Just wet some Notho eggs with a very mixed response.
From the N elongatus Mackinnon Road K2015 I had 50+ fry hatch at 9 weeks incubation, and very few belly-sliders. This was 1 week less than my previous batch, so earlier seems to be better for this species. Now will definitely have to cull these at some stage. N rubripinnis Mbezi River TSTS 2012-20, only 6 fry hatched after 9 weeks incubation, though the peat was harvested just after the original male died, so maybe not many eggs were fertilised in that time. Though I have 11 fry from the original 12 that hatched in early March, so have more than enough for myself and a few extras. Nothing hatched from Nothobranchius virgatus Fugnido EHKS 2009-01 or Nothobranchius hassoni Bukeya DRCH 2008-10 so peat/coir has been dried and will be wet again in 3 weeks time. This is a shame but I could see plenty of clear eggs in the peat when they arrived in early January. Better luck next time hopefully.
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Just wet some eggs of N.kadleci MZCS 2008/91 Gorongosa after 20 weeks incubation, that I purchased from "Nachowin" on Aquabid in early December, but the post from Spain was delayed and they did not arrive until after Christmas.
Now I have just transferred 25 fry from the hatching container to one with no peat, some Java Moss and a few Ramshorn snails. Not a bad return from the initial 40 eggs purchased. Following photo supplied by "Nachowin" on Aquabid for N.kadleci MZCS 2008/91 Gorongosa. I have just wet 3 bags of Nothobranchius eggs.
The first 2 bags were from 2 strains of N guentheri Zanzibar, one was the normal pure red colour and I collected 5 fry, but the other has a mix of red and blue (which is not in my opinion very nice) colour strains, and I collected 15 fry. Now both of these were incubated at 25-26°C for only 10 weeks, so this is a better response than for the 12 weeks I previously was using. The last bag was from N elongatus Mackinnon Road K2015, with a 10 week incubation, and lots of fry were collected (30+), but I notice that some are unfortunately "belly-sliders". Though there are more than enough to ensure the next generation. All the fry I have recently hatched seem to be doing very well, but my problem now is that all my fry containers are in use, so will have to start moving some of them into larger tanks. Alternatively, I must think of ways to increase the number of fry containers I can fit into my fishroom (any suggestions? - watch this space). Just wet some eggs of Fundulopanchax oeseri GEMHS 2000-45 Bioko Island, and now moved 20 fry from the hatching container (the mini containers next to the brine shrimp hatchery in the "New Fishroom" photo). The eggs were collected around a month ago, so approx. 4 weeks incubation, laid on top of damp peat.
This is the biggest hatch of Fp oeseri that I have had. Previously I had only limited success with 1-3 fry hatching per group of eggs. So with the half dozen large fry that I have already, these extra 20 should assure my next generation barring any major accidents. I can not hatch every egg that is laid or rear every fry that hatches, but the "big"question is what number of fry is enough and how to sort out the ones to keep and the ones to discard (plus how to do this humanely)? Have just wet for a second time the bag of N kothausae Mafia Island after an additional 3 weeks in stotage. This time only 4 fry hatched. Did not really need anymore than the 30 fry that hatched on the first wetting, but as my fishroom is newly setup, it does give me more information on incubation times with the temperature that I maintain in my system. So for me, N korthausae incubation at 6-7 weeks seems about right.
Also wet a bag of N guentheri Zanzibar, at 12 weeks, which was my ideal when I kept them previously. This time only 2 fry hatched (seems very small for 2 weeks spawning from 3 males and 6 females), so the coir has been re-dried and will be stored for a further 3 weeks. Though I do think that I may have delayed wetting the coir for too long, so I have a few other bags and I will try the next one at 10 weeks, just to see if there is a better hatch. N rubripinnis - no more fry, so just 12 from 1st day. Coir has now been redried and will re-wet again in 3 weeks.
N cardinalis - 40 more fry collected on day 2, so now have 80+ in 2 containers. Will have to cull even though I dislike doing this, as have a limited amount of room for the fry to grow in. Coir has been discarded, as no need to re-wet. N korthausae - the fry from the earlier wetting are growing very well, but again at 30 in total I should look at reducing this number at some stage. Probably 6-7 pairs would be ideal to keep for the next generation. N eggersi - have not done an accurate count, but the fry are growing well. Also on the 3rd, I wet (25% tapwater & 75% rainwater) a bag of N rubripinnis Mbezi River TSTS 2012-20, that was collected on the 4/1/17, some 8 weeks of incubation, and yesterday I removed a dozen fry from the hatching container. These fry were placed into a small plastic container with some Java Moss, paramecium and were fed small amounts of microworms and baby brine shrimp. The 8 weeks incubation, could be a bit short, but will wait to see what comes from a second wetting in 3 weeks.
This bag was one of only two that I have, as I lost the male quite quickly, so will re-dry for safety and wet again in 3 weeks. On the 3rd I wet a bag of N cardinalis Lisingiri River TAN 1997-27, that was collected on 11/12/16, so 12 weeks incubation at 25°C, and yesterday removed 40-50 fry, with more still left in the hatching container. Very difficult to count accurately when one suck on the baster captures a number of fry. So looks as if the next generation is safe.
One of my "failings" is that I try to rear all of the fry I hatch, but I do believe that this is detrimental in the long term, as the fry get larger (lack of food and space). So the question, how many is a viable group to maintain? How should I sort the fry and chose which ones to keep? If I ever get an answer I will let you know. Now what to do with the other 6 bags of egg containing peat/coir? Well on 28/2/17 I rewet both bags of N. eggersi (FTZ 05/06 Rufiji River the red variety and FTZ09/24 Ruvu River Bridge the blue strain) that I had purchased before Christmas from Spain, this is 15 weeks after their collection, now have had only a few fry hatch out from each strain, but not many so will re-dry the peat and store again for a further 3 weeks.
It does not look like that all of the fry are swimming freely, so there are a few "belly sliders" unfortunately, even though I did add a piece of OxyTab to the hatching container. Normal hatching period for this species is 8-12 weeks, when I previously had them in my fishroom. |