Hello, guess who's that Rising Phoenix from the flames?

[AQUASAUR]

Hello Pals,
my name is Hristo Hristov.I live in Sofia (Bulgaria).
A friend of my told me about those site and as I see - it's a exellent place to be...:P
I'll be glad to discuss with You much of themes,wich I'm interesting in...
and sharing photos of those great hobby

Let see are here enough fans of those kind of killies...
I got one interesting shot for you...
Guess who is that "Rising Phoenix from the flames" ?
( I will post new series about him very soon!)

[zmzfam]

Welcome Hristo,

Glad you found and decide to join us.


That's a very nice frontal shot of the fish. Very nice colours! Can't wait to see the other shots of him.

[turaco]

Hello Hristo,

Welcome! That must be a SJO. Were those 'flames' down below crypts?

[timebomb]

Welcome to killies.com, Hristo.

That's a very nice picture of a Killie and a very clever title. The fish, probably a Fundulopanchax I think, does look like a bird indeed. And the Crypts in the background look like glowing embers of a flame.

We'll be delighted to see more of your pictures. Please continue to post them.

Loh K L

[Marie-Annik]

Very nice picture I agree, and I think it's a F.sjoetsedti ,too
Marie-Annik

[AQUASAUR]

That's right, Pals - it's Fundulopanchax sjoestedti "Niger Delta"!
And that are my happy SJO family:

[nonamethefish]

Great photos! Is the fish really that orange?

[AQUASAUR]

Yes, they are. Now I stop to feed them with one special food for my Discus (about red color)
And try adding a blue luminescent tanks lamp to correct that color and make them seems more like them cousin “The Blue Gularis”…

[A.Rashid]

They truely are great pictures.
Well done there. Some of us here have tried to breed them here in Singapore but it was a dissapointment.

[RonWill]

...it's Fundulopanchax sjoestedti "Niger Delta"!

Hi Hristo,
Some say the SJOs are easy as guppies but frankly, this is one killie that made me lost alot of hair. No less than 6 hobbyists have attempted and failed to raise a decent group, let alone breed enough SJOs to distribute and establish a local population here. Mind you, these people are not newbies to fishkeeping but we just couldn't get a grip on them.

The 'Niger Delta' population is, IMHO, the prettiest of the SJOs but a painful personal experience. I had, on one occasion, imported 60 of these eggs and it hurts when not even one hatch. Best I ever did was raising Blue Gularis to adults but fail to breed them.

Your pics are well taken and it's nice to see you doing well with them. Keep up the good work while I harbour hope to do a trade with you someday.

Lastly, welcome to our humble chatter corner.

[Marie-Annik]

Hello,
I'm quite surprised at reading your post concerning the breeding of F.sjoestedti. I had 6/7 of them last July without even trying and I'm a newbie with killies so I wonder if there isn't something with the water as we live so far away. Other people in France and Luxembourg seem to be quite successful with that fish, too.
What do you think?

[TyroneGenade]

For the past few months I have tried to spawn my SJO with 0 luck. Every eggs I pick funguses... But what did I find in with the parents 2 days ago but a young fish about 2 cm long... This fish can drive you mad.

I'm going to toss in some tea bags and see if this helps them a bit as regards fertile eggs.

I've boosted feeding: flake, granules and blood worm. Maybe heavier feeding will help them a long a bit. Wish I could get some long fibre peat...

Best of luck... it seems luck is the critical ingredient in spawning SJO.

tt4n

[timebomb]

What do you think?

It could be something to do with our water temperature, Marie. Over here in Singapore, it's pretty warm most of the time. But it could also be the problem lies with the source. I think most of the hobbyists in Singapore bought the eggs from the same breeder. I managed to hatch most of the eggs and raise the fish into adults. But they were a sickly lot. Most had bent backs and were colourless. They all died out after a while and I never so much as saw an egg.

Loh K L

[Marie-Annik]

Hello,
Yes, I suppose you're right it must be the source....
When I had my fry in July, the temperature of the tank was about 25°C, then it increased to 27°C but I tried to keep it not warmer by putting some ice cubes on the cover.
I never saw any eggs but suddenly a little fish and then one more fish every 2 or 3 days. They were quite healthy but unfortunately my male died and the male I kept died after 7 months, too. So, now I have only one female. I think my problem is to keep the males more than 7 months. I already had 3 males which died at that age.

[RonWill]

Marie, I'd rather blame the weather than the sellers and I've gotten eggs from at least 3 different sources but the results are almost always the same.

This was one of the males from a better attempt.


BTW, the SJO has a pretty long life and at 7 months, that's when they mature, not die.