Susan and I still travel a little. If we can plan away time in advance, adult breeders can be given away to friends and eggs can be left on peat for a few weeks. In the past our sons could maintain Tetras, Danios, etc. These days, automated feeders do the feeding of fish that take prepared dry foods. Killies are a different matter. They need live food.
Brine shrimp must be hatched and the empty shells separated from the shrimp,
Drosophila must be captured, chilled and fed manually.
There was a time when family could care for killifish. As a teenager, Christopher worked in the Petco fish department and was also a professional zebrafish breeder, so he has lots of experience with infusoria, brine shrimp, water changes, etc. Now our sons have families of their own, and are an hour away.
So what is the solution? Ponds outside. Now you know why our breeding season is summer. We have done this many times.
1. Fish Sitter Ponds. There is a simple solution in the summer, small ponds. For each species we put a large Concrete Mixing Tub inside white commercial grade trash bags. Another possibility, if your soil runs deep, is a deep garden tub like this 17 gallon one. We dig holes for them under shade trees, set the bags in the hole opening side up, then the pan in the bag. We add a thin layer of clean gravel, then our water. Next put four stakes at the corners, and hold up the corners of the bag with clamps. We use strong spring clamps with rubber covered tips. Fill with pond water and a thin layer of washed gravel on the bottom; throw in a generous portion of duck weed and java moss. Then put in fancy guppy males to eat any mosquito larvae. Also feed the guppies with flake and small pellet food. The little pond will gain a microfauna. A few days before vacation, remove the guppies to inside tanks with automatic feeders. Mosquitos will breed in the pond, and small larvae will appear. Introduce the Killie breeders (drip acclimate!), the mosquito larvae will be eaten. Be sure the bag sides are held up securely to dissuade jumpers (especially GAR!) We put over-ripe apples in suet cages at the pond periphery to attract drosophila. The Drosophila fall in. They and other local insects will feed the killies.
Note A: Be sure there are no dragonfly/damselfly larvae in the mini ponds before you put in your killifish. A cover of plastic hardware cloth will keep the adult female dragonflies and daselflies from laying aggs.
Note B: You can double up the species if the females are different, For example, Epiplatys roloffi females look different from Aphyosemion australe GOLD females. Keep the ponds far enough apart so jumping females won't show up in another species pond. The black plastic bag wall also helps prevent this.
2. Cooling a small outside pond. Some Killies need cooler water than guppies. If that's a worry for your species, either raise Nothobranchius OR
a. bury the tubs deeper in the dirt..
b. If your fishroom is in your basement (mine is), nearby is the best temperature regime in the house. Basements are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Place an air pump on the basement floor near a window. If the fishroom is warm use a window and floor in another part of the basement. Run an air line out the window to air stones in your concrete mixing tubs. You are pumping cool air into the outside water. Is that spot too sunny? While your new tree grows (Cleveland Pear, or any red leaf plum are very fast growing) buy fast growing non-toxic annuals (Nasturtium comes to mind, but not tomato not potato not marigold) and block the sun's rays.
So what is the solution? Ponds outside. Now you know why our breeding season is summer. We have done this many times.
1. Fish Sitter Ponds. There is a simple solution in the summer, small ponds. For each species we put a large Concrete Mixing Tub inside white commercial grade trash bags. Another possibility, if your soil runs deep, is a deep garden tub like this 17 gallon one. We dig holes for them under shade trees, set the bags in the hole opening side up, then the pan in the bag. We add a thin layer of clean gravel, then our water. Next put four stakes at the corners, and hold up the corners of the bag with clamps. We use strong spring clamps with rubber covered tips. Fill with pond water and a thin layer of washed gravel on the bottom; throw in a generous portion of duck weed and java moss. Then put in fancy guppy males to eat any mosquito larvae. Also feed the guppies with flake and small pellet food. The little pond will gain a microfauna. A few days before vacation, remove the guppies to inside tanks with automatic feeders. Mosquitos will breed in the pond, and small larvae will appear. Introduce the Killie breeders (drip acclimate!), the mosquito larvae will be eaten. Be sure the bag sides are held up securely to dissuade jumpers (especially GAR!) We put over-ripe apples in suet cages at the pond periphery to attract drosophila. The Drosophila fall in. They and other local insects will feed the killies.
Note A: Be sure there are no dragonfly/damselfly larvae in the mini ponds before you put in your killifish. A cover of plastic hardware cloth will keep the adult female dragonflies and daselflies from laying aggs.
Note B: You can double up the species if the females are different, For example, Epiplatys roloffi females look different from Aphyosemion australe GOLD females. Keep the ponds far enough apart so jumping females won't show up in another species pond. The black plastic bag wall also helps prevent this.
2. Cooling a small outside pond. Some Killies need cooler water than guppies. If that's a worry for your species, either raise Nothobranchius OR
a. bury the tubs deeper in the dirt..
b. If your fishroom is in your basement (mine is), nearby is the best temperature regime in the house. Basements are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Place an air pump on the basement floor near a window. If the fishroom is warm use a window and floor in another part of the basement. Run an air line out the window to air stones in your concrete mixing tubs. You are pumping cool air into the outside water. Is that spot too sunny? While your new tree grows (Cleveland Pear, or any red leaf plum are very fast growing) buy fast growing non-toxic annuals (Nasturtium comes to mind, but not tomato not potato not marigold) and block the sun's rays.
3. Instructional Videos. A couple of years ago I made some videos for our sons to follow and posted them on YouTube. I lost the password so I've reposted some on my google account. I also lost some of the videos and am redoing them. Be patient. For example, you need four hands to shoot a video on hatching shrimp. Anyway, they are here:
Captive Breeding of African Killifish
No comments:
Post a Comment