Aphyobranchius

["Brian R. Watters" <bwatters at sk_sympatico.ca>]

John N. Alegre wrote:

>
> On 02-Sep-02 Brian R. Watters wrote:
> > As Barry Cooper has already mentioned, yes, N. janpapi is in
> the hobby and
> > various populations have been for many years. However, as with
> all members
> > of the Aphyobranchius subgenus, the fry are very small and difficult to
> > raise, especially in large numbers. Getting eggs is no problem
> as they are
> > very prolific.
> >
> I saw this comment from Barry.  Can you elaborate?  Is it more
> then knowing how
> to raise and feed infesora and rotifers in proper amounts?
>

The following is from the KillieTalk archives and refers to a contribution I
made on 28 July, 1998 with the subject heading "Aphyobranchius". This deals
primarily with N. (Aphyobranchius) species Ifakara TAN 95/4 but much of that
account is also relevant to N. (Aphyobranchius) janpapi:

Aphyobranchius is a subgenus of Nothobranchius that includes the
surface-dwelling forms of Nothos. The subgenus name is a combination of
Aphyosemion and Nothobranchius. Presently known species from Tanzania that
belong to this subgenus are:
N. janpapi
N. luekei
N. sp. Ifakara TAN 95/4

In their natural habitats these occupy the near surface levels and one can
often see them swimming along immediately below the surface.

They lay very small eggs and, as you would expect, the fry are also very
small. Much smaller than N. rachovii fry, by the way. I always start my N.
rachovii fry off immediately on newly-hatched brine shrimp of the San
Francisco Bay type (which is a bit smaller than the Utah type) but it may be
as long as two weeks after hatching before Aphyobranchius fry are large
enough to take the smallest brine shrimp. You will need a good Paramecium
culture and green water. By the way, don't waste your time trying to feed
powdered foods such as APR to Aphyobranchius fry; all you will do is foul
the water and kill off the fish. They need microscopic live food.

Fortunately, of the three species mentioned above, you have the easiest one
that also produces fry fractionally larger than the other two. N. janpapi is
next in line so far as difficulty goes and N. luekei is by far the most
difficult. Not only are the fry of N. luekei the smallest but they also tend
to be very fussy eaters and are very sensitive to poor water conditions.

In my opinion, the best way to handle your N. sp. Ifakara would be as
follows:

At least two weeks before you anticipate wetting the peat, set up a fairly
large tank, say a 10 or 15 gallon sized tank, with an overhead light, water
to a depth of only about 2-3 inches, a small sponge filter (the type that
can be tilted to a low angle) and some floating plants (water sprite, etc).
Use moderately soft water. Let this setup mature over at least two weeks to
allow the filter to become active, the plants to start growing and for some
micro-organisms to populate the tank. You could try dumping small amounts of
some green water every few days just to help populate the tank with small
"beasties". Throw in a few snails as well.

At the same time, get a few Paramecium cultures going and also try to
generate a supply of green water. To hatch the eggs, imerse the peat in some
of the water taken from the setup tank but do so in a separate hatching
tray, keeping the water shallow (about 2 inches). When you imerse the peat,
break it up between your fingers, making sure that it is thoroughly wetted,
then skim off any floating peat. If you get fry they will mostly migrate up
to just below the surface, but look carefully because they are awfully
small. Feed them with Paramecium and green water in their hatching container
for a day or so and the transfer them gently to the setup tank. Be careful
about overfeeding with Paramecium culture. When you transfer the fry to the
larger setup tank they will probably disappear among the plants and may be
difficult to spot. The advantage of a larger tank is that it constitutes a
more stable system that is less susceptable to pollution and there will be
many small organisms that the fry can eat. Once the fry can take brine
shrimp your problems should be pretty well over. The water depth can be
raised gradually as the young fish grow. Since the fry will mostly be close
to the water surface, the shallow water increase the opportunity for them to
come into contact with Paramecium and other micro-organisms which generally
occupy all levels of the water column.

Being surface-dwelling fish, the adults will often spawn in mid-water (and
the eggs will sink onto the substrate) rather than spawn while ploughing
into the substrate. When I spawn them in small tanks I simply place a layer
of fine peat on the base of the tank. In larger tanks, I place the peat in a
6-7 inch wide plastic container without a lid, and the fish will generally
spawn in or over that rather than on the bare base of the tank.

Added note:

One of the biggest problems with Aphyobranchius fry is that they are very
often rather fussy about their food and simply refuse to eat even though
there may be plenty of micro-organisms in the water. The fry seem to do well
for a few days and then simply starve to death and gradually the numbers
decrease until there are few, if any, left. I suspect, although I am not
sure, that this may be due to mild pollution of the water (as mentioned
above). They seem particularly susceptible to that. You will hear accounts
of successful raising of these fry using powdered foods and "Liquifry" type
of foods. Personally I don't think the fry eat these foods although they may
feed on the micro-organisms that these foods generate. However, the risk of
pollution is too great using these types of foods.
___________________________________________
Brian R. Watters
University of Regina
Regina, Sask. S4S 0A2, Canada
Ph: (306) 584-9161 (home); (306) 585-4663 (work)
Fax: (306) 585-5433
E-mail: bwatters at sk_sympatico.ca


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