Late this summer I got a pair of *Fp. gardneri* P-82, and began my first
efforts at spawning fish. The first fry from this pair hatched on the day
after Thanksgiving, and since then I have hatched about 20 fry. I have been
unable to raise any fry past 6 weeks, and most aren't making it past the
first three weeks. I would appreciate any comments on my current
techniques, as I feel I must be missing some major point(s).
I think nobody has addressed the original question. This is not suprising as
'gardneri' are dismissed as an 'easy' fish & not worth any trouble.
In my opinion they are the most fascinating group to work with.
Getting back to the question. P82 has a vague history as nobody knows who
put the 'P' code up in the first place. They were certainly brought to our
attention in 1982. The BKA have this code in our conservation efforts.
You may be interested to know that this code has presented certain genetic
cracks regarding a very red characteristic which we have isolated as a brood
stock line.
This is a fantastic fish & has not been distributed.
This fish is still P82 but has cracked into a different colour form.
Your comments regarding raising problems are interesting & my newly hatched
red strain (which are growing well at the moment) will be closely observed.
The BKA have worked with gardneri for many decades. We have Rayfield from
1978 for example.
We recently had new blood of Jos Plateau from the AKA & have 2 lines we are
using for cross blooding. Our original line stems back to the early '80's.
Conservation across associations does work & much work is not put online in
newsgroup messages.
Tim
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