ajbroome

Cat said... > If i was to take the eggs away what would I need to do to > successfully raise the young. I dont have brine shrimp but I > do have microworms on the go. I'd be inclined to let them have a go at rearing this first batch. Chances are, if they eat the eggs or fry, then they'll lay some eggs in a couple of weeks anyway. If you want to pull the eggs, take the rock or cave or whatever the eggs are on and put it in a bare heated tank of its own, probably best filled with water from the parent tank. Put an airstone near the eggs (you want some water movement but don't want to blast the eggs). If you can get some, some methylene blue may be of help, a few drops per litre (it'll stain the silicone on the tank though so don't use it if you want to use the tank as a 'show tank' in the future. The fry should hatch in a couple of days and be free swimming after a week or so. Feed them only once they're swimming, brineshrimp (IMHO) are ideal but microworms should work too. Remember to do regular small water changes, add some java moss or whatever and perhaps some snails once you're feeding. Give the fry space as they grow. Hope this helps, I've got plenty of books on breeding fish if you want to borrow some. Andrew.

Wayne said... > .... u 've gotta b careful with supermart salts. > besides iodine, a bigger worry is the anti-caking agent in > some products..If it contains yellow prusside of soda--sodium > ferrocyanate, it might release sufficient cyanide gas when > dissolved to kill your fish. And then Midas (so you moved to Hawera? said... > most of the non iodised salts I have seen for sale only contain > silica and this is to act as a free flowing agent. Current fishy wisdom suggests the 'silicates' may be more of a problem than the 'ferrocyanide'... Have a look at: http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/month ... 00545.html I've never seen any problem and use generic 'Skellerup' or 'Cerebos' non-iodised table salt (which are, oddly enough, made by the same company...). 2kg is under $2. Of course, YMMV. Andrew.

Caryl said... > ...I rarely do water changes ... That'll do it. Andrew.

Caryl said... > What's happening in Auckland mid November then? Oh nothing overly fish related (except a compulsory visit to the better shops and catching up with the likes of Lawrence Raffles). It's the NZ Carnivorous Plant Society show and sale... Another way to spend money that would've been used in Napier, you see ;-) Andrew.

Deleatidium said... > How about giving them the addresses of some good basic > fishy websites with good overviews of the hobby? URLs come and go, a good search engine is a very useful and powerful tool though... Derek, don't forget to point them at The FNZAS Fishroom. Andrew.

Folks, Looks like the Palmerston North contingent will be much reduced (if present at all) at the Napier Show/Auction etc. It got too tricky to find a place to stay and due to other commitments in the near future I've decided I'll probably not be there. I *may* come up for the day, if I can. Anyway, this means that I'll most likely be home over Labour Weekend so if anyone is travelling near Palmerston North please feel free to get in touch and call in. If people are passing through on their way to Napier, I could pass on some killies to donate to the cause. Looking forward to being in Auckland in mid November though Andrew.

Goldie said... > I am interested in knowing the one thing that you learnt when > beginning to fish keep that has stayed with you to this day?? When in doubt, a 20% water change wont do any harm and may just fix the problem. If you've run out of things to do, do a water change - it's like flushing the toilet... ;-) Also, killifish are cool. Andrew.

Mitch said... > Any help please There are a bunch of wee wormy critters than live in our tanks, generally causing no harm. My guess is that there has been a bit of excess food in the recent past and this has caused a bit of a population explosion of this particular beastie. Is there a pleco type fish in the tank, or big apple snails? These will generally keep the glass free of such worms. Andrew.

Batman said... > Rock salt from supermarket saves you huge $$$$$$ I use regular non-iodised salt both for hatching brineshrimp and as an additive for my killifish tanks. Some killies, especially Nothobranchius species are prone to getting velvet if there is no salt in their water. I add about 0.5 teaspoon per 4L, double that if I see velvet on the fish. Non-iodised salt is like a dollar a kilo or some such, from the supermarket. Andrew.

Derek said... > Are there any topics that you feel they should definately know about? I think they should know how to make use of the resources available to them. Knowing how to contact their local fish club and/or having a 'tame hobbyist' is a good start. Often it'll be easier to refer a 'patient' onto someone local who has been dealing with similar things under local conditions. Also the names of good fish books and whether the local library (or club) has them... Bear in mind there may also be a 'herp' aspect to this. In my experience people are more inclined to go to a vet with a sick turtle. With a dodgy tetra, they're more likely to go back to the shop... I reckon most problems with sick fish can be traced to environmental issues (including stress) so a really good understanding of what biological factors affect a fish would be very important. Also, a little knowledge *can* be a dangerous thing... Andrew.

Derek said... > Anyone know if there are confirmed enviromental factors > such as temperature which affects the sex ratio in this species? I don't know of any specific information on this fish but various environmental factors are thought to skew sex ratios in other killifish species. I get mostly males too but I suspect it's a case of the females being slower growing and more timid so that they get bullied and/or eaten by the other developing (male) fry or adults in the tank. The best way to get more fry is to set the fish up in a planted tank for a couple of weeks, feed well and then remove the adults. About a week later start feeding the tank with small amounts of brine shrimp. Generally you'll get several fry (20ish from a pair or two) and if fed well you should get better sex ratios. At least that's been my experience. The batch before last, I got 7 males and 4 females. My current batch is just sexing out but looks to have several females at least. Glad to hear someone else out there is breeding these fish. Andrew.

Folks, I just think they're ugly. But then I think that about most critters and plants that have been modified to suit (some) people. I generally find this to be true whether it's a hybrid or the result of a selective breeding program or whatever. But it's a personal call, chances are you're not going to change someones mind by ranting at them (not suggesting anyone is doing that here). The best course of action, if you don't like them, is to refuse to have them in your tanks. If the market goes away, so will the fish... Andrew.

Warren said... > Bugger, just lost my only female. > > Anyone got a spare I can buy / trade something for? You might want to try talking to Stuart Lord. Aplo. lineatus gold aren't common at the moment (few killies are) and most of the ones I know about are males. You could also try posting to AUNZZA to see if that flushes anyone out of the woodwork... Andrew.

Cees said... > If it is blue-green than erythromycin will fix it. True. > ... blue-green algae is actually cyanobacteria and indicates > poor water quality... Also true. I've got it mostly in tanks that were filled up with Upper Hutt water that I got from John Philips when he brought his fish up here. Actually, it's water from his tanks and I guess maybe he hadn't been paying as much attention to them as he used to. I guess I've been too slow in diluting it out with water changes but I'm getting on top of that now... Andrew.

Caryl said... > This algae has recently grown on my rotala... Is it 'blue-green'? I *really* hate that bugger. Started getting it in some of my tanks at the moment. That a duckweed could make me give up fishkeeping some days... Andrew.

Ira said... > Not sure where or how much, or even what species. But I'll > take a dozen. Especially if the bioluminescence is inherited > by the fry. Seems they're likely to be Zebra danios (or maybe Medaka, Oryzias latipes). See: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_581647.html Yuck. Andrew.

Folks, Being as slack as I am, I just started organising somewhere to stay for the saturday night of Labour Weekend. Kennedy Park is full, except for camping sites. The Nurses hostel thingy is also full. Other options are being explored. People are suggesting Havelock North but that's a bit far out for me... So, if you haven't sorted yourself out a place to stay, best you get onto it ASAP. Andrew.

Caryl said... > This year's ? In April? Hate to tell you this Andrew but > you are a bit late for April this year... Yeah, well, you know what I mean. :-) The next AGM, which should be in April 2003. Andrew.

Back on the 23rd of September I said... > While at Wet Pets on saturday I saw some Blue Panchax > (Aplocheilus panchax) for sale. These will have been > imported but are quite easy to breed. I bought two pair > and they've settled in nicely. I've got the first babies from the above fish now and am getting more eggs all the time (a couple a day, as is the way of killies). They'll be too young to take to the auction sadly but I will have a couple of pairs of Epiplatys dageti and a single pair each of Aphyosemion scheeli and Aphyosemion bitaeniatum available. This years NZKA auction (in April?) should be interesting... Andrew.

Wayne wrote... > yes, we can get fish TB. it's usually relatively mild n rare. A friend of mine in California had a case of 'fishkeepers finger', he says it was painful and took a long time to clear up. He was on expensive (like NZ$25 a day) antibiotics for something like 6 months. At one stage he had a web page with photos but that seems to have gone now :-( Definitely not something you want to mess with. Have a look on the web, search for Mycobacterium marinum. Andrew.

Ira said... > ... Including one that I found today, jumped out of the tank > and ended up cooked and dried on top of the glass under > the lights. Known in the killifish hobby as a 'crispy critter' :-) Killies are very prone to jumping out of any available hole, especially when they're new to a tank... Andrew.

Pegasus said... > We all knew what we were talking about BEFORE the name > changes, so really this doesn't answer the question. Except, of course, that this thread started off with confusion over a name, so obviously not everyone knows all the time... Andrew.

Wayne said... > ... some vitamins n other nutrients will b destroyed in the > freezing/thawing process. I tend to disagree. If you've got a big container of flake then keeping it in the fridge (or even better, the freezer) will extend its useful life. By sub-sampling as needed, you're not going through multiple freeze/thaw cycles, just one, and the vitamin and other nutrients will most likely not be hugely affected. We do that with human food all the time and generally do OK. The best plan is to use a variety of foods, including some live and/or fresh foods, supplimented by commercially available good quality prepared foods. Andrew.

Wayne said... > ...it never once occured to me that we've got local fish forums > here! let alone clubs, activites n stuff! wow indeed!! If by 'Palmy' you mean Palmerston North, there is a fish club re-forming here at the moment and I'm sure you'd be most welcome to come along to meetings and so forth. We're always looking for new keen members. Drop me a line ([email protected]) if you want more info. Andrew.

Pegasus said... > Talking of fish names... > Why DO they keep changing them... ? So everyone knows what we're talking about when we use a name. There's no sense in using incorrect or ambiguous names for things if you want clarity. Andrew.