First time Notho Killifish breeding

[Sliceofnature]

My LFS got these Nothobranchius Guentheri (AKA Red Tail Notho) in and i fell in love. I am determined to breed them but i have zero experience with killifish let alone annual killis so any of you that have experience your advice is welcomed. If you're unfamiliar with these fish i highly recommend that you look into them they are beautiful and fascinating. They originate from Africa in areas that are flooded seasonally and have adapted to survive in the temporary pools by laying eggs that are able to survive the dry season in the mud after the pools have dried up and hatch months later when the rains return. To breed them successfully in captivity we have to mimic this drying period.

I currently have 2 females and 1 male set up in a little 3.5 gallon. This tank was previously completely overrun with Scuds but they have wiped them out in just a few days. I have been feeding a mixture of dry and frozen foods twice a day as well and theyre growing like weeds. 

I have my peat moss and some coconut coir.

 

So far the plan is to introduce a mixture of the two in a small container. Hopefully this will induce spawning and i will be anle to remove and replace the moss periodically and store the eggs until they are ready. We’ll see if it turns out to be that easy. 

[Fish Folk]

Stand up applause! You’re my new forum hero. Don’t give up until you’ve cracked the code. Looks like you’ve got the elements in place.

Here’s another thread I posted on doing Emerald Killifish (Fundulopanchax Scheeli).

They’re really much easier than soil spawned. I started with a trio back before new year, and now have a colony of nearly a hundred growing up in a 33 gal. long...

I was greatly helped by input from a small club of enthusiastic Killifish keepers called MAKO (Mid Atlantic Killifish Organization).

[Sliceofnature]

On 6/15/2021 at 6:40 AM, Fish Folk said:

Stand up applause! You’re my new forum hero. Don’t give up until you’ve cracked the code. Looks like you’ve got the elements in place.

Here’s another thread I posted on doing Emerald Killifish (Fundulopanchax Scheeli).

They’re really much easier than soil spawned. I started with a trio back before new year, and now have a colony of nearly a hundred growing up in a 33 gal. long...

I was greatly helped by input from a small club of enthusiastic Killifish keepers called MAKO (Mid Atlantic Killifish Organization).

Thanks @Fish Folk, that means a lot. I’ve been following your killifish breeding thread actually and ive enjoyed it very much im glad its going so well. Those Emerald killis are beautiful, hopefully i will get the chance to breed them as well someday. Its great that you have a club near you as a resource. Im in Los angeles and unfortunately as far as i know there are really no freshwater clubs that i can find anywhere near me. I did just find this site tho and it has a ton of info. Wildnothos.com

[Sliceofnature]

I boiled soaked and then rinsed my moss/coconut mixture today and got it into the tank. The coconut coir turned out to be very difficult to work with. The brick that i bought was the smallest available size that i could find but i can see now that i shouldve just bought a larger bag of loose coconut coir. The brick very hard to cut or break up is meant to be soaked and broken up at one time which would be waaaaay more than i need and then i would have to either dry it out again or toss it. Long story short for these purposes youre much better off buying the loose stuff to start with. 

 

[Sliceofnature]

My two females are not getting along as well as i’d hoped. They lunge at each other pretty aggressively if they get within a couple of inches of one another and seem to have sortve each claimed a side of the tank most of the time. During feeding time theyre especially intolerant of  one another. Their spats are very short lived consisting of basically one quick lunge and dont seem to cause any physical harm that i can see but i think it may be best to remove one of them and rotate them out.

[BriannesFishFam]

Very cool setup!

[Sliceofnature]

Starting to get the first signs that things are going well(i hope). The male has finally taken interest in the females. He sortve swims over them to push down on them from above. So far i havent seen either female show any interest but i think its best to leave them both in after all so that he doesnt exhaust either of them.

 

 

 

 

 

[Colu]

On 6/26/2021 at 11:08 PM, Sliceofnature said:

Starting to get the first signs that things are going well(i hope). The male has finally taken interest in the females. He sortve swims over them to push down on them from above. So far i havent seen either female show any interest but i think its best to leave them both in after all so that he doesnt exhaust either of them.

 

 

 

 

 

Good luck with your breeding project those are beautiful fish 

[Crabby]

I’m looking into breeding this variety of notho killi, they’re really wonderful aren’t they? Looks like you’re getting pretty close to success with spawning. Very interested to see how you go. What kind of parameters do you have going on?