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[LeviathanGirl]

Hello everyone!

I just got some killifish from a member of my local fish club. A pair each of Fundulopauchax gardneri gold & F.gardneri "Makurdi". Their lovely. In the past I have had A. Australe Golds & Chocolates, but they were some of the few fish that never spawned for me. I was wondering if anyone could help me get these guys to spawn. I have each pair in their own 5 gal tank with java moss and provid light surface movement via an airstone turned on low. If anyone could suggest a better setup I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Genn

[whuntley]

Welcome Genn,

I would add a few things to your setup.

Replace the airstone with a sponge filter (e.g., Dirt Magnet) or a corner box filter with gravel and a floss topping. Either will give lots of biofiltration after a week or so of running, and lower ammonia levels quite a bit. Adding some mulm from an aged tank can speed up the process.

I have used either sunken mops or boiled and well-rinsed peat as a substrate for spawning. Collect the peat or mops weekly. You can pick eggs from the mops and shallow-water incubate, or just store the peat in rather wet condition in a sealed plastic fish bag for about 3 weeks. Don't use the thick freezer bags as they may suffocate the eggs.

GAR are bottom spawners and will only spawn in floating mops if given no choice.

I found it is best to use a single pair of well-conditioned (lots of worms, etc.) fish to spawn alone. If a second female is in the tank, she improves her genetic chances by carefully eating every egg just as the other female lays it. Result: No eggs!

Frequent small (10%?) water changes seem to help spawning efforts, too.

HTH

Good luck,

Wright

[timebomb]

Genn,

I'll second what Wright recommended. It's always better to use a sponge filter instead of an airstone. The former provides filtration as well as aeration.

One thing you have to be careful about though - the fish sometimes get stuck between the filter and the tank if there's insufficient space for them to swim through. With small tanks, you have to be careful where you put the filter.

Loh K L

[LeviathanGirl]

I forgot to mention that I am planning on adding a seasoned sponge filter once I get my shipment of new ones. I'm kinda on the low side right now. Storing them in peat scares me. Could you possibly elaborate on the method of shallow water incubation for me?

Thanks,
Genn

[whuntley]

IMHO, peat is the simplest and safest way to incubate the eggs. They all hatch the same day, so there is much less predation. The peat is a fine antibacterial.

I net up the peat from the tank, and gently squeeze out most of the water. If it is still too wet (shiny) I may put on newspaper or paper towels for a few minutes to drain more.

You want it just barely dry enough to "fluff up" when you stir it up. Still quite black and not starting to show any tan color. Not quite shiny wet. Much damper than for Nothos or SAAs, tho.

Look for eggs to be sure you have some. They should be clear and very little peat adhering to them, so are easy to spot under a halogen reading lamp or in sunlight.

Put in a 1.5 mil fish bag, with plenty of air. [Oxygen inhibits any tendency to hatch in the peat.] Fold over the top and tape tightly closed. Write on the tape the species, date, etc.

Permanent markers on plastic bags tend to leak toluene right through the plastic, so I find pencil on magic tape is safer. Computer labels are great, too, if you have waterproof ink or you tape over the printing to prevent smudging.

I avoid zip-lock and freezer bags. The former often let the peat dry out, and the latter are not oxygen permeable, so the eggs suffocate.

That said, I'll try to answer your original question.

Pick eggs from the mops with well-washed fingers or by lifting under them with tweezers. I find fingers can be more gentle. Don't pinch or scratch with the tweezers.

Place in shallow treated water. I use plastic Petri dishes, but little food containers work too. The lid must not be totally air tight, which is why I prefer Petri dishes.

The water should be dyed a very pale green with a highly-diluted solution that is 50% each, Acriflavin and methylene blue. Make a stronger stock solution and add a drop or two until you can just see color. It doesn't take much, and too much often hardens the chorion to where it cannot be dissolved for hatching.

After placing all the eggs in the solution, either dilute it or partially change it to weaken the chemicals. Do a 50% water change every day, until you cannot see any color when the dish is placed on a white background. Pull any eggs that turn dead white or fungus. They were infertile or otherwise died.

Keep partially changing water at daily intervals, when you can.

The eggs will start to hatch about 20 days +/- (depends on temp) after the egg was fertilized. Use an eye dropper, spoon, or baby medicine dropper to extract each new baby as soon as you spot it. Put into one of several 1-2 liter growout containers. You need several, as the larger (earlier?) babies will surely eat their little sister if you don't sort by size. [A great way to get all males, BTW.]

Feed green water and infusoria. If you didn't get a culture going, place a small wad of Java Moss in each baby container for them to graze on. Feed bbs (baby brine shrimp, less than 6-hours old) three times a day (if possible) and do lots of water changes at first. You can be a bit more lax on those if you have a good herd of ramshorn snails to eat any dead bbs.

If you can supplement with vinegar eels and/or microworms, great. They are not a good substitute for the Artemia nauplii as first foods, though.

If you feel you cannot keep the baby containers spotlessly clean, then a wee pinch of salt may help prevent a Velvet outbreak. I like a gently-running air stone in baby jars to keep the surface film broken.

HTH

Wright