RE: [Killietalk] Wow great point (slaps forehead!)

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

Ron Lee wrote:

>
> Sorry if I don't comprehend it all, but why would it be so?  Don't eggs
> begin some sort of embroyl development even while they're, for lack of a
> better word, embedded in submerged peat?
>
> Going by what you've said, would _intentionally_ leaving these submersed
> eggs (for months) be a way to delay/extend hatching time?  Won't the
> eggs develope fungus?
>

If peat is left in a tank for a long time, especially if it is confined to a
container within the tank, it will become strongly anaerobic. It is very
easy to demonstrate this - leave a container of peat in water undisturbed
for a couple of weeks and then stir it up and it will smell strongly and
rather badly. It is a well-known fact (e.g. Scheel) that Notho eggs spawned
into an anaerobic (oxygen deficient) substrate will tend to become locked
into Diapause I and remain there for a relatively long time, hence extending
the incubation period. By prolonging the time between harvesting the peat
from your tanks, there will be a tendency for incubation times to be longer,
while collecting the peat on a weekly basis, for example, will result in
relatively short incubation times because the peat will not have a chance to
become anaerobic between collections. The eggs will not develop fungus or
deteriorate in the peat, provided the peat does not become polluted. I
regularly leave the peat in my tanks for 3 months or longer.

Now, this doesn't work perfectly because there are all sorts of other
variables such as: the type of peat used (coarse and granular, fine and
easily compacted, etc), temperature, the species involved, how the peat is
handled after harvesting, etc.

Again, I will be presenting a lot of this material in my talk at the
convention this year and will relate it to conditions that we have found in
the natural habitats. I have also discussed this idea in some of the talks I
have given on maintenance and breeding of Nothos at conventions and
affiliate club meetings, and I would imagine that some of those talks are
available through the AKA tape sales program.

>
> Curiousity got the better of me, but are earlier editions of the JAKA
> being digitized or archived in electronic format?
>
> I was momentarily an AKAer in year 1999-2000, I think, and wondered how
> later, and newer members would be able to access this wealth of
> information and experience.
>
> Yes, I'm aware that even when available, if it's not already, that
> paying AKA'ers are privileged to it.
>

Back issues of JAKA are available to members from Publication Sales. As you
point out that is one of the privileges of membership. Are you a member of
the AKA ? So far as I am aware there are plans to digitize the JAKA's but,
these tasks take time and we all have lives outside of our fish-rooms. So,
be patient.
___________________________________________
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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