[Killietalk] RE: Nothos and bottom mops

["Brian R. Watters" <bwatters at sasktel_net>]

Scott Olson wrote:

>
> I'll ask another dumb newbie question.  Has anyone ever
> successfully spawned
> nothos with bottom mops?  It SEEMS like it should work....?
>

The question that comes to my mind is - given that Nothos are annuals, and
the eggs have to go through a long period of incubation, why would you want
to do it that way ?

Nothos will spawn in bottom mops but transferring the eggs to peat moss for
incubation is just too much work. Also, they prefer something that simulates
the soft substrate of their pools in nature and peat moss comes closest.
Nothos will also eat their eggs given half a chance and they would be more
exposed in a mop and, therefore, more susceptible to scavenging. It is just
a very inefficient way of spawning Nothos.

Nothos will spawn just about anywhere, even on the bare glass base of a
tank. The N. rachovii Marromeu MZ 99 population that I recently introduced
into the hobby were derived from a few eggs spawned in the field by a pair
in a small bare photo tank. This was an inadvertent spawning but the
ichthyologist who collected the fish retained the eggs and mailed them to me
in peat. Six months later I hatched out a trio.
___________________________________________
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 sasktel_net



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