Fp. gardneri Nsukka

[Raf]

Hi all,

I've been reading the messages on the forum for a while and I thought that now it's time for some questions.

I have a pair of F. gardneri Nsukka that I've received as eggs 2 months ago. Lucky for me, the only 2 fry I got from the eggs have resulted in a pair and it's really important for me to try reproduce them, as I am the only person here in Bolivia that has them.

At what age/size are they ready to breed?
They are now 7 weeks old and the male is trying to seduce the female all the time. Should I keep them together or do I have to separate for now?

Most of all I'm surprised at how fast they are growing, since they reached almost 4 cm in 7 weeks.


best regards,

Raf

[TyroneGenade]

Hello Raf

I would set them up in a spacious tank full of java moss or other fine leaved plants and patiently wait for fry to appeat out of the plants. Feed them a varied diet and keep maintain a sound routine of water changes.

Keep the tank covered.

This is an undemanding fish that reproduces willingly. If well fed it will not molest its fry. It can be spawned on mops but I find egg picking tedious...

The fry will take crushed flake and powder food but really do their best on baby brine shrimp (bbs).

All the best!

[whuntley]

Searchable archives means we need to be more careful than normal with fish names.

The use of abreviations can be very confusing, as the accepted one for Fundulus is "F." and the one for Fundulopanchax is "Fp."

The older genus gets the simplest, and newer ones have to accomodate to that. What is shown in this thread as "F. gardneri Nsukka" may be missed in search engines, for there is no such thing as a Fundulus gardneri. It should be shown as Fp. (or Fundulopanchax) gardneri Nsukka (or N'sukka). The italics are important for scientific names, and distinguish those from the attached location name, which is never italicized.

The apostrophe to indicate pronunciation as one of the African "click" words isn't nearly as important, but it is a big help if one has to be an auctioneer at the club meeting.

This forum provides easy use of italics, so I urge all to put the binomial (sometimes trinomial) scientific name in italics, but location and/or collection code in normal typeface. OK?

Crank Mode <OFF>

Wright

[erikthur]

Fp gardneri Nsukka is probably the most proliferative fisk I have experienced.
But I did not experience that growth rate in the 1980-ies.
Plenty of fish friends in my area at that time (Uppsala, Sweden) was forced to start with Nsukka because of it´s hardiness

[RonWill]

Welcome to the forum Raf.

I'm quite delighted by your interest in Fp. GAR N'sukka, which are the guppies of killi-dom.

If your setup serve purely as a breeding tank, then a 6 gal tank is sufficient. Use a sponge filter on moderate aeration, a potted bunch of Vallisneria and a thick spawning mop.

Swap the mop weekly or twice weekly and pack the damp mop into a plastic bag, and store it in the cupboard (or somewhere dark). After 14 days at 29ºC, soak the mop in clean aged water and you'll see fry.

Your breeding pair might not be sexually mature but I'm amazed you managed to bring them to a very nice size, in such a short time! (what are you feeding them )

With immature breeders, it's common to find unfertilized eggs that turns white. Be patient with them and feed as normal, with a varied diet. Fasting them once a week is a good way of clearing their innards since GARs can eat like pigs.

I'm curious though. How is it that you're the only person with Fp GAR N'sukka? Being such hardy fishes, these should be pretty common.

[Raf]

Thanks all fot your replies.
I think I'm going to try tha vallisneria and mop combination, as we don't have java moss available here.

On the feeding, I give 100% live food to all my killies: tubifex, black and red mosquito larvae, daphnia, cyclops, fruit flies and all sorts of live critters I can find, like Branchopodius.

The reason why I'm the only person with Fp. gardneri Nsukka, is because there's nobody else that keeps killies here. I'm actually promoting killies here in Bolivia, so I really have to do the best I can to reproduce and distribute all the species I keep.

regards,

Raf

[timebomb]

I think I'm going to try tha vallisneria and mop combination, as we don't have java moss available here.

Raf,

Without moss, it would be difficult to raise fry. I'm surprised you can't find any in your country. Let me have your mailing address and I'll send you some Java Moss.

Loh K L

[Raf]

Loh,
I would thank you infinitely if you could send me some java moss!
If you're interested, I could send you some eggs of SAA's or bolivian killies, as we are planning an expedition into the bolivian Chaco in january.

My address is:
Raf Stassen
Calle Suipacha 290
Casilla 83
Tarija
Bolivia

regards,

Raf

[RonWill]

The reason why I'm the only person with Fp. gardneri Nsukka, is because there's nobody else that keeps killies here. I'm actually promoting killies here in Bolivia, so I really have to do the best I can to reproduce and distribute all the species I keep

Raf,
You remind me how I felt during the earlier years when there aren't any killie hobbyists and no, it's not much fun.

Promoting a hobby or a new facet of fishkeeping, will take alot of time and patience. Educating and sharing those near you will spark an interest, even though sometimes it means giving away a fish or two.

What are the killifishes you're maintaining now? I'll see if I can pack some eggs inside the moss that Kwek Leong is sending.

About your pending trip to Bolivian Chaco, what can you expect to catch/collect there?

Meanwhile, if you have access to floating plants with long bushy roots, place these in fry tanks, with water no deeper than 3 inches and drop in a piece of cooked potato (if you can't find Liquidfry No.1) together with a few ramhorn snails. This combination will help increase the infusoria and works almost as well as moss.

[stormhawk]

Hi Raf,

Welcome to the forum. Here's a bit of information on a species of Spectrolebias found in Bolivia.

Spectrolebias filamentosus (Costa, Barrera & Sarmiento, 1997)

Type Locality:

Swamp near Rio San Pablo, Rio Mamoré basin, ca. 15°37'S, 63°35'W, ca. 60 km north of Ascencion de Guarayos, route Santa Cruz-Trinidad, Depto. de Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

This species was formerly known as Simpsonichthys filamentosus but Costa has moved this species into Spectrolebias. I have not heard of anyone keeping this species and it would be a worthwhile attempt for you in Bolivia to try and obtain this species for breeding attempts.

Good luck in collecting fishes from the Chaco. You might just find something different from the fishes found in the Paraguayan Chaco.

[timebomb]

I would thank you infinitely if you could send me some java moss!If you're interested, I could send you some eggs of SAA's or bolivian killies, as we are planning an expedition into the bolivian Chaco in january.

It doesn't have to be infinitely . A simple thank you will suffice :smile:

The moss is on its way, Raf. Some Killifish eggs will be nice but send them only if you have enough to spare. Thank you.

Good luck with your efforts to promote the hobby in Bolivia. As Ronnie has pointed out, we understand perfectly how it is like to be *lonely*

Loh K L

[Raf]

Thanks all for your support and thanks a lot for the moss, Loh! I hope I wil be able to contribute something in the future!

For the moment I have the following species:
A. australe gold (juveniles, 3 males and 1 female)
A. ahli Kribi (2 fry :( )
A. striatum an old german strain (3 males, 2 females)
Fp. gardneri Nsukka (1 pair)
S. papilliferus (4 pairs)
S. picturatus (eggs)
S. sp. aff. stellatus (eggs)
N. korthausae Kwachepa (fry)
N. eggersi Bagamoyo blue (eggs)
That's it for the moment.

About our expedition to the Chaco, we're expecting the following species:
Trigonectes aplocheiloides
Trigonectes sp.
Simpsonichthys chacoensis
Neofundulus paraguayensis
Megalebias monstruosus
Austrolebias vandenbergui
Papilliolebias bitteri
A little more to the south, in Formosa Argentina, there can also be found Rivulus punctatus and Pterolebias bokermanni
I hope we will find something interesting, as I already have identified several pools where the local people say they find fish during the rainy season.

Thanks again,

Raf