My Fundulopanchax sjoestedti SJO

[A.Rashid]

It's been a few weeks now and the 2 pair s I have still no action yet.. so whilst waiting I snap some of him...enjoy





and mind you he is already 4inch TL.

[nonamethefish]

Very nice! Is he of any particular strain?

My male...approx three inch. The pair is laying eggs but no fertile ones yet

[A.Rashid]

Nope mine doesnt come with any strain collection code.. 1 pair bought from LFS and the other from (oppss I forgot, maybe Ronnie can help me with this)... hehehe

[nonamethefish]

Hard to tell if the color is true but maybe its a Dwarf Red? Definetly don't stick that name on though.

Anyone know the origin of the Dwarf Red by any chance?

[RonWill]

Nope mine doesnt come with any strain collection code.. 1 pair bought from LFS and the other from (oppss I forgot, maybe Ronnie can help me with this)... hehehe

Rashid,
Your first pair was from Eco-Culture. 2nd pair was 'Dwarf Blue' from David Mikkelsen.

I'm slowly giving up on SJOs... it's getting too costly for me. My last package of 3x20 eggs of 'Niger Delta' yield zero fry after 3wks of water incubation. [Think I'll concentrate on Aphyosemion and Simpsonichthys]

Joseph, even when the pairs are about 3inches, they still throw alot of infertile or non-viable eggs. Incubation takes another toll on the surviving eggs and I'm at wit's end with these (not that I'm giving up).

[nonamethefish]

My female got popeye for some reason. It seems to be better now with waterchanges but I am isolating/waterchanges/not much wormy food for now.

So has anyone experienced success with these fuys? They are said by many to need soft water for fertile eggs. I'm not sure if my pair is old enough yet. They are around 7 months.

[TyroneGenade]

I wet some SJO VACA eggs I got from Kenjiro Tanaka in mid October. As of last week they were spawning. I put in a shallow dish of fine white silica sand and they got busy. As I look at the eggs I collected yesterday many appear fertile. My water is hard and about 23°C. The fish are only about 8 to 10 weeks old.

Diet: blood worm and a 50% water change per day.

tt4n

[learner]

My water is hard and about 23°C. The fish are only about 8 to 10 weeks old.

Diet: blood worm and a 50% water change per day.

That sounds interesting. For most of us here in Singapore, it's quite impossible to get 23 deg C if you don't have a chiller. But I think it should be quite easy to hit that temperature in most air-conditioned offices.

Perhaps somebody should bring a pair to their air-conditioned office and try. Problem is the lack of live food and daily water change.

Cheers.

Yi Hong

[nonamethefish]

My water is naturally at that temperature. When I spawned them I removed the eggs in attempt to incubate on peat and the 5 I managed to salvage turned white in a day or so.

[TyroneGenade]

As I look at the eggs I collected yesterday many appear fertile.

Scratch that... many look decidedly dead. Looks like I will have to try softer water...

[Shae]

The piar i recently got seem to be breeding quiet well. Are sjoestedti Infertile alot of the time? Ah im not sure what you guys call them but i Have the Blue Gularis, the one Picture underneath the Red killie.

Shae

[A.Rashid]

I have 2 pairs, and both have give me eggs but all turn out to be infertile. I have been experimenting them a pair in a ph of 4.5 and another in ph 6. the softer waters gave more eggs but fungus. Both tank are equiped with mop and peat. Although 90% of the eggs are found attached to the mop.

Tank tempearature ranges from 25-27 degrees celcius.

I wonder if I inject a few drops of methalyne blue, will it affect the mating so that the eggs wont fungus easily?

[Shae]

Why not remove the eggs put them in a floater and add some meth blue to that instead of adding it to the whole tank. Put a bit of peat and a lil bit of salt into.

Shae

[A.Rashid]

I tried to but whenever I do my rounds for eggs collection, it's already too late.

[Shae]

Well i suggest them you mix peat in with the substrate it acts as a de-fungaside agent?

Shae

[erikthur]

The piar i recently got seem to be breeding quiet well. Are sjoestedti Infertile alot of the time? Ah im not sure what you guys call them but i Have the Blue Gularis, the one Picture underneath the Red killie.

Shae

I had great difficulties with SJO last fall:
http://www.killies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1148
Almost all eggs were lost to fungus. I bought a smaller male to try out who was to blame. But the female then died before they had the chance. I then bought 3 females to the smaller male but I am sure they eat their eggs.
But since they are frequently sold in the shops they cannot be infertile. Somebody somewhere are obviuosley propagating them with success

[Shae]

Well fingers are crossed, but as i say everything looks good so far.

Shae

[TyroneGenade]

Tank tempearature ranges from 25-27 degrees celcius.

Most articles on these fish I have read suggest they breed best at about 22°C. Mine are certainly laying at this temp but the eggs are also dying... Most info I receive also suggest they prefer soft water. I'm currently diluting the liquid rock they are in right now with mQ deionized water. Should that boost viablity of the eggs then SUPER! and I will let you know.

Methelene blue added to the tank may help. If temp is the problem we are either looking at male infertility (too hot, no sperm) or poor O2 concentration. Methelene blue will fix the latter problem.

tt4n

[A.Rashid]

hmmm I think with that low temperature, I will have to bring them to my office then.

OK will do just as that and will update the result as soon as they give me good eggs.

Thanks for the info...

[Shae]

All the water i use in my tanks is natural spring water, Tastes beautiful! I have never tested it and seem to be doing ok in the breeding department

Shae