killiblog

Nothobranchius furzeri 2008

admin — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:10:34 +0000

Running a fishroom can be time consuming, and sometimes there just isn’t enough time. I had quite a lot of eggs of Nothobranchius furzeri from last autumn 2007 , and i’d been keeping them cool (fishroom floor, 20 degrees C) because I knew I wouldn’t have time to raise them until July 2008.

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Austrofundulus guajira

admin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:55:45 +0000

Austrofundulus species don’t come up too often, even at dedicated killifish auctions - so I was pleasantly surprised to purchase a pair at the 2007 BKA convention.

Like many South American annuals, they are generally brown fish, but with some very subtle irredescent colours too. The tail of the male flashes between yellow and blue - getting a photograph that captures the delicate beauty of a fish in motion is next to impossible.

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Nothobranchius sp. Messalo River MZHL 05-12

admin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:23:47 +0000

I initially bought a pair and a trio of Nothobranchius sp. Messalo River MZHL 05-12 from the BKA convention in October 2006 - they were were not small fish, but despite their size, had practically no colouration in the BKA show tanks (see picture, right) . Once set up at home, in a darkish tank with some floating plants, the males ’switched on’ their colours.

The fish did well, laying huge numbers of eggs, many of which were distributed in the UK. When my first bag was ready I had a lot of tank space, and so raised a LOT of fry.

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Fundulopanchax sjoestedti ‘Niger Delta’

admin — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:18:05 +0000

I wasn’t planning on buying any fish at the members auction of the BKA 2007 convention - I was saving myself for the show auction the next day - but then a fish I didn’t spot earlier on came up, and what a magnificent pair. Fundulopanchax sjoestedti ‘Niger Delta’, starting price £10 - right across the room flashes of blue and orange were telling me this was a special fish. I raised my hand.

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Nothobranchius furzeri

admin — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:20:18 +0000

Its hard to say what your favourite killifish species are… but in my top 5 would have to be Nothobranchius furzeri; i’ve been keeping the Gona-Re-Zhou furzeri on and off for some time now, a long with other Mozambique collections since they became available in 1999.

And what an interesting animal. Furzeri actually holds the record of shortest living vertebrate - you’re pretty lucky if the fish live past 6 months old. Its also one of the longest kept strains in the killifish hobby, having been imported into America once in 1969 - and still going strong almost 40 years later.

It is regarded as one of the more difficult species to maintain long-term, but this need not be the case, if a few simple steps are taken.

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BKA convention 2007

admin — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:04:11 +0000

It’s amazing how much you can forget in a year. Having just returned from the 2007 BKA convention (British Killifish Association), and having downloaded all my fish images from the camera, I thought i’d have a look at last years pictures. Some surprises for sure. Like I say, it’s amazing how much you can forget in a year.

Hence my new killifish blog. Hopefully i’ll keep a record of some of the more interesting developments in my fish room, and surprise myself at some point in the future.

So, what new fish were at the 2007 convention? Well I returned with a few interesting new fish, and a few old favourites. Practically all of my newly purchased fish were Nothobranchius - with three notable exceptions. I bought a nice pair of an unusual Colombian anual killi Austrofundulus guajira, some lampeyes Rhexipanchax lamberti, (I can not recall either of these species available at auction in the UK) and a giant pair of Fundulopanchax sjoestedti ’Niger delta’

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