Fundulopanchax gardneri .

[WhistlingBadger60 16]

Often, when you have them breed 'naturally' without removing eggs, you can get more males. They know long before we do, and I think there's aggression. But as long as you get some females, stores don't usually want pairs of them if they can get males.

Fundulus would be great to try, but the problem I've found with North American temperate fish is you remove them from the wild and breed them, and then what? They often need winter as part of their life cycle, and we can't usually offer that in an aquarium. They can be a consumer hobby, but maintenance tends to be out.

I bred Montreal area Fundulus diaphanous, and I hit that wall quickly. I have a nice morph of diaphanous in a river close to here. I've spotted it while kayaking, and it is nice looking, for a generally dull looking species. I can also catch F heteroclitus very easily all around me, but houses are just too warm for them. I am tempted, but no.

I had the same problem with darters and some native minnows.

When I was younger I tried keeping trout in a tank. They do fine for a while but eventually the warm water brings them down. If only chillers were as cheap as heaters!

F. zebrinus are outrageously adaptable, specializing in intermittent streams. They can live in everything from clear water streams to stagnant salt marshes. They can even bury themselves in damp sand and wait out droughts. So maybe, as native fish go, they'd have a better shot at making it with no winter. I don't know. They're really nice fish though. Their coloring isn't flashy (the males get red fins in breeding, like several other natives)...I'd call it "elegant."

 

[GaryE25 23]

Do you have Umbra limi (mudminnows) out there? Normally, they were well described as looking like "cigar butts with fins", but if they have a proper cold period, they turn brilliant green for a few weeks in Spring. They're similar in toughness to what you described with the unrelated zebrinus, and they'll live in tanks. But it's just 'off' when they can't go through their whole life cycle.

The same happened with the olmstedi darters I caught in a local canal back in Quebec. They were beauties when I got them in early Spring, but the next Spring, nothing happened. I felt sorry for them and resolved to leave native fish be unless I could treat them right. Tropicals may be unnatural to my broad habitat, but their climate needs are closer to my indoor set ups.

 

[Back in the fold19 5]

stores don't usually want pairs of them if they can get males.

Nobody’s getting these . They’re my own personal horde or hoard if you prefer .

 

[WhistlingBadger60 16]

Do you have Umbra limi (mudminnows) out there? Normally, they were well described as looking like "cigar butts with fins", but if they have a proper cold period, they turn brilliant green for a few weeks in Spring. They're similar in toughness to what you described with the unrelated zebrinus, and they'll live in tanks. But it's just 'off' when they can't go through their whole life cycle.

The same happened with the olmstedi darters I caught in a local canal back in Quebec. They were beauties when I got them in early Spring, but the next Spring, nothing happened. I felt sorry for them and resolved to leave native fish be unless I could treat them right. Tropicals may be unnatural to my broad habitat, but their climate needs are closer to my indoor set ups.

No, but we have fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) which fit a similar description. If they are given a proper cold period and brought into breeding condition, the males turn from a dull, muddy brown to a dull, muddy black coloration. Whee.

 

[GaryE25 23]

Fatheads. We have those too. Charming in an ugly sort of way. They get nice pimples on their heads, if we clutch at straws to make them sound exotic to Europeans...

I'm going to stick with my tropical fish from now on in. Unless I weaken and catch some Fundulus. That could happen. I can resist all temptation except when it's genuinely tempting.

 

[Back in the fold19 5]

I have ten fry now that I’ve scooped out of a five gallon with five huge adults in it , three males and two females . The other Fundulopanchax gardneri aquarium has five as well , again , three males and two females . I thought that $ 12 bucks apiece for my original breeders was kind of high since my usual price I limit myself to is $ 5 bucks but my numbers have swelled by 14 fish so my cost per individual has dropped into range now . It seems that all my fry are males and it’s something to see how fast they grow and how early they color up . They start coloring up when less than an inch . This is a lousy picture . They are hard to get a decent picture of because they are so active . I feed a gob of BBS every day and it’s mind boggling how fast ten little fish clear that out . There’s an assortment of sizes and they don’t bother each other just like the adult gardneri in the five gallon don’t bother the fry . This is not what I’ve read other’s experiences with them are .

 

[GaryE25 23]

I thought that $ 12 bucks apiece for my original breeders was kind of high since my usual price I limit myself to is $ 5 bucks but my numbers have swelled by 14 fish so my cost per individual has dropped into range now . View attachment 380810

You're lucky. Pairs of killies sell for about $30 to $40 on average in our club, and that's a bargain compared to any pet store. One of the big shops up the road (only an 8 hour round trip) brought in Nothobranchius guentheri and was getting $64.99 a pair for them. I did not buy them.

Fish prices have rocketed up since the pandemic. They never came back down, and with the current gas price politics, it's going to get worse for shipping.

It seems that all my fry are males and it’s something to see how fast they grow and how early they color up .........There’s an assortment of sizes and they don’t bother each other just like the adult gardneri in the five gallon don’t bother the fry . This is not what I’ve read other’s experiences with them are .View attachment 380810

Don't trust them. My adults didn't eat fry, but tiny males tended to kill tiny females, as well as some of their younger brothers. If I collected eggs from any Fundulopanchax, Epiplatys or Aphyosemion, I raise each week apart. I once read an article reporting that Epiplatys of 9 days old begin to predate their new siblings. I see the same with Aphyosemion, and have had way better ratios since I started using more containers and space. You need to breed killies, because they can be so hard to get again.

My pet store gardneri would go on 15 to 30 egg a day runs, sometimes for 2 weeks straight.

 

[Back in the fold19 5]

@GaryE That’s what I was expecting was the predation and I better watch this closer . I tend to get comfortable with things and think they’re going good and then - BOOM ! - they blow up in my face . The two most recent volunteers I found were fairly good size and the couple I found before that were much smaller . So much smaller that I was concerned that BBS might be too much for them . @Innesfan said earlier in this thread that my fry had probably been feasting on gardneri “ caviar “ and I believe that . If not then how could they grow in a bare aquarium with no plants ? Now that warmer weather is here I’m going to start picking the mops and incubating in Petri dishes . Hard to do when you can’t keep things tolerably warm . These are very bright and colorful fish for a pet shop strain and given my past failings with plant spawners other than my Aplocheilus lineatus I want to get a good self sustaining population because , as you say , killies can be hard to get again .

 

[Back in the fold19 5]

Well , well , well . . . Doing a water change today and hunting for volunteer fry and just for a change of pace I decided to go all Killie Keeper and pick eggs . Look what I found ! So I picked eggs and squirreled them away in a drawer where they’ll stay warm and I can check for new hatchlings every day . Two picture of the mop . One with eggs and one without . You can see where the scales on the fish frazzle the mop yarn after a time . My Aplocheilus lineatus are really notorious for that . So , you have to make new mops occasionally .

 

[Innesfan61]

My Aplocheilus lineatus are really notorious for that . So , you have to make new mops occasionally .

Did I miss something? Did you find wild form A. lineatus?

 

[OldFishKeeper]

I needed a few things from Exotic Pets , my locally owned Ma and Pa , and , as is my wont , I ventured into the fish room to have a look around and what should accost my eyes but several Fundulopanchax gardneri . I had gardneri in 2019 but failed miserably with them due mostly to lack of experience but also to thinking I knew what I was doing when I didn’t . I hope I’m a little wiser now and have success with these fish because I picked out the best pair I saw and brought them home . They are only an aquarium strain but I like them . Project gardneri begins again .View attachment 371746

I got tired of picking eggs, etc. on the group I had in a 10g, so I trade them away. I thought I got all of them but 5 or 6 baby "survivors" appeared when I was cleaning out the tank. Since they were able to avoid being eaten by their parents, I threw them into a 75g community tank with lots of cover.

Being "survivors" they are now close to maturity and I just might give them another chance in another 10g. I would give them lots of mops and cover but refuse to go through the picking process again ...

 

[GaryE25 23]

Egg picking is only needed if you want to control or maximize numbers, or with more difficult Aphyosemions. With Fundulopanchax gardneri, a fully set up tank with gravel and plants is all you need. If the adults are well fed, many fry will grow to maturity in with them. You need at least a ten gallon for that. They'll spawn into gravel as well as onto plants or mops, and I had them in self sustaining groups for years.

I let them go to make place for more exotic species, and I regret that. I had the Makurdi population for a long long time, and they were real beauties.

 

[Back in the fold19 5]

Did I miss something? Did you find wild form A. lineatus?

No , I have not as yet found my personal Holy Grail , the original wild type Aplocheilus lineatus Killifish . I suspect I never will . They don’t seem to exist in the American hobby but Europeans have them . The super pricey , $ 125 per pair , ones that Dan’s Fish had were from Czechoslovakia .
No , I was just pointing out how the fish rub the mops to a frazzle with their scaly bodies in the spawning frenzy and that my A. lineatus ( Golden Wonder variety ) do it even more so being larger fish and gang spawning as they do . I keep several pairs together .

 

[GaryE25 23]

Golden wonders versus natural lineatus are informative.Not long ago, wild type lineatus were common enough, as killies go. I've been watching for a good gardneri/nigerianus and what do I see? Albino, long finned and gold mutants, but I haven't seen gardneri with a location available around here. I'll eventually find them, but the warning flags are up. Platys? They're to me what lineatus are to @Back in the fold . I've looked for a few decades.

If you like a fish and can breed it, then you are the only person who can ensure you can have it. Fishfarms don't conserve. Corporate doesn't conserve. If a glofish or hybrid is more profitable than a natural fish, good bye nature. If a chain can eliminate species from their stores but sell cheaper hybrids in their quest to monopolize a lucrative market, they will. If hobbyists work together to maintain species, then we'll have access. If the AKA had 5000 members, lineatus would be available. But there are a couple of hundred - fewer potential killie breeders in a country of 300 million plus than there used to be killie species and locations in the hobby.

Hobbyists rarely conserve. There's a place for conservation and just fun with learning about nature in our society. But right now, that place is somewhat empty.

Either we rebuild our networks, and learn to work together without being passive consumers, or we add to the list of things we, and future generations of fishkeepers will never see. Our hobby is miniscule in the grand scheme of things, but if we like it, we may have to work to keep it, sooner rather than later.

I've shared these thoughts with my fish and haven;t heard a word of disagreement from any of them.

 

[OldFishKeeper]

Egg picking is only needed if you want to control or maximize numbers, or with more difficult Aphyosemions. With Fundulopanchax gardneri, a fully set up tank with gravel and plants is all you need. If the adults are well fed, many fry will grow to maturity in with them. You need at least a ten gallon for that. They'll spawn into gravel as well as onto plants or mops, and I had them in self sustaining groups for years.

I let them go to make place for more exotic species, and I regret that. I had the Makurdi population for a long long time, and they were real beauties.

Now that you mention it, mine are the Makurdi!