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Re: KillieTalk Digest V2 #269 (N. foerschi)
In a message dated 7/8/98 3:32:09 PM, Brian R. Watters wrote:
>I would agree with Andrew in that I regard N. foerschi as the ideal
>beginners Notho. It is attractive, easy to maintain, is prolific, the
>eggs have a relatively short incubation time (about 2-4 months) and
>the fry are large enough to be able to consume newly-hatched brine
>shrimp or microworms immediately on hatching. The adults are also not
>very aggressive, which is an important factor for a beginner.
The only problem I have had with N. foerschi is that the males tend to
outnumber the females by at least 20:1 at maturity. I don't know yet if this
is survival of the fittest or if that is a skewed hatch ratio. I am now
running an experiment with several hundred fry where I remove any male as soon
as it shows color. I am now into about the 4th week of doing this and they
still keep coloring up. I have identified a few real females and removed them
for next generation breeding stock. I have not kept track of how many males
(and I can not go back and count them - many of them are no longer with us).
If I end up with 20 females, I still have about 20 males saved for them. In
retrospect, I should have kept records. Next time, maybe. They are prolific,
no doubt. Other Nothos have not been so skewed in my experience, but also not
as prolific.
Incidentally, all these foerschi eggs were collected by separating from
greensand and the hatch percentage was very high - I knew how many eggs were
collected. In these batches I had over 100 eggs collected each week from a
trio.
Lee Harper
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