Picking eggs

[Back in the fold]

I finally got around to picking eggs today . I made new spawning mops last week and that spurred my Aplocheilus lineatus Golden Wonder Killifish to spawn . The old mops had been in the aquarium for a long time and they were frayed and fuzzy from the fish rubbing them with their scales as they went in and out . These fish seem to prefer spawning in the top part of the mop so the old mops were a hindrance . New mops and more eggs . Some of these eggs look pretty developed and I’ll have fry soon . If you haven’t tried a Killifish you ought to think about it . They’re the most “ hands on “ fish you can work with .

 

[GaryE]

The only fish I've kept that were as hands on as killies have been blue eyes from down under - you can pick eggs there too. It's such a perfectly relaxing, unstressful thing to do. When there are eggs, it's gratifying. When there aren't, you can amuse yourself figuring out why.

Once you decide (or if you decide) that just looking at fish isn't enough, killies are great.

 

[Back in the fold]

The only fish I've kept that were as hands on as killies have been blue eyes from down under - you can pick eggs there too. It's such a perfectly relaxing, unstressful thing to do. When there are eggs, it's gratifying. When there aren't, you can amuse yourself figuring out why.

Once you decide (or if you decide) that just looking at fish isn't enough, killies are great.

It is relaxing . It’s fun to pick through the mop examining each strand . It’s like an Easter egg hunt . The first time I did it I was surprised at how tough the eggs are . They feel like a plastic bead . I don’t know if you can see it in my picture but there’s a single hairlike thread that attached the egg to the mop yarn .

 

[Back in the fold]

I thought some of those eggs looked like they were pretty well developed and this morning I found two fry in the Petri dish so I scooped them out and put them in a jar . I’ll keep them in here for about a week so I can concentrate their food and then they go in a two and a half . Glad I set up my BBS hatcher yesterday .

 

[GaryE]

Everyone in the hobby thinks killiekeepers are men of a certain age with small dark tanks, magnifying glasses, live food cultures and weird fishkeeping habits. I don't know about you and that stereotype, but I use medium sized tanks.

 

[Back in the fold]

Everyone in the hobby thinks killiekeepers are men of a certain age with small dark tanks, magnifying glasses, live food cultures and weird fishkeeping habits. I don't know about you and that stereotype, but I use medium sized tanks.

I use small ones .

 

[Back in the fold]

I have a total of seven new fry since picking eggs Monday . A. lineatus eggs hatch in 12 - 20 days so these eggs had been in the mop for a while . There’s only a trio of one male and two females , the fish are fed well and there’s three big mops in the 20 high breeding aquarium so I have little egg eating going on in there . My breeders are about three years old so I’m replenishing my stock none too soon . I find it interesting to watch the fry grow . The two earliest ones are eating BBS ravenously after three days while the later ones only eat a couple nauplii . Growth is rapid at this point . I keep them in separate jars as I find them to keep the older ones from eating their little brothers . Yes , only a day or two difference in hatch date makes that much difference . For those that don’t know Killifish lay eggs daily and not all at once . A few eggs a day .

 

[Colin_T]

For those that don’t know Killifish lay eggs daily and not all at once . A few eggs a day .

They are serial spawners, rainbowfish are too.

 

[Back in the fold]

They are serial spawners, rainbowfish are too.

I wondered about that , if there was a name for the behavior . Do you pick Rainbow fish eggs or what ?

 

[gwand]

Fish Can Pick Their Own Birthday, And We Finally Know How

The embryos of many fish species have some control over when they hatch, effectively choosing their own birthdays.

www.sciencealert.com

 

[Back in the fold]

Fish Can Pick Their Own Birthday, And We Finally Know How

The embryos of many fish species have some control over when they hatch, effectively choosing their own birthdays.

www.sciencealert.com

Very interesting . . .

 

[Colin_T]

I wondered about that , if there was a name for the behavior . Do you pick Rainbow fish eggs or what ?

I tried picking rainbowfish eggs and had lots of problems so just picked the Java Moss strands with eggs on and moved the strands of plant to a hatching container.

If there were only a few eggs in a spawning mop I just cut the strands off and moved the individual strands. If there were lots of eggs in a mop I moved the mop.

 

[Back in the fold]

If there were lots of eggs in a mop I moved the mop.

I did that several times . I moved the entire mop to a 2 1/2 gallon and got a whole bunch of fry .

 

[GaryE]

I found rainbow eggs fungused on touch. Plus there were hundreds of them, compared to the slow steady production of Aphyosemion eggs. I could handle blue eye eggs, but rainbow eggs? I just move the mop.

The big issue for me with killies is gender. There seems to be a complex interplay between a set of triggers - water hardness, temperature, etc in trying to get both sexes from the fry. It is environmentally determined. The hobby, as usual, wants one factor to determine, but it doesn't work that way.

In my new(ish) fishroom, I have lost a few species to an inability to get both sexes. In each house, it's been different. going back 35 years.

I'm working on it, to sort out what this is. With some species (A. zygaima) I was able to manipulate ratios to get females (I started with 37 males to every female, consistently) by manipulating water hardness. With other species, the trick seemed temperature related. There are so many possible variables.

In this room with softer tap, I get 2 zygaima females for every male, which is good. It happens across all seasons, so temperature doesn't seem to do it.

I'm in danger of losing my Aphyosemion escherichi that I caught in Gabon because I am getting all females (no young males). I have about 40 juveniles, with no signs of any boys. I just have to keep picking eggs and trying things. I recently lost my striatum and ogoense to all female ratios.

 

[Colin_T]

I used to get 80-90% male Epiplaty and Aphyosemion killifish, rainbowfish and Apistogramma dwarf cichlids breeding them in soft water (GH below 50ppm) and with a pH around 7.6-8.0. At a pH below 7.0, I got more females than males.