Ron, i have just place an order for some egg. You might want to feed the fish slowly so that he don't scare the potential companion.
Folks,
I'm working hard on my killies but unfortunately, nice pics are all you'll see of SPL 'Tiko' (Orange Phenotype) since I lost the female.
Excuse me while I step aside and watch you drool...![]()
![]()
Tiko album here.
If anyone is planning to bring in 'Aquarium Accessories' (with fins), I'll tag along for a few pairs.
Meanwhile, enjoy!
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
Ron, i have just place an order for some egg. You might want to feed the fish slowly so that he don't scare the potential companion.
That is a very nice Killie RonWill.
Shae
NZKA 250
Folks,
I'm very pleased with my newly acquired Tiko pairs that once again,will grace my tanks with their beauty. (really missed them after I lost the last male)
More than that, it's spawning season again and I'm frantically collecting their eggs. Ditto with the Mbonge, Bamukong, Ekondo Titi and LOE Makondo.
The temps in these breeding tanks average 25~26ºC and they are 'in heat'. Who said that lower temps don't make a d@mn difference?
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
Dear all,
This year's Monsoon season was very brief. came late and ended earlier when compared to past seasons.
Egg collection and viable eggs have nearly come to a halt but it was good while it lasted and I now have a decent batch of Tiko fry.
I strive to have a tankful of each species when I'm able and a few days ago, transferred 30 older juvenile/sub-adults into the former ANN tank (24"L x 12"W x 14"H). The largest juvenile at 2cm has started to color up and developing the nice caudal extensions.
The tank is geared for low-maintenance with low-light requirement plants and filtered with a air-lift Henri.
Lousy pic of a newly transferred male seeking refuge under a blade of Cyperus. It looks nothing like the gorgeous male at the beginning of the thread. With time, it's gonna be one handsome bugger. Here's the same featured male, but much younger.
I learnt never to have all my eggs in one basket and will make available for sale, some fry at approx 5mm, so watch for them in the Trading Post.
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
Folks,
There are many reasons why I now maintain mostly non-annuals and this is one of them, young males showing off...
(Impromptu shot but yeah, I should have wiped the glass)
Enjoy!
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
I am with you, love non-annuals. Currently got some juvenile splendopleure of no locality!!!. Once the males start getting their adult colours and extensions I'll take some photos for you guys to attempt to place them in a locality. Either case we will just be referring to them as splendopleure 'Aquarium strain' anyways. There is a lot og yellow in the fins and the extensions end in white!
Like you I do not like to put all my eggs in one basket. Through some major mistakes in the past I learned to dilute the risks with new and rare fish in my tanks.
With the splendopleure I am raising the fry in three seperate tanks so that when the disaster strucks (and to be honest the more you value the fish more likely for it to happen!!!) you are somewhat covered.
On an interesting note, I found the splendopleure quite prolific egg layers compared to my biteaniatum which are pain in the @*# to get eggs. I only stopped collecting eggs from splendopleure because my two males developed dropsyre: disaster theory. Only two fish to develop dropsy in my tanks in the past decade.
Cheers,
Serkan
Congrats, Ronnie!
Those are excellent fishes with astounding colors… :P
I’m curious what % will be the females of the fry ?![]()
Serkan,
From personal experience, both BITs and SPLs will have a population that aren't prolific, no matter what one does. It may boil down to incompatible pairs, preference for group orgy, temperature related or males that need viagra. Perhaps also, water parameters that suit one population/genus may not be condusive to spawning for another population (that's just my guess).
Trying to breed SPLs and BITs drive me nuts, doing best only during the Monsoon season, where temps in their tank averages 25ºC but I have observed;
OK Chrom. Splendopleure Moliwe
OK Chrom. Splendopleure Mbonge
OK Chrom. Splendopleure Tiko Green (Orange Phenotype)
NOT OK Chrom. Splendopleure Bamukong-Ombe River System 1999
OK Chrom. bitaeniatum Ekondo Titi
OK Chrom. bitaeniatum Ijebu Ode
OK Chrom. bitaeniatum Majitam
OK Chrom. bitaeniatum Lagos (no longer maintaining them)
Hristo,
I've had bad sex ratios with annuals, predominantly males. Non-annual species faired much better; 60:40 either way.
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
Folks,
It's very satisfying to see how happy fishes look like after 3 weeks in their new home. Little wonder why I'm spending so much time observing them.
![]()
Click the thumb-nail for larger images. (Flash output was reduced via manual settings and all I did was crop the pic. No color editing was done, so what you see is what it is)
Finnage appears better developed and on the dominant males, the yellowish tips is a nice contrast from the dark background. These fellas are slowly taking on the orangy hue but you ought to see it in person to believe those rainbow colors.
Enjoy!![]()
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
Ronnie,
It's a good thing I don't have a pair of those fish - I'd never stop paying watching them, and good-bye university! Congratulations on raising such splended looking specimens.
Thank you,
-Peter L.
Ronnie,
Bad news, Ruth Warner sent me a pair of A. Splendopleure Tiko Green. They are currently acclimating to the tank (only about half an hour into the acclimation), but fingers crossed that I will have success! With some luck, they will take well to their new tank.
Thank you,
-Peter L.
Hi all,
It's been almost a year since this thread was started and I find it somewhat amusing that the aquascape has remained the same. Only difference, I think, is the addition of boblitis. Here's a quick pic.
Of the original 30 odd Tikos that were introduced in March '06, some were traded off and the remaining adults were netted out on Thursday; 8 males and 5 females. Two lesser males got dumped into my neighbour's tank (ssshhh....), one pair is going to Choy for photoshoot and the rest, consigned to LFS.
Replacing them is a new group of 26; juvenile & sub-adults between 1~2cm, raised entirely from prepared foods and I'll stick to that. Don't foresee actively breeding them anytime soon but will pop in a mop later. Whatever eggs/fry I find, will be going to another hobbyist who's backing-up the population for me. For now, the new tenants will enjoy their own tank, with a much bigger space to grow.
Sharing the tank are 2 ottos and 4 Corydoras oiapoquensis young adults. I spotted their eggs a little late, only after the young Tikos started nibbling on them. Will remove the corys to another tank at the next water change and go spawn me more of these cuties. Maybe it's a good time to dig up the Tiny Cories thread again.
BTW, Scott, how is the lot of Tiko juvenile doing? Think these should be of breedable size by now.
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
Ronnie they are doing fine, they are just in a bare bottom with a ton of Java moss. Funny you ask as I have just been feeding them and doing the usual maintainance and hadnt really done much beyond making sure they are fine, when a nice male popped out of the moss and I got a shock.. A very nice shock, the light must have just caught him right and I was stunned. Gorgeous!
It made me think I should get more organised with my picture taking, as in the right light they really are spectacular. Oh and they are tough and easy little fish. I will try and get some pics up.
Scott
Thanks again,
Scott Douglass
Scott, glad to know they're doing well and that you're enjoying them.
Yes, please do. Here's your very own album for all those killie pics! I'll edit the permissions further so you can create sub-albums for the different killies you're maintaining now. Resize them to a maximum 700 pixels so it doesn't take forever to download and if you need help with thumbnail links (to a larger image), gimme a buzz. Have fun uploading!Originally Posted by Scott_sg
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
Some young adults from Ronnie. The nicest one with the strong colour and fin extension don't want to pose for the camera, so meanwhile, I only have these to show.
Ronnie, are these the ones that you are offer for sale in another thread?
ck
Hi CK,
Nice pics! This male is from the group of sub-adults you collected and not previously from the LFS, right? Looks like it's growing very well. What have you been feeding them?
Yes, I've also posted SPP 'Tiko' ads in two other local forum. Released the mature adults so people can't complain "why so small?"
Killies are a funny lot, but I never managed to get more than two prolific populations at any given season.
PS: You might also want to include genus/species/locale details in killie pics for reference.
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
Ya, Ronnie they are from that scooping session at your place. You mentioned they are the orange phenotype of the species?
They were co-habiting with some Cory. similis and I suppose there are eating whatever I feed the cories with(tabs, pellets, tubifex worms). Once a in a while, I will feed them some live Daphnia if I can get them.
I am just glad that they are not as jumpy as the green ones. Nonetheless, I took all precautionary measures to cover the tank and float lots of plants on the surface. No casualty so far.
ck
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