[Killietalk] Notho Fry Problem

[ROBERT ELLERMANN <ruevenm at sbcglobal_net>]

Hi Joakim,
 
    Glad to be of help. Symoensi is one of my personal favorite killies and it is too neglected in the hobby. It needs all the fry it can get. I hope you choose to maintain it for years. It is a bit specialized in that it does not do well in hard alkaline water nor does it like alot of heat. I breed mine in large groups with several peat bowls in a 30 gallon tank with just slightly soft acid water and alot of plant cover. Feed the fry very well as the adults are picky eaters and the fish needs a good start in life to become robust. Fry do eat well. Nothos do not like alot of water movement and filtration but they do like clean water. Treat Symoensi like a forest Aphyosemion and you should have great luck. Interest more people in this orange/purple/blue with white edged fins peaceful wonder. It makes rachovii look drab! Zambian Nothos are the best.
 
Bobby

coveney <LCOVENEY at swfla_rr.com> wrote:
Hi Bobby,
Thanks to your reply, ALL 80 Notho. symoensi are perfectly fine now! After
reading your reply, I thought about what you wrote regarding the amount of
air provided. When you wrote "Make sure the air flow is painfully slow" I
turned my air down. Within 24 hours all of the fry are now swimming
normally. They did not get any more air than I usually supply (there were
three columns of bubbles coming out of the airstone) to my Nothos., but
every situation and every species can be different... I have changed the
ariflow to a single slow trickle in the 10 gal. tank. This is great example
of what "Killietalk" is all about. Thanks again for your advice!!

Joakim Coveney
Naples, Florida
AKA #06591

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ROBERT ELLERMANN" 


> Hi,
>
> I've raised alot of symoensi -- truly one of the most gorgeous killies
there is! -- and I've never seen this. I'd say maybe its from eating too
much bbs as overeating can cause this. Maybe they are getting constipated so
a little epson salt might help. What is the chemistry of the water? Make
sure the air flow is painfully slow and I usually wait until the end of week
two to add a tiny slow trickle of air to Notho fry. Good luck as symoensi is
uncommon and we need all we can raise in the hobby. It does prefer neutral
to slightly acid slightly soft water with plants and low light -- almost
like Aphyosemions.
>
> Bobby
>
> coveney wrote:
> About a week ago I hatched out about 80 Notho. symoensi. Right away I
noticed a couple of fry that seemed to be positively buoyant. Out of 80 fry,
there are always going to be a few that for whatever reason did not develop
properly, did not inflate swimbladder properly, etc. so I did not think much
about it. Over the last few days, even though the fry are growing incredibly
fast, there seems to be more of the fry that are becoming positively
buoyant. Out of the 80 or so fry, there are at least 12-15 that seem to be
developing very well, it is just that they are constantly having to fight to
stay down. They are not floating at the surface, just constantly having to
swim in a head down position. The fry are being raised in a 10 gal. tank
with about 3" of water in it. Every other day, I siphon excess mulm out of
the tank and change about 1/4 of the water, so it is kept fairly clean. Air
is provided at a trickle with an airstone (not too much) to keep the water
circulati!
> ng. I doubt that the water is supersaturated with Oxygen forcing the fry
to absorb it into the swimbladder. They are being fed BBS and Microworms
twice daily. I would love to hear any of your suggestions as to deal with
the problem. Has this happened to anyone else? Are there too many fry in the
tank? Thanks for your help.
>
> Joakim Coveney
> Naples, Florida
> AKA #06590

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