Temperature swings

[whuntley]

Hi,

Here in the high desert, we see conditions you probably never encounter in SG.

I went to the Intl. Rotary Convention in Los Angeles for 5 days, and ended up losing a lot of fish.

I failed to clue in my housekeeper. She was in twice while I was gone, but diligently saved me money by turning off the evaporative cooler each time she left. It was probably about 50C in the house when I got home on Wed.

Our typical day/night swings this time of year are from 37C to 12C, so leaving the swamp cooler on can activate the furnace in the wee hours. I guess I will have to turn the furnace down or off, and add heaters to every tank.

The fish I lost that I was keeping for the Killifish Conservation Committee included Fp. walkeri GH2 (Kutunze), Campelolebias brucei, and Pachpanchax arnoulti. I lost some other prize fish, too, such as all 5 ANN Monrovia Reds, and extra nice Nem whitei. The aquarium strain ANN in the next tank over from the other ANNs were all fine and even had given me a new baby.

I keep Pl. ngaensis Lampeyes for KCC, too, but all but 2 small babies seem to be OK. I have the breeders and 6 fry are growing out.

I feared that the heat has killed all three bags of eggs due to hatch this month. I dunked a bag of EGG Kigongo last night, and there are live babies in there this AM. Yeah!

Wright

[RonWill]

Sorry about your losses, Wright. I'm glad I don't get to sit around in 50°C or I'll go flipping mad!

I lost some other prize fish, too, such as all 5 ANN Monrovia Reds...

Drats! What can I say... sh!t happens! On a brighter note, at least you now know a source for these reds. Hopefully, next time you'll get the chance to breed 'em.

[whuntley]

I cornered the US market for these Monrovia Reds, as they are only available in Europe, now, as far as I know. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more difficult to get commercial shipments from Holland or Germany to California.

As I recall, mine were hand carried (well, packed in luggage) by a WCW speaker. I bid high and often to get them, and was even given another pair by a friend who thought I would be more likely to get them going. He lives in the hot central valley of CA.

It was curious that they all died, while the aquarium-strain ANN in the next tank over were well and happy! I don't quite know what to read into this as there may have been other variables.

Wright

[RonWill]

Wright, here's my 2cents. Let's see if any of these make sense;
Air/exhaust duct
Window opening
tank dimensions
water height
water plants
aeration

[whuntley]

Wright, here's my 2cents. Let's see if any of these make sense;
Air/exhaust duct <---- None. Covered plastic tank
Window opening <---- Nope. Housekeeper closed up dutifully.
tank dimensions <----- Probably too small, <6L
water height <----- Full to near lid.
water plants <----- One lousy Java Fern
aeration <----- None.

Except for those obvious mistakes, everything was near perfect.

Wright

[TyroneGenade]

It was curious that they all died, while the aquarium-strain ANN in the next tank over were well and happy! I don't quite know what to read into this as there may have been other variables.
Wright

The ANN Monroviae have been about a long long time and probably gone through many genetic bottle necks. As consequence they are probably less adaptable to changing conditions. On the other hand, this should mean that they have also been selected for aquarium survival. Who knows, maybe some fry will appear in the tank.

In any case, I know a breeder in Germany who could supply eggs. He tried to send me some eggs and I got many fry... Alas, I was too incompetent to do much with them. Drop me an email and I will give youi his address.

So what was the Rotary conference like? I'll probably be joining one of the local Rotarys in the next few weeks. Its very exciting. They have a project on the go to build and stock a library for a little impoverished town up the west coast of South Africa among many other things. In September they have their biggest fund raiser: the Wine Exibition. We all darn dark apparel and serve wine at the Expo---and then keep the left-aover wine! I've been winning bottles of wine since I started attending meetings in Jan. I've won 6 times in about 20 meetings in a total pool of about 50 people each meeting. Quite stiff odds. I think God is trying to get me to drink. to paraphrase the Proverb: "Give him who is without hope drink." Maybe God is trying to tell me something. Killi egg productivity has been very poor this year...

Hope you get your temperature problems sorted out. Way things are going in South Africa I may not afford to heat my tanks at all very soon. That is assuming the power company actually supplies electricity.

tt4n

[RonWill]

In any case, I know a breeder in Germany who could supply eggs. He tried to send me some eggs and I got many fry...

Tyrone, are we still talking about the Monrovia Reds? If so, I'm game too, even when previous shipments yield nothing.

You mentioned hatching many fry, so how were the eggs shipped... in mop, peat, breather bag...???

[TyroneGenade]

The eggs were spawned into long-fibre peat and then shipped in a small bag after having had the excess water squeezed out (and the fish removed from the spawning tank, naturally).

No egg picking. No coarse peat.

Email me and I will pass on his details. He (corycory) regularly advertises on Aquabid... He has a lot of Aphyosemions on sale right now.

Kind regards

[RonWill]

Email me and I will pass on his details. He (corycory) regularly advertises on Aquabid... He has a lot of Aphyosemions on sale right now

I noticed but he has only eggs. Would have preferred young pairs or equivalent. Are the ANNs he's selling, Monrovia Reds or the regular aquarium strains?

[whuntley]

Calm down Ronnie. He doesn't have any current production of them.

They do appear to be the strain I named Monrovia Red to distinguish them from more recent CIs from Monrovia. In Germany, they go by the name Monrovia Harbel.

Apparently they are going through a period of very low productivity in Germany. I have never observed this to be related to being inbred or in the hobby too long. Every time I have been able to run down the whole story, it was a crossing of two identical-looking strains, but with enough genetic differences that the line loses fertility or is totally sterilized. [The only other case was chloramines introduced without any warning. That tended to sterilize the whole fishroom, and not a single species.]

I don't know if this outcross has happened in Germany. Apparently they are still plentiful in KFN, but German breeders are having a very hard time with them, right now.

Wright