Fundulopanchax gardneri gardneri 'Nsukka Gold'

[ed seeley]

I have my first Killi eggs arriving sometime next week hopefully. I've kept a couple of species in the past but giving them another go now (which is why I've joined the BKA and your forum!).

Thing is I've never bred killis before and just want to check out your opinions. (NB. I have bred a lot of cichlids and cardinal tetras) I have got microworms (thanks Mike!) and artemia in great supply, with a good 0.2mm granular dried food, so food shouldn't be a problem?
All my tanks use RO water and have 0dKH (I've done this for over 5 years with NO pH crashes) and 3dGH, but I can obviously modify this for the eggs and babies.
The tank I have outlined for them is a 14"x12"x12" all glass with a tight sliding cover glass. It has an Interpet air-powered foam filter that is very mature (20 baby cardinals and a female Nanochromis currently in situ). Once grown on they will be in one of my tanks either at home or school, but I will be maintaining this strain (and the other two species that are hopefully on the way too!)

Thing is should I put the eggs into this tank, or hatch them in some other container? What will their first food need to be? Will they take artemia/microworms as soon as they are free-swimming or will they need infusoria? Any other bits of advice would be very appreciated!

[whuntley]

Ed,

I'd use a smaller container for hatching. gardneri, abbreviated GAR, will like a lot harder water than you describe. Add some tap water or Seachem "Equilibrium" to gradually get the KH up around 4 degrees, minimum, over a period of a week or so. Hatching in totally dead water is OK but rearing babies isn't.

The smaller container is just to be sure they find the food and eat all of it. Artemia nauplii and microworms are good first foods. Like most killies, they will not eagerly accept dry food.

IMO, a wad of Java Moss to provide infusoria is a good idea, both for first food and for the water purification it provides. Rotifers and paramecia, etc., eat free-floating bacteria and do a wonderful job of keeping the water clear. The smaller food reduces predation from those able to eat more brine shrimp, earlier, too.

Snails also do a good job of cleanup, and their excrement is either good infusoria fodder or inert pellets.

After a week or two, you can move the babies to the main tank. Until then, start small and shallow (an inch or two of water) and gradually add as you adjust hardness upward.

Good luck,

Wright

[ed seeley]

Thanks very much Wright, I will follow that advice.

BTW I'm sure Seachem Equilibrium doesn't contain anything to boost KH, just GH, and their own advice is to use another one of their products to up the KH. Kent RO right, which I use, is almost exactly the same thing as Equilibrium. I can be almost 100% sure on this as I've done a load of research on it, and other alternatives to RO right, as Kent no longer seem to make the powdered version. I've got 600g of Equilibrium on the way!
This is Seachem's website page saying it doesn't raise KH and you need to use Alkaline buffer to boost that.
http://www.seachem.com/products/prod...quilbrium.html

Do you use it and does it raise KH?

[whuntley]

Ed,

OOPS!

I knew that and just forgot it. Memory still my second-shortest thing.

I won't use RO Right or other such products when they have refused to reveal the contents. It's easy enough to make lethal chemical soups, without adding a bunch of "mystery ingredients."

I do use "Equilibrium" for fish that like harder water, but I forgot that I also add baking soda to raise the alkalinity/buffering/KH. That may be all that is in "Alkaline Buffer," IDK. Grocery-store sodium bicarbonate is too cheap to pay LFS prices to do what it does, very well.

Coastal species that like harder water (this includes many inland savannah species) often seem to enjoy a wee bit of plain salt added to their water.

Wright

[ed seeley]

Phew, thought I'd missed something doing all my research into this! I even worked out how to make up my own replacement GH mixture based on Equilibrium! Seriously! Molecular weights and everything!

Will I need to up KH, or is that just to stop 'pH crashes'? My soft water fish, including wild West African cichlids, love the very soft water and breed like rabbits (rabbitfish?). Aren't these Killis from the same soft waters?

[whuntley]

No.

They are from both coastal estuaries and inland savannas that dry up and become very hard water in the process. They will live in soft water, but you can avoid Velvet and similar diseases by giving them a little less osmotic pressure difference. The higher pH is a part of that process, but I think it is mostly one of reducing the severe osmotic pressure difference with higher tds. Salt, GH and KH all seem to help.

Don't confuse the needs of Fundulopanchax with Aphyosemions, like members of the BIV group. The latter can survive nicely in the dead sort of water your Discus may like (but way colder!).

Don't forget, GAR are the Guppies of the egg-laying toothed carps.

Wright

[ed seeley]

Thanks for that Wright, I'm still on a steep learning surve with these guys. I thought most Fundulopanchax were sympatric with chromaphosemions and the cichlids I keep in forest streams on the caostal plain, didn't know they were from harder areas. I will add some tap water to their tanks!

[ed seeley]

Well my eggs arrived yesterday!

They were on a little mop and had been laid in water at pH 6.5 and 3dGH - almost exactly my tank conditions so I've put them in a sweet tub (one of the clear plastic ones that penny sweets come in) with a bit of java moss in (recommended by the guy I got the eggs from to provide infusoria - it should also absorb a little bit of the pollution from the developing eggs too!). The whole thing is on top of the tank to keep it warm.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help and if anyone has anything to add please feel free to let me know - any help's appreciated!

Thanks!