RE: [Killietalk] N. symoensi

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

John N. Alegre wrote:

>
> On Tuesday 07 September 2004 20:00, RuevenM at aol_com wrote:
> >  I keep them in
> > slightly soft acid water all the time with lots of plants.
> >
> Ah ...
>
> A clue.  This may be the reason for my problems with this
> species.  I usually
> keep Nothos in pretty hard water 300 ppm with 3/5 t NaCl per
> gallon.  Do you use salt with the softer water?
>

I collected the strain that is presently in the hobby (ZAM 92-3), in 1992,
from a heavily vegetated swamp that was part of a small stream system. The
water had a Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) content of only 10 ppm, a pH of 7.7
and a temperature of 81 F (27 C).

N. symoensi is not the easiest of Nothos by any means but you will have
better success by keeping them in soft water. I maintain them in water with
a TDS of about 80, with half a teaspoonful of salt per gallon (about half
what I use for most other Nothos).

They are picky eaters and tend to be shy so keep them in a tank that is not
subjected to strong light and a lot of outside movement. I find that they
are often reluctant to enter a peat container within the tank and I often
have to resort to spreading the peat across the entire tank base. They do
quite well in groups as the males are not very aggressive toward each other.
It is usually best to raise the males and females separately from the time
you can sex them. However, don't leave it too long before putting them
together for spawning because this is one Notho that is most prolific when
young. Egg production is never very high but as the adults age the egg
production can drop off dramatically.

N. sp. Mansa, which is a related species (or perhaps a different form of the
same species) from the same area in Zambia is even more difficult to keep
going in captivity. Conditions in the wild are much the same as for N.
symoensi.
___________________________________________
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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