TFH May 2006 killies articles

[budak]

Quite a few killies articles in this issue, now available at some newsagents:

1) Collecting in Uruguay (Austrolebias luteoflammulatus, A. alexandri and A. duraznensis, apart from various cichlids and characins), by Lou Pochettino.

2) Hatching in Austrolebias, by Marcelo Casacuberta

3) The Genus Procatopus, by Anthony C. Terciera (I first saw this genus in a public aquarium and thought them incredibly marked, with colours that seem to flicker like a rainbow)

4) Internal fertilisation in an egglaying killifish: Campeliiolebias brucei, by Jaroslav Kadiec

5) Collecting Aphanius fasciatus (in Turkey and Italy), by Emile Farmer.

Other articles:
• Algae-eating shrimp, by Takashi Amano (nothing new, I'm afraid).
• Introduction to Puffers (a fairly comprehensive review of freshwater/brackish species for aquaria)
• The editorial page touting TFH as the official publication of the AKA 2006 Convention.

[panchax]

Is any Procatopus avaliable in Singapore?

[stormhawk]

No Procatopus in SG as far as memory serves me. Last census count I recall none of them surviving beyond juvenile stage. They seem too fragile especially during the fry stage.

budak, thanks for the heads up. I'll probably get a copy from Kinokuniya tomorrow or the day after.

[panchax]

Thanks. So not even one shows up in any West African import? Generally other than mormyrids, Pantodons, African tetras, Synodontis, electric catfish and bichers is there any other wild west African fishes imported into Singapore?

[stormhawk]

Very seldom do we see West African fishes come into Singapore. The primary reason being political and economical instability in that region, along with the constant coups and rebellions. It does not make sense for local importers to bring in something at extremely high cost, only for them to not be able to sell very well / die in transit / wrong species sent.

Without help from Nigerian-based exporters, I reckon we would never have gotten stuff from there in the first place.

[panchax]

Thanks. So larger lampeyes are unlikely to come by...

[stormhawk]

Not necessarily impossible to come by. I've seen Aplocheilichthys spilauchen come into the Singapore before. Platoplochilus cf. ngaensis and Procatopus aberrans did appear before. Apart from those two limited imports, West African lampeyes are pretty much restricted to just the Poropanchax species.

[panchax]

Does Plataplochilus come in SG only once? Or they come in once in a while?

[stormhawk]

Only once as far as I can remember, and that was a single shipment along with the Procatopus aberrans. I saw both in person since one of the members managed to get some. I doubt there's anymore alive locally.

Some of the members here did import lampeye species every now and then from a breeder in Hawaii but the all of the species failed to get established. The fry either died off en masse during the fry stage and if I'm not wrong, only 1 fry per species managed to survive to the juvenile stage.

I suppose Ronnie can tell you more regarding these single lampeye juveniles that he raised sometime ago.

[whuntley]

I have raised Lampeyes, several times, and am fond of them. Here are a few tricks you may need to know.

They are mostly from open flowing water, so need 2 things: current and ample oxygen. Water pumps can provide the former, but I like air-lift pumps because they can provide both when run with vigorous bubbles.

I'm not talking little 3-5mm tubes, but big, tall 12mm or larger lifts, as for under-gravel filters.

Henri deBruyn filters can be a help, but are usually quite inadequate for Lampeyes when temperatures rise a bit. You need much more.

My best Lampeye tank had a UGF with a fiberglass mat (as used for boat layup) over the UGF plate to keep finer gravel from falling through. It was a 15 Tall, which is the same footprint as a 10G tank, but half-again as high (hence high, powerful air lifts).

Under the cabinet I had a 15W CF reading lamp running 24/7, illuminating most of the bottom glass. This grew lush algae, but none ever appeared in the tank. Return water to the tank was virtually saturated with oxygen, though.

A 40W CF kit from AH Supply gave ample light for the lush plantings in the tank, supplemented by CO2 injected via a porous glass diffuser. My only other plant food was fish food, most of the time.

The Procatopus in that tank always spawned in bunched (rubber banded) mops as close to the airlift discharges as possible.

I have always liked Pantanodon stuhmanni (podoxys) and was getting scads of eggs but poor hatches and few babies. The late Al Castro said I should try sweater boxes instead of shoe boxes (for hatching and rearing), and the results were dramatic! The surface area of about 30X50 cm was all the difference in the world. Even brackish-water Lampeyes from very warm climates do not do well without lots of oxygen, IME.

Wright

PS. For about 1-2 hours in late morning, the stuhlmanni are easily the most brilliant Lampeyes, ever. Total loss for those grinds who work day shift for a living.

[stormhawk]

Wright, that's some pretty good info there. Many thanks.

Do you have any idea if using airstones instead of those DeBruyn filters will help?

[whuntley]

IMHO, both are likely needed. The original version of the Henri filter uses an airlift, as he described it in the AKA Convention of 2000, in Tampa. For most Lampeyes, I like even more aeration than that gives, though.

Coarser airstones to make larger bubbles will tend to move more water, increasing the available current.

For breeding, I like either mops tied in a wad with rubber bands or an egg-injection device made by capping a cylinder of 1mm plastic stitchery canvas with PVC pipe caps. The cylinder is stuffed full of polyester pillow stuffing, and disassembled to collect the injected eggs.

Place any breeding surface, even coarse cork or a pot scrubber, directly in flowing water. The eggs and babies are most intolerant of stagnant or low-oxygen water. I have found good results by placing eggs in a pilsner (conical) glass and bubbling with an open-ended airline. The bubbles keep the mass of eggs in suspension and moving, just like BS eggs.

For you folks in the tropics, you will have to work a lot harder than I did to keep up their oxygen requirements. Warmer water simply holds less, so you need extra plants or other means to generate a surplus of dissolved oxygen.

Wright

[whuntley]

Very seldom do we see West African fishes come into Singapore. The primary reason being political and economical instability in that region, along with the constant coups and rebellions. It does not make sense for local importers to bring in something at extremely high cost, only for them to not be able to sell very well / die in transit / wrong species sent.

Without help from Nigerian-based exporters, I reckon we would never have gotten stuff from there in the first place.

I strongly urge you to avoid the Nigerian-based exporters. You will be better off if you just stick with their 419 scams, IMHO.

They deliberately mix species or include wrong females to keep their business vigorous by denying you viable breeders. I have found all do it, without exception (despite protests from some of my less-alert friends).

W. African fishes are readily available through the hobby, provided by reputable collectors such as Wolfgang Eberl, Jack Heller, Peter Tirbak and many more. It is, IMNSHO, foolish to obtain breeding stock of these fish through commercial channels, when you can be sure what you are getting from the AKA, BKA, DKG, KFN, etc.

The down side to all this is that your stores cannot buy in sufficient quantity to make US and European imports practical. It is very much a do-it-yourself process. It is much of what generated that alphabet soup in the above paragraph, in the first place. Clubs can do box exchanges, economically, at far less volume than a commercial outlet needs.

Wright

[panchax]

The problem would be getting fishes between countries though. Any way for hobbyists to get a box or two of fishes legally? Is it that only licensed exporter can export fishes out of US and Europe legally and most won't ship for just a few boxes? And can large lampeyes' eggs be shipped in the same way as other killies? Their eggs seem to need lots of oxygen?

[stormhawk]

You'll definitely need some legal help in bringing fishes in and there must be a sufficient quantity to be ordered. I don't know about Thailand's practices on receiving live fish imports, especially on a personal basis rather than via commercial importers. Check with your local Customs, Immigration and Quarantine office or try asking the Wildlife Department or whatever department that is, that deals with such requests.

The eggs will require to be shipped in breather bags filled with an amount of water and a dose of an anti-fungal or ammonia absorber.. Bag Buddies? and packed neatly into a shipping box. For such eggs, EMS will be the best choice for mailing these items and for the recipient to get it quickly. In any case it would be best to check the forum's previous threads on Lampeyes.

I know more than one person here has received live lampeye eggs before.

As for Aquabid, if you intend to source for eggs it would be difficult. The only lampeye eggs frequently offered for sale are eggs from the Tanganyika Killie, aka Lamprichthys tanganicanus. But it doesn't make sense to import eggs of this species since it is occasionally imported in by dealers who trade in African cichlids from the Rift Lakes, especially Lake Tanganyika.

I think I know who you are already. Someone once mentioned a Thai hobbyist who was fascinated with Lampeyes.

[panchax]

There are ways to import fishes into BKK legally, but the problem is more like how fishes get out of US/Europe in the first place legally [via air]. For US I think the sender need export license to send fish legally. Sending fish across countries via postal services seems hit or miss with authorities on both sides, and fish can be destroyed if someone in charge open the box decide that this is not allowed.

You are probably correct Anyway how do you guys order killies from breeders? Just send them via post?

[whuntley]

I have exported fish and eggs from the USA for many years, to places like South Africa, Holland, Japan. and many more.

I have never been asked for an export license, even when making large commercial air-freight shipments for BAKA and AKA. For those, one needs commercial invoices signed in triplicate and for the box to be left open for inspection. Otherwise it is only a little more complicated than filling out the green card at the post office for small, individual shipments. In all cases, proper latin names (but never, ever locations) need to be listed, and a customs value declared (typically $1 per pair).

It usually is not a very big deal on this end.

Importing has become more strict, and anything they choose to call a commercial shipment must have an import license, now. We get one for the club and that works for all members. "Commercial" used to be anything over about 100 fish, except for club shows. Lately they have become more Gestapo-like, and can even say a pair could be used to commercially breed them! Truly stupid government at its worst. I'm tempted to say to them, "If you are so certain, take them and prove it!"

It is difficult to receive fish here, if you don't live near one of the 11 or so "International" airports that have a resident US Fish and Game office. I'm out of luck, without a trans-shipper, because LAX and SFO are both over 6 hours driving from here.

Wright

[panchax]

I wonder if the export license issues is affecting companies but not individuals? When I contact small companies in the past they ask if I can find companies who can send fishes aboard they would send fishes to me since they themselves have no export licenses.

[whuntley]

My guess would be that they are ignorant, or that they do not want to bother with the paperwork and potential liability. There are commercial export licenses, but they are mostly for goods that pertain to weapons and technological advantage, like encryption software. The Dept. of Commerce publishes long lists of such items, and they are subject to delay and a blizzard of ludicrous paperwork.

Exporting fish may come under the rules of CITES and our Endangered Species Act, etc., so there are some restrictions on what species can be shipped. For the most part, those are handled by the normal shipping declaration that accompanies all international packages. In suspicious circumstances, customs or Fish and Wildlife agents may insist on inspecting the contents of the box. That is so rare I have never heard of an actual case.

Wright

PS. I haven't shipped anything significant for the past year or two, so my information could be a bit out of date. I think I would have heard of any significant changes, tho.