Getting ready for the cooler weather in 2020

Crossing the Awash River at Gewani

Those were the days. Meanwhile, in 2020, Sue and I are stuck at home.
With the high temperatures in our basement hatchery this summer,

83.5F in the fishroom

we postponed the resumption of managed killifish egg production.   Mops were present to protect the females, so a few juveniles appeared in the tanks without any effort by us.

Young male STR just coloring up

We were not picking eggs from mops or harvesting egg-laden peat, but, for example, seventeen STR hatched with their parents and are now coloring up.

We don't keep much diversity these days, just the kid's and grandkid's favorites STR, GAR, AUS and our project fish for 2020 WAL, plus prior project leftovers  SPP, and AMI.

Upper row from  left: Aphyosemion striatum juvenile, Fundulopanchax gardneri Rayfield, A. australe

                Second row from left: Fp. walkeri GH2 Kutunse, A. splendopleure Tiko Green, Fp. amieti.

We also keep two forms of  Blue Gularis SJO, Niger Delta shown below, and Red Dwarf.

Now it is July. With the cooler weather approaching, it's time to get ready. Tanks are being scrubbed with 135F hot water. That's the setting for our hot water heater! 

Clean tanks get a temporary box filter with homemade peat pillow, a boiled mop, and a planning label.

Plants (java moss, water sprite, water hyacinth) are being divided and grown out in waste tank water (for the nitrogen) with plenty of light and a little sugar (for the CO2). The plants will be transferred to shallow rearing dishes for sheltering and feeding the fry.

Plant grow out tanks

We have begun to condition the breeders with more live foods, mostly brine shrimp and  flightless Drosophila melanogaster. We will add small grindal worms as the cool weather arrives.

Harvesting Brine Shrimp

We purchase one culture of flightless Drosophila, then make new cultures using kitchen ingredients (dried potatoes, dried milk and sugar)  mixed with vinegar and water. We put the medium in deli containers with some excelsior. The flies mate and produce more flies.

We also provide infusoria,  microworms, banana worms, and walter worms for the fry.

Killifish Breeding: Fundulopanchax walkeri GH2 Kutunse, our 2020 Project Fish

Here is a school of Fundulopanchax walkeri GH2 Kutunse, our 2020 project species. Of course we also raise other species, those that are favorites of our kids and grandkids.

In the tank shown are fish we hatched in August of 2019. Now at eight months they are colored up and will begin serious egg production this summer.

YOU MUST CLICK TO WATCH ON MY YOUTUBE PAGE FOR REASONS I DON'T UNDERSTAND

Kutunse is a neighborhood north of Accra, the capital of Ghana, near the coast. Urban sprawl has threatened the Kutunse population,

Their original habitat was coastal forest, so they used to have shade. We try to duplicate their original habitat by providing a dark aquarium with a heavy cover of surface plants, a little salt in the water, and a peat substrate for tannins and a place to lay eggs. Fp.walkeri will tolerate schools if they are all about the same size.


The IUCN reviewed the entire species in 2006 and declared it NEAR THREATENED
IUCN Redlist for Fp.walkeri

Additional information for this and other known populations of Fundulopanchax walkeri is on the American Killifish Association website: https://www.wak.aka.org/Ref_Library/Fundulopanchax/Fp.walkeri.htm