Re: New person (take two)

["Jeff Shoffner" <shoffner at esper_com>]

[Wright Huntley said:]

>Well, you did ask, Jeff, so.... ;-)
>
>[Please take my comments as somewhat tongue in cheek, OK?]



Wright, I think we're on the same brainwave link, so no problem.  If
anything, I was having a little trouble reading while laughing at the
constant "tetra" comments....  But you do bring up some points I want to
discuss, so....



>> 1:  Judging from what I've read, I'm not exactly sure, but it sounds like
>> these guys are NOT communal [snip]

>All of the above and then some. There are, for crying out loud, over 700
>species of them and hundreds of more isolated populations we treat as
>different species until we are sure. They are as varied as most other fish
>families.  [snip]

Oy!  Seven hundred?  Okay then, what would folk recommend killie-wise, if I
wanted to place them in a tank with other fish?  Better yet, let's start
with a simpler question:  What really turned me onto these guys is the
article in AFM June 2002--most notably, the picture on the cover of
Terranatos dolichoptorus.  Yeah, they may not be brilliantly colored, but
look at those FINS!  They're like sailing ships--beautiful!!   These are the
fish I am interested in (sometime in the future; either near or far), so
would these guys be okay with tankmates?  Gary Bartell has a writeup on his,
but doesn't mention their disposition towards other fish.



>20L (5G) is an ideal size for a few of one of the smaller killifish
species.
>My 3 largest tanks are 20L, used for pairs and trios when not growing out
>babies.



I've noticed a few folks refering to trios; what's a trio?  A male & two
females?



>Scheel's Atlas is good, as is the Radda and Purzl _Colour Atlas ..._ for
>West Africans. The Baensch Atlas series 1-3 is easier to find and pretty
>good. All have terribly outdated nomenclature, unfortunately. Find lots of
>books at great prices at http://www.seahorses.com


Thanks for the heads up; I'll see if my aquarium store has them (have to
support local businesses!).  I'm somewhat surprised the AKA hasn't sponsored
a "killifish atlas" for purchase--I'm sure there are tons of photos out
there, plus the organization would be better positioned to provide accurate
information regarding nomenclature & habits.



>>[snip]folks can't remember the song
>> names ("Hey, there man, this Sonata in Fugue in D flat minor really
rocks??"
>> "Which one, Bach's or Beethoven's?")
>
>????????????? Was that "Tocata and fugue..." maybe?


As I said before, it was a fake name for a joke.  A joke!  I don't even
think there is such a thing as D flat minor.




>
>That's OK. I have trouble spelling "Hyphessobrycon." [Spell it? How the
hell
>do you pronounce it?]


See, now that's another thing; AKA should provide a phoenetically spelling
of these guys just so folks will know how to pronounce the names!  I've had
three years of Latin & I'm sitting here going, "dol-lee-CHOP-tor-us"??  And
I think it may be "Hi-fes-so-BRY-son" but count on it.






>What is even worse, we usually call them by their locations or collection
>codes, among ourselves, as those don't change when the taxonomists do
>wholesale renamings. This *really* intimidates newbies. :-) If they start
to
>catch on, we switch to the Scheel TLAs (Three Letter Abreviations). :-)


Okay, now you guys are just being cruel.  :-)





>> 5:  Sounds like these guys breed like rabbits.  If I get a pair, & they
>> breed, what in the world am I going to do with all these eggs???!?!
>
>Try like hell to get one female and one male to survive long enough to
>reproduce, because the store will never ever have them, again. Once there,
>and you can repeat it, swap for new species until you live in a glass-lined
>house.
>
>They will get in a new shipment of Tetras next week.


You know, those Tetras are starting to sound good.... :-)




>Inadvertent hybrids can introduce severe fertility problems, so we have
>learned the hard way to keep that from happening. Some identical killifish
>from different locations turned out to not even have the same number of
>chromosomes, but folks had actually thought them the same species.
>
>That has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that some folks like to
>select ugly mutants and try to breed them true. Albinos happen with many of
>them in nature. Just because I don't happen to *like* them doesn't mean
some
>one else can't prefer them.



???? Different number of chromosome pairs??  Maybe I should've paid more
attention in biology.  Wouldn't that technically mean that they aren't
related, period?  I mean, I ::think:: all the cats in the cat family have
the same number of chromosome pairs, don't they?  Something tells me I
already know the answer; "No, just because they had different matching pairs
of chromes, they're still all part of the killie family."



>I have had as many as 146 (maybe more) containers with killifish in them at
>times. Right now I have a tiny setup in a bedroom with 4 aquaria, 2
vertical
>drum bowls, a "Critter Keeper" and four covered plastic food containers
with
>baby fish in them. Oh yes, with regard to the question below, I have
several
>containers growing or hatching live foods, too.


[look of bemusement]  Okay, now that's a little scary.  That does bring up
something else though.  From reading on the website & here, I just get this
picture in my head that all killie breeders have this dedicated room that is
FILLED with bunches of small tanks, all turned sideways to allow more to
fit, and the breeder going in a few times a day into this dimly lit room to
feed & remove eggs.  Now, you guys DO actually have some of these fish out
where you can view them for pleasure right?  :-)





>> [snip] I'm starting to think these guys are more for
>> aquarists(sp?) who have the time to attend to them.
>
>I hope you don't think I'm being disagreeable if I agree with you 100%. :-)
[snip]
>
>Wright


Well, I am taking you somewhat seriously here.  Hmmmmm.....  I really do
like those T. dolichoptorus (wow.  I didn't even have to look it up this
time!) though....  (thinking to self)  Hmmmm, Gary has those guys on the
board right now, but doesn't say how often they lay eggs.... I am guessing
that they'll probably laying eggs again, say around six months from now(a
WAG), so that'd probably give me enough time to think about it.....



Thanks for the input, Wright, you've given me some points to ponder.  Oh,
and no, I think I'll pass on the Tetras...

Jeff S



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