Species maintenance - Aphyosemion striatum Lambaréné

[keehoe]

Latest update: Found an egg in the mop. Is their incubation period similar to AUS? 7days in our weather?

[RonWill]

Wright & Svein,
Thanks for the kind participation with the temp trial. It's something I needed to know, lest the effort I've put in just wasn't good enough.

I cannot justify the investment for a 'real' chiller and my TEC peltier project is temporary shelved (until my friend decides to spend time on an electronic-idiot), which means that cool water killies and those that need 'the chill' to spawn, will be a no no for now.

If, and a big IF at that, egg production do pick up after the temp is lowered, what can we confidently say? Have we really achieved something here? Does it debunk some of our beliefs, between keeping the killies alive and being able to spawn them?

Kee Hoe,
The striatum will take close to 14 days in water incubation. Best to just dunk the whole mop into a container and add a fresh one into the breeding tank.

I realize that, like the annulatus, their eggs also don't take well to handling, so don't pick it, not even with a tweezer.

Frow what I recall, the 6 fry I initially raised, were collected from a 5gal permanent setup. By the time I saw them, these were already fairly 'big', about 8mm. Grow-out is slow, compared to Ap. australe, so patience is required.

BTW, there's a side bet going... but that's another story... [don't ask, you'll know when you're raising a whole bunch of striatum fry ]

[whuntley]

Well, I dropped the thermostat reading on my striatum heater from about 78F to 72F.

[The temperature I posted earlier was probably way too high. I was using one of those el-cheapo Chinese digital thermometers, and it is currently showing 80.2F (26.7C) when a real (glass bulb) thermometer agrees exactly with the thermostat setting -- 72F.]

Anyway, I did find a couple of eggs this AM and some pieces of chorion that indicates some egg predation, either by the fish or the plentiful ramshorn snails in that tank.

Best I can guess is that the temperature where I was seeing no eggs was only about 26C, so these guys want it much cooler than I would have guessed.

Sorry to be bearer of sad tidings to your tropical paradise. Guess you have to add it to your poor ski facilities as a minor drawback for SG.

Wright

[Svein]

According dr. Huber (Killi data) this species tolerates temp from 22 - 32 degree.

It looks that is huge different in the temp in the biotope where A. striatum can be found?
I have raised the temp yesterday from 22-23 degree up ti 27, havn't check the mop yet.

Regards
Svein

[keehoe]

According dr. Huber (Killi data) this species tolerates temp from 22 - 32 degree.

It looks that is huge different in the temp in the biotope where A. striatum can be found?
I have raised the temp yesterday from 22-23 degree up ti 27, havn't check the mop yet.

Regards
Svein

I think we should also record other water parameter such as water dept etc into the observation. How about atmospheric pressure?

[Svein]

2 days isn't much, but in a temperature at 27.2 degree I didn't found any eggs on the mops. They normally give eggs every day.
Regards
Svein

[whuntley]

I do not doubt Prof. Huber's information, but tolerating and breeding can be two different ranges.

Radda and Purzl list the proper range as 23-26C, and I think we have just established that breeding reduces or stops at or just above that upper temp.

My tds is near ideal for Western Africans (90 ppm and 60 as CaCO3 equiv.), and I have long-ago established that pH is pretty unimportant in clean tanks. My water depth is that of a 5G tank, which is standard at about 8" (20 cm) in the US.

A tiny change in water depth is a much greater change than normal atmospheric pressure changes can cause, so I'm pretty sure they cannot feel a storm coming by pressure alone. Reported storm effects on spawning are more likely due to changes in ambient light amount and duration.

Light certainly plays a strong role in fertility. I once accidentally sterilized a strain of guppy, I had spent 3 years developing, by just leaving their light on 24/7 and excluding any outside light changes (they were in the basement, with no windows).

Wright

[whuntley]

Well, as far as I'm concerned, the verdict is in. Aphyo. striatum Lambarene breed better in cooler water.

I neglected to feed all my fish since Thursday, as I prepared for surgery, yesterday.

I finally got around to feeding them, today, and pulled both mops for a quick count. I found at least 16 new eggs, which is a dramatic change from when I was getting none for weeks. Right now, the tank has drifted up to 75F (24C) because it's hot in the house. I just turned off their light, as they get some from the next tank over and from a window behind the tank.

Because someone here reported they don't like handling, I added a weak mix of acriflavin and methylene blue to the Petri dish the eggs are in. I'll dilute it over a few day's time so the dyes don't harden the chorion and make hatching difficult. Also should add a sprig or two of moss.

It is difficult to be certain when one cannot compare, side-by-side, but I think I see more color in the males than they were showing earlier. The heat may have tended to retard their maturity. These are quite young fish, just recently coloring up.

Wright

[whuntley]

Time for a little update.

Thanks to our friend Bill, the Farang, I have no STR babies.

When the eggs in the Petri dish mentioned above started to hatch, I dumped them into a "vacant" 5G tank that was supporting a wad of "weeds" Bill had kindly sent me.

A few days later, I was amazed to see a single large baby. It looked to be a week or two old, and not several days. Well, it had a nice meal on the STR babies and eggs.

After a few weeks, it is beginning to look like a female, but IDK what species it could be. The anal and dorsal fins are set well back, like some annuals, and the anal fin is rather long compared to most killy females. If it would color up and be a male, I probably could ID it. As is, all I can ask is for Bill to give me a clue.

Egg production had been less than at first, until I finally got in a pound of blackworms, early this week. From Tues. on they have had cool water and constantly available blackworms. I pulled about 20 eggs from their mops this AM.

Cool weather lets me order worms again. Aquatic Foods switched to FedEx, which is the one (only) service flying a daily plane into Bishop. Shipped from Fresno on Monday, they were on my porch when we got back from the Tues. AM hike, about 10 AM. DSL always took at least 2 days.

I have some annuals to hatch, too, so I need to get a better setup for raising babies. I like shoeboxes with floss/pvc filters for that. I'll just nuke any plants from Bill before using them with baby boxes.

Gotta get some pics of my STR soon. Will post.

Wright

[ruyle]

Time for a little update.

Thanks to our friend Bill, the Farang, I have no STR babies.

Glad to be of help...not! Geez, that sucks! I wasn't paying attention to
what tanks I was pulling plants from..were the plants the E. densa?
Could be one of my Eppies....what shape is the caudal, can you tell?

Surely you meant DHL, not DSL...

Let me know when you want some more plants!

Bill

[whuntley]

! I wasn't paying attention to
what tanks I was pulling plants from..were the plants the E. densa?
Could be one of my Eppies....what shape is the caudal, can you tell?

Surely you meant DHL, not DSL...

Let me know when you want some more plants!

Bill

Yeah, E. densa than hell! ;-) That's why I didn't even see the big-mouth baby.

Caudal looks pretty round. Full belly, nearly like a female guppy. Could be an Epi, but I expect them to be pretty slender. This is shaped more like a female Simpsonichthys but lacks the side spots.

Yeah. DSL was on my mind from the VOIP hastle I'm going through. It was DHL. DHL and that brown-colored one don't appear to fly into Bishop, so all their stuff takes at least an extra day and rides a truck up from LA.

It's a great time to send plants, for they are not likely to cook, these days. My furnace is set pretty low, but it still kicks on at 5:30 AM when the thermostat is timed up to the day/wake-up setting. I'm wondering the best way to keep the eggs warm at night.

Wright

[ruyle]

Humm, the baby tanks, did they have watersprite, too? I didn't have those
plants too long before I sent some to you. Could've been from the guy I
bought the plants from! Curiouser and curiouser....geez, I got 'sprite in
my Mundemba tank, too!

I'll send you more 'sprite and E. densa, and one of my Anubias barteri
var. Coffeefolia if you want one. LMK.

Bill

[RonWill]

It's a great time to send plants, for they are not likely to cook, these days...

Wright, I was wondering if parcels declared as "Aquatic Plants & Specimens - PERISHABLE" will be frisked. [I'm dying to clear up one of my partitions... damned pygmies seem to eating alot more these days! ]

As for eggs with warm toes, why not rig up an incubator using an 5w incandescent bulb? Temp, or light output, can be adjusted with a dimmer. Just a thought.

[whuntley]

It's a great time to send plants, for they are not likely to cook, these days...

Wright, I was wondering if parcels declared as "Aquatic Plants & Specimens - PERISHABLE" will be frisked. [I'm dying to clear up one of my partitions... damned pygmies seem to eating alot more these days! ]

As far as I can tell, if the package is from Singapore, it WILL be opened and inspected, almost for sure. Do not ever declare contents different from the actual goods. That guarantees confiscation, and can even bring criminal penalties in some cases. They may not catch you, but they do have me by the short hairs! [SG is on a watch list because of a foiled terrorist incident there, a year or two ago.]

What is worse, the agricultural rules are more draconian than for animals. The US Dept. of Agriculture refuses to allow in any plants whose roots are not fully exposed for inspection. They need a phytosanitary inspection certificate (whatever that is) and studiously check all plants for nematodes, etc. As a result, we cannot even usually get any of the lovely plants from Tropica! [Their roots are in rock wool!]

I really want some Downoi, but have resigned myself to getting a start from someone here who already has it. Safe importing is just too much time and trouble.

CA state rules are even worse, as they try to protect our huge agriculture business from everything harmful, such as the Mediterranian Fruit Fly, etc. If a fish shipment is found to contain any plant matter, the package sits for weeks in an unheated warehouse until an Ag. inspector gets around to checking it. By then, the contents are usually dead, so they throw it out.

Don't do that to your fish. Courier services, such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc. are quite legal, but fish and other animal matter (dead or alive) are strictly against the law in international mail (postage) service. Don't mail fish or eggs if you want them to arrive.

Always use the correct Latin names to ID the contents, as they will be checked against CITES and some local lists (for forbidden piranhas, etc.). Locations do not matter, just the binomial Latin name, number of each, estimated customs value (US$0.50/fish works), and a statement that relieves the inspector of some responsibility. I like to state:

"Domestically produced tropical fish. No endangered or threatened species. For use of recipient only, not for resale."

For club shows, I change that last to read: "For exhibition only, not for resale"

A few fish don't require me to have an import certificate. IDK the exact number, but if you want to send more than about 50, they would have to go to BAKA, SCKC or someone who has paid the $50 or so annual fee. There is no customs duty on tropical fish, so if the value is below $400, there usually should be no customs fee. [There is an inspection fee from Fish and Wildlife if they have to do the inspection outside regular business hours. Usually not a problem, but it does mean your shipment must enter at one of the 10 or 11 International Airports with a F&WL office attached. FedEx knows about that.]

For me, LAX may be a full day closer than SFO, if you have any choice (ask FedEx). I also get FedEx shipments a day quicker, as they actually fly a plane into Bishop daily. All others use trucks and don't control temperature all that well.

As for eggs with warm toes, why not rig up an incubator using an 5w incandescent bulb? Temp, or light output, can be adjusted with a dimmer. Just a thought.

Sounds like a good plan. I may just bury a small aquarium heater in jar of fine sand, and use a good styro box as the incubator. I have a 25W heater with a cracked glass that would be perfect. I probably need more than 5W, here.

Wright

[keehoe]

Hi all, a very sad note. Today i came home and found that the male died. It were surviving without the chiller since i collected from Ronnie. Last sunday, i place the pair into weather conditioned box with average temperature set at 24C. I last check yesterday and it was OK swiming in water. In fact that was the most beautiful colour fish i have ever seen. (Even compare with EXO)

Sorry guys, i lost the battle. But why always the male?

If anyone have spare male or don't mind taking over the female. Please let me know. I am beaten flat by this fish.

[stormhawk]

Kee Hoe, they have been pretty fragile for most of us here too. You shouldn't be too upset. Things like this happen.

Well, there's always next time and try, try again.

[RonWill]

I am beaten flat by this fish.

Kee Hoe, you may be beaten flat, but I won the bet.

The striatum is not a very easy fish to handle (in our weather) and truth is, there was a bet whether you could keep the pair alive beyond 2 weeks, which you did. For that alone, I'd say you have done well.

I've lost more striatums than I can remember and it's a pity for a fish so pretty, to be so hard to keep alive.

Someone else will have to carry on from here. I'm feeling somewhat burnt out and besides, I need to work on the elberti.

[turaco]

... but I won the bet.

When do you want your prize to be deliever sir?

So, I'm still the last man standing with the striatum in Singapore!

Kee Hoe, I admire your never give up attitude in aquiring the Diapteron, do you know how many kamikaze warriors before you?

[RonWill]

Gan,
I've forgotten what the wager was but for now, I'm short on time and tank space. Perhaps I'll collect when the fish is big, fat and ripe! (was that the auratus or suzarti??)

As the last man standing with the striatum, you deserve a prize. Drop by my place and take a pick when you collect the walter worm culture. Mine crashed and recently resubbed. The new culture should be ready by Saturday unless you want it sooner.

Frankly, I'd want to try the striatum again when I'm not so stressed but how's your population doing? Stable and multiplying?

Now that Kee Hoe has gotten himself a real chiller, and if you have an extra male, perhaps you'd like to give him another chance at propagating the species? I'll leave that decision to you.

[whuntley]

After lowering the temp., I have been regularly getting STR eggs. I just looked carefully in the 5G I have used for growout and see at least 3 babies there. I suspect all six I put there may be alive.

I want to start another thread on the temp vs O2 thingy, so will go do that.

Ronnie, I'll send you some new blood one of these days. Mine are the Lambarene collection. Aren't they the same as yours?

Wright