Starting out with Killies - few questions

[Phantom]

I'm just starting to get into Killies and now and am the newest member of the NZKA. I have some blue and gold gardneri's and some golden panchax. I did get some from HFF when I was last in Auckland however they didn't survive long after the plane trip home. I think my mistake may have been putting them in the community tanks straight away. Next time I'll try with transition tanks.

I'm looking to breed them but also have some as display fish for my large community tanks.

Currently I have my gold gardneri's breeding using a spawning mop in a tank. Managing to collect a lot of eggs but not sure if they're developing. Does anyone have any tips on how to get best results and what I should be looking out for? I have a trio in the tank along with a black synthetic mop. Feeding them a mixture of live foods and dried. Initially I didn't have any peat handy so I tried a water bath but a lot of the eggs have gone white. Does this mean they're no good? I've now got some peat and will be putting the next batch of eggs in that. How long should they be in the peat for?

Any suggestions of additional species and place to get them from? Ideally I'd like something reasonably colourful but not too agressive so they can go in display tanks along with tetras, harlequins, cories etc. I'll also be in Auckland on the 13th / 14th October and able to bring fish back on the plane if that is a possibility - will do things differently this time with transition tanks.

[Barrie]

In my mind, gathering eggs for a week and placing ON damp peat is an easy way of doing things. You can gather the eggs for a week then leave floating for another 2 weeks before placing the peat and eggs in water (one litre plastic container that can also float on the tank)

suck the fry up every day and place in another container with bbs

[Sophia]

if you PM Zev and ask her nicely she might send you the back issue of the newsletter that explains some more of what Barrie just said too