Redtail Notho Killifish

[Patrick_G]

@Fish Folkwas kind enough to gift me these little jewels. They are Nothobranchius guntheri or Redtail Notho killifish. They're annual killifish that has a lifespan of about six months. They lay egss in peat moss that is dried and stored for about eight weeks. After the dry period the moss is put in a shallow dish of water and the fry hatch  over 72 hours.
 

@Fish Folk’s packaging is spectacular. He includes instructions on how to acclimate fish that are shipped in breather bag and a sheet of info on the fish. In my case he included a jar of boiled peat moss and even a little bonus bag of plants. The heat pack was warm and the fish were all alive and frisky. 


 

Edited November 11, 2022 by Patrick_G

[Anjum]

Exciting!!! Can't wait to watch it all unfold. 

[Patrick_G]

I decided to drip acclimate them which proved difficult since my room temperature is considerably lower than the tank temperature. I ended up adding a few cups of tank water after the drip process to try and match the temps. It wasn’t perfect but it was within 3 degrees so I dropped them in. 
The tank is a little nano all-in-one. I added a handful of Java moss and some miscellaneous plants from other tanks. It’s just a temporary solution and I’ll be picking up a stock five gallon and lid this weekend. 
 

[Patrick_G]

@Fish Folk, did you feed these fish with a pipette? They all crowd around when they see one coming towards the water, they seem to know exactly what’s about to happen. 

[Fish Folk]

On 11/12/2022 at 8:45 PM, Patrick_G said:

@Fish Folk, did you feed these fish with a pipette? They all crowd around when they see one coming towards the water, they seem to know exactly what’s about to happen. 

Yes. I use a WalMart liquid syringe with a 4-7 inch airline extension. I draw out BBS to serve, and . . . oh they sure know the drill!!!

[Patrick_G]

I finally got around to setting up a 5 gallon for the Redtails. 
It’s a basic rimmed tank with glass lid from petco. I’m disappointed in the quality of both. The tank has poor quality silicone and the lid doesn’t fit right. Next time I buy a cheap tank I’ll be more selective.

Substrate is a mix of aquasoil that I had on hand, filtration is a pre-seeded Aquarium Co-op small sponge filter. I added some dragon stone and a couple small pieces of spider wood. It’s lightly planted with a piece of Bolbitis and some Pearl weed. I’ll probably get around to adding more plants this week.  
@Fish Folk gave me a short jar and some peat moss for spawning medium. I forgot to boil  the peat before adding it to the tank, and made quite a mess. Luckily most of it stayed in the container and the rest was easy to net out. I’ll add the fish later today. Hopefully they’ll be spawning soon. 

[Patrick_G]

Ok, so the fish are in! They look great and I love having a tank on the kitchen counter. 😁 

 

[Patrick_G]

Looking good!

[Fish Folk]

I’m sending you all my fish 😂

They look SOOOO GOOD in your setup!!!

[Patrick_G]

They’re looking good and feasting on BBS several times a day but I haven’t seen any breeding behavior yet. Fingers crossed

I bought a Hygger light for $30 that I’m really happy with. It’s only 12” long but it’s nice and wide so it covers most parts of the tank. I know I should have it on a timer for the plants but I want to watch these fish! 😁

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I’m excited to see how this turns out particularly because I might get some down the road when we meet up at GSAS!! @Fish Folkrivals Dan’s Fish and The Wet Spot in terms of packing. Not surprised in the least! 

[Fish Folk]

On 11/27/2022 at 2:39 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I’m excited to see how this turns out particularly because I might get some down the road when we meet up at GSAS!! @Fish Folkrivals Dan’s Fish and The Wet Spot in terms of packing. Not surprised in the least! 

I learned everything from Greg Sage. If its good, it’s his ideas.

[Minanora]

AHHHH! This is fantastic! They look incredible! Great tank setup and I love that they're in the heart of the home. Just awesome.

[Schuyler]

On 11/21/2022 at 11:54 AM, Patrick_G said:

Looking good!

What are you feeding them here?

[Jungle Fan]

@Patrick_G Awesome fish, and very nice  tank, stunning combo!

P.S.: Kudos to @Fish Folk!

Edited December 2, 2022 by Jungle Fan

[Patrick_G]

On 12/1/2022 at 9:51 PM, Schuyler said:

What are you feeding them here?

Baby brine. They're a bit picky, so it's all bbs for now. I'm going to try some different dry foods until I find something else they'll eat. Do yours take dry food?

[Patrick_G]

I noticed that one of the males has really asserted dominance and the other two males are looking picked and skinny. After conferring with @Fish Folk I decided to move the two sub males into a different tank. He suggested tank dividers so now I’m thinking about trying to get a few more females locally so I could have two breeding trios in the 5 gallon. 
 

The dominant male looks great, but it’s hard to get my camera to focus on him. 

[Jungle Fan]

If I hadn't promised my wife that I'll stick to my jungle, and the one blackwater tank for our now 19 year old bristlenose pleco and his little clown pleco compadre I'd be really tempted to add another tank seeing all this but I'm happy to see the progress you'll be making with these awesome looking fish. @Patrick_G about your dry food question, have you tried the Aquarium Co-Op Easy Fry and Small Fish Food? My tetras go nuts over that stuff.

[Patrick_G]

On 12/2/2022 at 3:45 PM, Jungle Fan said:

about your dry food question, have you tried the Aquarium Co-Op Easy Fry and Small Fish Food? My tetras go nuts over that stuff.

I haven’t tried Easy Fry yet, but I’m in need of some Co-op goods so I’ll get some to try. I do have Hikari First Bites, but these fish aren’t huge fans. They also reject Xtream krill flakes, but they seem ok with Omega flakes crushed small. 
 

On 12/2/2022 at 3:45 PM, Jungle Fan said:

If I hadn't promised my wife that I'll stick to my jungle, and the one blackwater tank for our now 19 year old bristlenose pleco and his little clown pleco compadre I'd be really tempted to add another tank

If you can squeeze in a 3-5 gallon I’d recommend it. I’m having a blast with these fish. They’re active, colorful and have a relatively easy “recipe” to follow for breeding. 

[Jungle Fan]

I probably could but I had to let go of 15 other tanks at the time to get my Amazon jungle set up with the Kessils. I think my wife would have me enroll in Nerms Anonymous 12 Step Program if I started as much as a jar sized Wabi Kusa these days Multi tank syndrome is a serious addiction and my better half would stage an intervention.😄

[Schuyler]

On 12/2/2022 at 3:24 PM, Patrick_G said:

Baby brine. They're a bit picky, so it's all bbs for now. I'm going to try some different dry foods until I find something else they'll eat. Do yours take dry food?

As far as dried foods go they will occasionally go for Fluval Bug Bites or bits of Omega First Flakes but only while it is mid water. But they don't really go after then enough to make it worth buying just for them.

They also rejected freeze dried brine shrimp outright.

They will gladly take frozen foods like bloodworms, daphnia, and brine shrimp.

The female that actually eats seemed to even go for some rapashi community.

I think you liked my post on the Facebook group where I was trying to find food my other female would accept.

[Patrick_G]

I have seen much in the way of breeding behavior yet. I’m a bit worried they might be doing it in the aquasoil when I’m not watching, maybe bare bottom or gravel is the way to go? I’ve also found some blue slime starting to form. It’s my fault for leaving the light on for ridiculous amounts of time and intensity. I’m considering just resetting the tank with a bare bottom and a few anchored plants. 

[Schuyler]

On 12/11/2022 at 4:37 PM, Patrick_G said:

I have seen much in the way of breeding behavior yet. 

I normally only saw breeding behavior in the first hour or two that the lights are on. Or at least I've only seen the female accept breeding around that time.

Do you see them poking around the breeding spots?

[Patrick_G]

On 12/11/2022 at 5:30 PM, Schuyler said:

I normally only saw breeding behavior in the first hour or two that the lights are on. Or at least I've only seen the female accept breeding around that time.

Do you see them poking around the breeding spots?

I very rarely see them in the jar with the peat moss except when some food floats in there. If I don’t see morning activities happening in the next week or two I’ll probably try the bare bottom approach. That way I can get rid of the Cyanobacteria at the same time. 

[BeeD]

Yup. Killifish is my next thing, you guys have convinced me about twelve times over now.