Ok. I spent my whole afternoon preparing a new tank for them, which has a division (I used this tank before to house 2 bettas), So after all the hard work, I went to brew myself a cup of tea, and when I came back to admire the result, the 2 males were already at the other side!

Don't ask me how they did it. The dominant male was able to get back to the other side, but the other had not. So, this division is no good I thought it was a good idea as it would ensure the same water characteristics and would make it easier to put them together for breeding afterwards. Now I will see what I can do with regard to this division. It is made out of acrylic and has holes in it. For a start I am thinking of covering it with musquito mesh.

For the 'lid' I am using a piece of cloth to which I have sewn an elastic band. I thought this might work well, as it ensures that it is tight and at the same time allows air in. I will try to take pictures of it later.

You are getting to know killifish, I've had fish literally end up going from the top teir tank only to be swimming around in a tank 2 teirs down.
Everything has to be tight.
Regards
BigC

I am feeding them brine shrimp 5 days /week. The other 2 days they get spirulina flakes or micro pellets. The reason for this is that the brine shrimp supply only arrives once a week, and after 5 days most shrimp start dying in their bags.

At what age should they be ready to breed? I am not planning on breeding them yet, as I have to make space first...... I am waiting for some kribensis fry to get to the stage that I can include them in one of my community tanks.

A small update on my fry/juveniles.

The gardneri males have now coloured up completely. I am attaching some pictures I took last week, although they don't do them really justice. The colours are much more vibrant. I will have to try to take pictures again and see how I can improve them.

Anyway, here they go:

IMG]http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w244/Biulu/DSC01650.jpg[/IMG]

With regard to the australe: I am weaning them off the BBS. I have found a certain thin reddish worm which stays alive in water for several days. This is perfect! The fish eat whenever they want and the amount they want, and I restrict myself to monitoring. I found this livefood in Mexico city, so now I need to find a way to ensure it gets to me every week. I will try my local LFS; they are normally willing to provide me with things if they can get them.

The only ones that are still on BBS are the few australe that are behind in growth. From the 5 that I separated initially, 3 are left. The other 2 caught up within notime and are now back with the big batch.

The australe are now around 1 cm and at the same stage as the gardneris 1.5 month ago. I hope that soon they will start getting the juvenile body form. Some are already 'working on it' so to say.

It looks like the pictures are too large. I will try again now resized:





This post has been edited by Biulu: Jul 18 2008, 06:43 PM

Yeah
They sure are comming along nicely now. gar. Jos Plateau are a much more slender fish I found unlike gar. Makurdi which is more stockier and robust, I would even go as far as to say Jos Plateau are my favourite among the gar and gar spp. You will find as they mature the top and bottom rays of the caudal fins will become elongated a little wich also adds that little bit to the overall appearance of this particular species. Dark substrates (even black rubber car mats placed under the tanks) and surface vegetation will enhance the colours all the more.
Dont forget about the Australe pics when ready.
Regards
BigC

Thanks for the tip! I am not sure whether these fins will get elongated; in the pics I saw from Sam (who gave me the eggs) the fish didn-t have elongated fins.

About the australe: today I did the jamjar test, and yes, the largest specimens are becoming juvenile and some are starting to show yellow finnage. I did notice however, something that looks suspiciously like another gardneri male in there...... The australe don-t get red dots first, don-t they?! I wonder how that fry got into that container.....

At no moment in time did I mix the peat or anything. The only thing I can imagine is that an egg got into the javamoss, and that I moved the javamoss to the other container once the gardneris got bigger. I used the javamoss to provide them with infusoria as a complement food that would be available anytime for them.

Anyway, I will keep you posted, and will definitively put up some pics once they become fully coloured. Is there a way to slowly get them used to higher pH water? This would allow me to keep them in transparent water instead of the coffeebrown colour they are in now. I am sure their colours would be much more visible then, and pictures would also come out nicer.

So, it turns out that the larger 'australe' specimens are the 3 'lost' gardneris after a business trip. So I assume now that they somehow got into the other container. They are definitively smaller than the other gardneris but are quickly catching up.

this means that no australe is colouring up as yet.

I wonder whether I should separate them from the australe? They are definitively not ready to breed....