Breeding Age of Nothobranchius

[animagusbc]

Hi there to everybody on the list.

I purchased some Nothobranchius Korthausae RK Red and was able to hatch them from some eggs I received from Japan. I was luckily enough to get 5 males and 5 females from the hatching. The fry are now 5 weeks old and you can see all the eggs in the females. The males are quite not that aggresive to each other but they do a bit of tail wagging to each other when it comes time to feeding. They are currently being fed Baby Brine Shrimp, Grindal Worms and Bloodworms as they are now big enough to eat them.

My question is, when is it ok to start spawning these types of Killifish. This is all pretty new to me but I guess I've been pretty lucky so far. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks and I look forward to hearing your answers.

Jonathan
Westcoast Bettas and Killifish
http://members.shaw.ca/aguadebeber/

[erikthur]

You can start right now. I would.
The egg production will increase with time.
Regards

[timebomb]

I would agree with Erik, Jonathan. Put in the breeding bowl now. Nothos can start laying eggs at a very young age and if yours are showing eggs, there's no reason to wait anymore.

Loh K L

[TyroneGenade]

Hi Jonathan,

For your fish to have coloured up and the females fat with eggs at only 5 weeks you must be taking very good care of them! What are you feeding and what is the water change schedule and the size of tank (in volume and surface area if you can supply the details).

Fish like N. furzeri, Beira rachovii and sp. Nyando River can be sexually mature at only 3 weeks. Once the females begin to fill out they are ready to spawn and it is best to put them over peat ASAP.

While one does get more eggs as the fish grow, fertility DOES decline with age. In the case of N. koerthausae the males should be good for about 18 months though, but I doubt your old aquarium strain will be capable of such fetes.

tt