propagating them widely. I will appreciate thoughts from anyone who can throw some light, as to how I can achieve a better balance (provided I can get a viable pair from the remaining ZIIs. 12M:1F... oh good grief!!).

Kee Hoe, if your ZII pairs are doing OK (and hopefully still spawning), do keep an eye on the sex ratio. You've got viable pairs, so it may not be too late to 'repair the damage'.

Bill, that's about it. Let's hope there's better news in the next update.

[keehoe]

Hi All, I have lost the dominant breeding male and the second inline is not as agressive as the two female. As such, the two female is a lot bigger for this little male to spawn.

So separated to buildup its health. After the "big chest" incident. I am down to about 10 sub adult + 2 1.5cm fry.

Ron, i think they need more than 'hierarchy'. I have a 10litre tank with two male that were grown up together and the dominant male keep hitting the other one and hence become weaker by day.

Will try to get two big size male from you to squeze more eggs.

Yup they do well ~22-26C. In our normal temperature, the fish don't even start to colour up.

[RonWill]

...and the second inline is not as agressive as the two female. As such, the two female is a lot bigger for this little male to spawn

Kee Hoe, you can consider all the ZIIs I have now as your back-up and please do not hesitate to take corrective measures.

A quick pic of 2 males. The lower male is chasing a pellet.

Not much color at the moment. Maybe it's the heat wave.

I'm not sure how large is your dominant female but swing by my place and catch the 2 largest males. On average, I guesstimate their size around 6cm and with your chiller running, let hope they'll give you more good eggs.

[ruyle]

Ronnie, the skewed sex ratio has got to be disappointing, but you and
Kee Hoe still have a shot with these. I'd keep the female in her own
tank away from the boys except at breeding time. You wouldn't want an
over-amorous fella bringing her to an untimely demise

Best of luck to you both,

Bill

[keehoe]

Ron, If i am not wrong, what you have over there is all boys team.

If i am not wrong also, quite a number of those i am raising now are female. But i have to monitor their development since the previous "big chest" incident had killed many of them.

After collected two boys from you, i pair them up and i found 4 eggs from the bigger pair and one from the smaller. How ever, i will still try to go slow on it as the female is still one size bigger than the male. So keep your boys team well feed.

Actually from the 2 pair that we have. We progress to "produce" more fish especially the male.

Conclusion: Situation had improve.

[keehoe]

Ronnie, the skewed sex ratio has got to be disappointing, but you and
Kee Hoe still have a shot with these. I'd keep the female in her own
tank away from the boys except at breeding time. You wouldn't want an
over-amorous fella bringing her to an untimely demise

Best of luck to you both,

Bill

Bill, it is more like the other way round. These two female had exhausted one male to death and i had to rescue the other one before the it goes to heaven. The two female had grown big and they tends to get most of the food and grow fast.