New Killifish eggs Owner

[stormhawk]

It is ready once you can see both eyes fully formed. Easily observed with a torchlight. Just shine and you will see the shiny irises. Only then should you wet them.

What you see is probably the advanced stage of development. It's good progress though.

[edwardchuajh]

thanks! will update again, can't wait!

shall prepare and make sure the microworm cultures n hatching tank with tank teeming with infusoria is ready =)

[pcfreak]

Hi Edward,

Where did you find your killifish eggs eventually or still from the magic fish package? Hand itchy :P

Regards,
Anthony

[edwardchuajh]

Hi Anthony,

I ordered my killifish eggs from rb5, Paul, from Aquabid.

His email is [email protected], perhaps you can email to enquire =)

I got eh Simp. fasciatus and Notho. Kirki, perhaps you can try others and we can trade! lol

[schent781]

So exciting! When are you going to wet them?

[edwardchuajh]

actually i'm preparing the hatching trays with moss and everything, but Im suspecting the water is kinda fouled so I'm resetting the trays again, and will wet in these few days!

[edwardchuajh]

Just wet 1 hr ago, and now, I see the FIRST FRY! woot! that was really fast!

[stormhawk]

Congrats. I use a combination of cold water from the fridge and O2 tablets when wetting the peat in a plastic tray. Usually works to urge the fry to hatch out, at least for SAAs. Some will use tank water + weak aeration to hatch them out. Many ways to make the fry hatch as well.

Edward, what eggs are you wetting at the moment?

[edwardchuajh]

I'm simply using tank water, perhaps I'll top up with a bit if colder water if the hatching seems sluggish.

Currently hatching Simp. Fasciatus

[stormhawk]

You can do this instead, keep a bottle of tank water chilled in the fridge, and use that for wetting. Some use a peat solution to hatch out eggs. Many ways to work it I guess.

Good luck with the Simpsonichthys. They're my favourite group of killies.

[mozaqua]

@schent781,

The brine shrimp eggs that came with your killie eggs from Thailand.. were they packaged in a small plastic vial? Because usually they ship the eggs with fairy shrimp eggs, not brine shrimp. Fairy shrimp eggs occasionally have bad hatch rates. If they were truly brine shrimp eggs, somewhere along the way, they did not store the eggs properly and hence their quality must have dropped.

If you can't find a suitable early food for the fry, find an LFS near you that stocks live Daphnia or BBS. They are small enough for most killie fry. However, some killifish have really tiny fry, like Simp. costai, that require microorganisms for the first week or so, before moving on to larger foods like BBS and Daphnia.

Sadly, the cost of Fairy shrimp eggs is about $3 (100Baht) per 1/4-1/2 capsule (less than a gram). Which is quite a bit more than brine shrimp eggs in price. I got a 600g can of Brine Shrimp eggs for $20 here.
Also like you said the hatch rate for fairy shrimp is very poor. I still have not got them to hatch, but I will try new methods and share results when I can. Most of the guys who sell killi eggs with free fairy shrimp, either sell brine shrimp eggs mislabeled or very small amount of fairy shrimp eggs since they are so expensive.

You can do this instead, keep a bottle of tank water chilled in the fridge, and use that for wetting. Some use a peat solution to hatch out eggs. Many ways to work it I guess.

Good luck with the Simpsonichthys. They're my favourite group of killies.

Great advice! Works wonders! I used a similar method for my simps. and no belly sliders. I put the bottle in the freezer until it gets some ice in it, then let it defrost a bit, add the O2 tablet, shake and pour onto the peat.

[mozaqua]

I'm simply using tank water, perhaps I'll top up with a bit if colder water if the hatching seems sluggish.

Currently hatching Simp. Fasciatus

I have some Simp. fasciatus fry right now. They hatched pretty good, without belly sliders too. The fry were very small, which needed rotifers (or other infusoria) initially. Hopefully they will make it to adults, and I'll have some nice little fish soon.

[edwardchuajh]

hmm I think after two days I got around 10 fry hatching only, which I have moved to the raising tray with infusoria(i hope) and lotsa moss, they're now swimming around happily.

Shall feed a small amount of microworms to them later tonight.

Will also be draining and redrying the peat, it has a TON of developed eyed-up eggs but they're just not hatching. I think I'll wait for a week or two then try the cold water + O2 tablet method then =)

As for the O2 tablet, its the kinda found in aquariums?

caobalt99: nice! I hope mine grows up well too, and I chose the Simp. fasciatus specifically cuz of its small size when adult, for my 1.5ft tank.

[RonWill]

Edward, forget about the JBL O² tablets. It's kinda mess & leaves a slimy film on the surface. Cleaner & safer to stick to cool fridge water and remember to dry up the peat for re-wetting in a week's time.

Nature has an ingenious method of preserving it's species... in that not ALL eggs will hatch at the first rainfall because if it was a short rainfall and the puddle dries up, that's kaputz for that species!

PS: My head hasn't been thinking straight lately but I'll make arrangements with you regarding the bulb syringes... you'll be needing it soon for the BBS and daphnia.

[RonWill]

...I put the bottle in the freezer until it gets some ice in it, then let it defrost a bit, add the O2 tablet, shake and pour onto the peat

Mosiah, if you're using chilled water, skip the O² tablet. This method was first used by one of our female Killies.com forumer and gotten great results with Simp species. The rest, like they say, is history.

[edwardchuajh]

hmm alright shall stick to just cool fridge water. but will it be too cold for the fries?

or is it because Simp.s come from colder areas?

Btw in an attempt to transfer fries with a big spoon, straw and air tubing unsuccessfully, (they're darn fast) I remembered I have smth left over from my childhood days with Seamonkeys.

The Seamonkeys sucker! Works pretty well hehe i think its almost similar to a baster. Though a baster being glass will still be more reliable and clean i guess.

Ron: drop me an sms when u're free! =)

sample pic of seamonkey thing:
http://www.sea-monkeys.com/html/shop...mages/z_mb.jpg

its about 20cm long

[RonWill]

Edward,
Plural for many many fry is still "fry"... "fries" you find in McDonald's!!

Chilled water is only used for WETTING. The cold and higher O² seem to minimize belly sliders. For small water changes after the fry are free-swimming, use aged water. The young ones will NOT tolerate sudden drop in temp.

For transferring fry to grow-out container, use those takeaway plastic soup spoons (the deeper ones). Works very well for the purpose.

[edwardchuajh]

ahhh ok =) haha i always thought fries looked funny haha..

and yep, will try the cold water for wetting next week =)

[stormhawk]

or is it because Simp.s come from colder areas?

Not really. Some of them come from fairly warm tropical areas, with the climate similar to ours in Singapore. Only the Austrolebias from the southern areas of SA will probably require cooler temperatures.

The effect of the cool water replicates rain water falling and filling up their puddles where the parents once lived in. So it stimulates them to hatch out. I used the refrigerated tank water/peat water mix in my past attempts, and only used a tiny amount of the O2 tablets whenever I felt like it.

Your Simp. fasciatus fry should be reaching the stage to feed on BBS/daphnia within 3-4 days. Perhaps for now you should get Liquifry No.1 to make the infusoria start blooming. Once they start on BBS/daphnia, they'll have a growth spurt.

Though in my experience, no Simp. fry is as small as Simp. costai fry. Those guys are black and PUNY. Very difficult to spot them when the peat the eggs come with are usually dark brown to blackish in colour.

[edwardchuajh]

Ahh ok I actually left the moss there and put some snails for a week to promote infusoria growth and used my tank water where I see loads of tiny organisms near the bottom. Btw Simp. costai is the next species I wanna get! Though Rb5 (Paul) says he has no ready eggs yet and incubation is about six months? -patience-