alanmin4304

I have just set up 3 trios of chocs at 21-22 deg and 3/4 tap water with rainwater and peat. Will keep them up for a week and see what happens. The females are getting lots of good food but they were in with nigerianus and although the tank is heavily planted I suspect they may be getting bullied off the tucker. They don't look very fat with roe. Will have to feed them up on whiteworms and mozzies and see what happens. I am hoping to get a few killies into the shops to create some interest so that idea will have to start with eggs.

No.

The long fins of the altum may be the characteristics of an alpha scalare.

I think you are on to it---keep changing the rules till you win the race. Will send eggs today (only 10 in peat)

Might be the only way to get them going, or send wok the animal trainer. If they stopped jumping they might have more energy for the other.

I breed the wingless ones as fish food and I have the winged ones all over the compost heap at the moment because it is loaded with blackboy peaches that couldn't fit in ours or the neighbour's freezers

The water in Christchurch is pretty pure compared to Auckland I would think. And that may be part of the problem. I have never found breeding good numbers of australe easy, even 30 years ago so the prefered conditions for each species are obviously different and it is a matter of finding what that is. I will try a few different conditions and see if that changes things any.

I am guessing that you are talking about Hygrophila polysperma, but you could also be talking about salicifolia, stricta or difformis. They can all develop arial type roots when grown submersed and can basically be ignored. Most hygrophilas will grow a plant from a floating leaf and a way to propagate polysperma is to get it rooted then weight the stem down so it is laying flat and a plant will grow from each leaf node.

You encourage the mites by feeding too much and it starts to go off before the worms eat it. I try to feed enough so they eat it in one or two days and don't refeed (luncheon) until the food is all gone.

The sooner you feed them after they hatch the better the food value because the are feeding on the yolk sac from the hatch time. You can tell when they have hatched because the mix changes colour and if in doubt turn off the air and see how many are swimming around rather than floating.

The bottom of the tank should be straight so if you place it very carefully on the stand you should be able to tell if the stand is straight or not. It would be a pity to bend the stand if it is actually straight, as this will put stress on the tank when it is not supported properly and full of water.

Sea water is the easiest if you can get it easily and I use to use it years ago. It is the best when using salt as a medication I have found. Now I make up 1 gallon jar at a time at 50 grams salt/1 litre water, and I always use it fresh and I use a heater in the coke bottle to make sur it is warm enough.

Had my fix also.

I have my breeding tanks in a room in the cooler part of the house and heated with an undertank heat blanket controlled by an accurate electronic thermostat which reads the temperature as well. The compartment that has the thermostat probe remains at 23deg and the others are controlled by raising or lowering the depth of the water in that compartment. I also have an accurate digital thermometer which I can check with. I will try dropping the temperature a bit but will also try to up the dissolved solids a bit and see what happens. My nigerianus are slowing up a bit and due for a rest.

Just as good but one size smaller--- ask your local chemist for a pippette for measuring babies meds (basically an oversized & calibrated eye dropper).

That is why you seperate them

The australe are still a challenge in progress. I haven't had much luck with eggs for a while so still have to figure that one. The only way is to keep changing the rules till you win the game.

I wasn't joking with my coments on a previous posting (might have been with an Ausie accent). I have previously had success breeding various killies using teabags instead of peat in the water, and it was going to be my next trick if that one didn't work. Oak leaves have worked in the past also and they both might be related to the amount of dissolved solids---might even add a bit of salt ---done that before too.

What I do is store in the fridge until opened then when needed I repack the whole lot into smaller lots and try to exclude all the air that I can. Store them in the fridge and only open as required

The point I was trying to make was that you can go by all the theory and think you have it right but if they don't want to lay eggs then you haven't got it right. The thing to do then is to change things until you do get it right. I usually start with the most simple set up--tap water, then get more complicated as I have to. I thought rainwater and peat would be great but they didn't. What works this week may not work next week so it pays to be flexible.

I have a male only tank at about 23 deg. heavily planted with moderate light. Male gardneri nigerianus and albino, and australe chocs (golds too small at the moment but have had them too) Looks great. Also have clown loaches for snails and SAE for algae. Bigger cats might get hard on plant. I have kept away from Nothos because they realy need salt and plants don't. Also the australe need to be a decent size or they get bullied by the gardneri and don't grow well. Come around and have a look. Join the killie club if you haven't already, your accountant would be pleased.

Use an old oilstone or sandpaper to remove the sharp edges and you will spend less time at A&E.

Or you could take the fry out and they will go again in a couple of weeks. I siphon the fry out as soon as they are free swimming--- that way you should get 50-100

It is my main wish that I not die from repository disease (sorry couldn't resist)

You may be on to it. I set up 3 trios of choc australe in rainwater with boiled peat for over a week and saw no activity and no eggs. I cleaned out half the water and replaced with tap water and added 3 trios of nigerianus. Have been getting lots of eggs each day from all three trios (3 days now). Have yet to ascertain fertility rates but that sure is a better start. I too had thought soft acid water and peat would be soft music and candlelight.