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Killifish and Livebearers.
Killifishes, which are in the family Cyprinodontidae
("tooth-carps"), and the familiar
livebearers, in the Poeciliidae, are both members of
the order Atheriniformes, a group that also
includes marine flying fishes and silversides.
The order is circumtropical in distribution,
in all the world's warm seas, and in freshwaters
of Africa, India, Australia/New Guinea and
in the Americas.
The Killifishes are tangled in a massive
web of confused genera. Killi fanatics behave
like Malawi cichlidiots and often skip the
genus, just referring to their fish by its
specific name: thus my killis are "Gardneri."
When true killi fanatics are alone with one
another, they sometimes strip this specific
name down to a three-letter designation;
thus my killis would be "GAR."
Livebearers. As a child I kept guppies, mollies, swordtails
and platies, but I don't have any very personal
addition to the many accounts of these fishes
you can find all over the web. Here are a
few links to especially well-written articles
about livebearers, offered almost at random:
Viviparous: the Livebearer Information Service offers you some advanced Brit livebearer
fishkeeping, with information on some unusual
species and live food culturing, in a slightly
rough-edged format. Recommended.
Killifishes. The life cycles of killifishes divide them
into two broad categories: the truly "annual"
South American fishes whose environments
dry out, with eggs incubating in the damp
mud to carry on the species, and the longer-lived,
easier to care for African and Indian species.
The killifishes are surely the most undervalued
group of small freshwater fishes, except
among the killi fanatics, who know! In spite
of the glorious colors of the males, they
can be shy or pugnacious with their own kind
and don't often thrive in the average community
aquarium. This means it's difficult for your
LFS to carry them. But killifish eggs, packed
in damp peat moss, travel through the mails
almost as easily as daffodil bulbs. Most
killifish are only available through members
of the killifish associations or local branches.
Links.
The International Killifish Association maintains a comprehensive site with all
the basic information. Articles from killi
club newsletters are archived and links will
guide you to all the web's killi-connections.
The British Killifish Association (BKA) maintains a site with articles, photos and
species information, with breeding reports
and a "members-only" section.
The American Killifish Association site is another place to look for info and
links. The site is oriented towards members
of the AKA, with a "members-only"
section.
The Killi-Data On-line site offers the most extensive ichthyological
and historical information about all the
egg-laying cyprinodonts. You need to register.
The guest site has news, killi biotope information,
services, etc. slanted toward aquarists.
The Killie Nutz site offers a trove of news, lore, photos, and
encyclopedic killi articles.
And you'd better scope Bill Shenefelt's site
"Shene's Killies" for detailed descriptions of killi spawning
techniques.
Fundulopanchax (Aphyosemion) gardneri gardneri (even "Paraphyosemion gardneri"). My original pair were my first killifish.
The fish was named by the famous French ichthyologist
G.A. Boulenger in 1911 for its original collector,
Capt. R.D. Gardner in the British Army, who
found specimens in the Cross River, southeastern
Nigeria. Modern populations of F. gardneri are restricted to Nigeria, with a single
population of another sub-species just over
the border in Cameroon. There are several
strains of "Gardneri" in captivity,
showing considerable variations in color,
with "yellow" forms and "blue"
forms like mine, the "N'sukka"
population. Detailed information on the original
collection and modern range are in Tim Addis'
brilliant website Killifish of Western Africa.
Most American captive strains came in during
the 1950s to 1970s. Deteriorating social
conditions in their homeland have limited
imports into the U.S.A. in the last quarter
century. Deforestation and degradation
of their habitat may have helped render some
of the glorious sub-species extinct.
I'm keeping mine at room temperature, ranging
up to about 74°F in the cooler months,
for longer lives. Summer temperatures in
the tanks can get over 80oF around here, though, and I lost some half-grown
"Gardneri" juveniles in jars I
left on a sunny windowsill. How avoidable,
eh. These are somewhat light-shy fishes,
but very lively with each other in the shade
of floating natural corkbark that trails
a loose net of Java Moss. The male will reach
2¼ inches, the robust and guppylike
female remaining a little smaller. I'm told
that males would be quarrelsome, if I had
more than one. Some populations of "Gardneri"
are plant-spawners, some prefer to spawn
in a peaty substrate, and some are willing
to switch. Fishkeepers with harder water
than mine set the eggs into a layer of damp
peat to avoid fungus and incubate them in
the dark two or three weeks at room temperature.
I'm finding that the clear golden and glossy
tough fertile eggs of this particular species
don't need the damp incubation period, that
all I need to do is transfer the egg-laden
Java Moss to a separate water jar with a
layer of peat at the bottom, where pH holds
about 6.2 to 6.4. This results in plenty
of young after a week or so. In other words,
the eggs don't even strictly require darkness,
as long as they're kept away from direct
sunlight. My spawning pair are so tolerant
that young even turn up among the strands
of Java Moss in the spawning jar. My first
spawning, raised in very soft water with
some peat water added and pH values around
6.2-6.6, at temperatures in the low 70s,
all developed as females. Another batch,
raised at varying pH levels, turned out all
female too.
I had an idle sponge filter stashed in my
gardneri tank, because I try never to keep sponge
filters in dry storage. I came to remove
it, and set it in a h.o.t. type plastic filterbox
with just enough water to cover it. But when
I'd made a thorough search, even removing
the dense plantings in my killi tank, my
precious pair were gone. Jumped!
...But no, two weeks later I noticed movement
in the sponge filter. The two fish had taken
refuge inside it and got transferred with
it to the filter. They are healthy and happy
today, spawning away once more.
When Innes first described these fish for
Exotic Aquarium Fishes, he found them "rare, delicate and
difficult to breed." Since Innes' day,
killi experts have improved our chances.
Links.
Mark Burningham's article describing raising
Fp. gardneri fry from eggs sent to him through the mail
is at www.marksfish.f9.co.uk/
Jim Atchison of High Prairie Farms has more
detailed descriptions of care and breeding
Fp. gardneri, how to deal with maturing the eggs, combatting
fungus, etc., at www.atchison.com/Nsukka.htm
Allan Semeit's brief but knowledgable article
on Fp. gardneri morphs "Akure" and "N'sukka"
is archived at the Arizona Rivulin Keepers website.
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