Alan Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 Couple of days ago while doing a big tank shift around I just happened to have to move a small tank, about 150x200x300, used for spawning a pair of red Nothobrancius korthause. It was still setup from when the pair decided to die on me. The tank had a small container, about a margie size one in it, this had a hole cut in the lid and the container was filled with peat. A small amount of peat was on the base of the tank, which gets there from when the fish are spawning, and the water was like a medium tea colour. What to my surprise, as I was lifting it down to do the retrieval of the peat for drying, to see a fry about 5mm long zoom across the tank. Few more seconds and the water was gone onto the garden. This of course made me have a closer look, and I found another 5 babies, three of which looked as though they had just hatched going by their size. I rescued them by using a pipette and sucking them out and transfering them to one of my raising trays. Fed on bbs, they are now starting to size up and I'm still surprised at the continuous wet-hatch. These fish are supposed to have a drying out period, add water, then the babies arrive, enmass. I water hatched some nigrapinnus years ago, but apparently, that is not an uncommon happening with this species. Alan 104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylefish02 Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 mine did this all the time alan both yellow and red. kyle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted November 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 Well this is the first time it happened to me, and I've had eggs in water for a long time before too. Hence me being so surprised. Alan 104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserole Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 It's very common for this species Alan due to the high water table on the island of Mafi where the red/yellows form comes from and the yellow form which is suspected to come from main land Tansania is found in coastal mashes. When I kept them in a tank with an under gravel filter after a gravel syphon I always checked the bucket and often found 100's and 100's of eggs and plenty of fry - with a shake up some of the eggs would hatch in front of me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted November 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 Well aren't I glad that I'm not too old to learn something new. Thanks Alan 104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserole Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoban Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 Gratz dude. Awaiting pics:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 Mrs Nature has been very kind to Nothos. They hatch wet and I found a 10% hatch after drying and another 10% a month later etc. They have some pretty good survival mechanisms (apart from their propensity to get velvet) They are also extremely quick developers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted November 23, 2006 Report Share Posted November 23, 2006 Kia Ora Alans Like brine shrimp, some even have 3rd generation rehyrdation survival techniques, i.e can be wet and dried 3x before hatching. Wicked world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaNut Posted November 24, 2006 Report Share Posted November 24, 2006 Great. I'm going to learn from your mistake Alan. Nice idea mate, always the oracle of killie knowledge. Imagine actually having Austrolebias Nigripinnis to do this with? kkkk Aquanut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 24, 2006 Report Share Posted November 24, 2006 No one seems to do it, but I used to keep the male and female nothos seperate then spawn them in trios every weak or fortnight on sand. If you put sand through a seive and keep the fine sand that passes through you can tip the whole small tank (sand and water through the same net) and and all you catch is the eggs. This way you can count the eggs and determine your actual hatch rate. Store them in peat as normal but it is hard to see how many eggs you have when mixed in peat. I used peaty rain water in the tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserole Posted November 24, 2006 Report Share Posted November 24, 2006 I did a similer thing but used a container of 2mm round gravel. If you cover the whole tank this canbe the result... Notho korthausae yellow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 24, 2006 Report Share Posted November 24, 2006 Are you storing them in water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caserole Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 I don't have Notho's at present but plan to get some soon, hopefully some of the 1000's of eggs I sent round the country over the past 2 years will come back to me :lol: AS TO YOUR QUESTION NO The best and most reliable way to breed Notho's is to give them a "diapause ( spelling )" = dry period, 6 to 8 week for the specie mentioned - longer for some of the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 I agree, I was just trying to decide about the pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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