Fundulopanchax Gardneri "Akure"

[Oxquo]

I finally hatched out more killies, so here is a spawning report for the few people interested.

Fundulopanchax Gardneri "Akure"

Location: West Africa

Size: Max2.5"

pH: 6.5-7.5

Temp 72-78F

I started off with a trio MFF and conditioned them well on grindals and daphnia along with a little frozen bloodworms. Crumble was untouched or barely eaten and always fell to the bottom along with flake. After 2 weeks of trying to condition them on commercial food with 0 egg production I was forced to go back to live foods. After one week of live only 3-4 times daily the females were very heavy. These are not an old pair so I felt the 20 eggs were quite a deal. Adult Gardneri often produce over 30 eggs though. I entered the male into the females side of the tank which was a 10 gallon and dropped in both a bottom and top mop. Once I removed the bottom mop egg production increased as the females would hide too deep in the bottom mop. A majority of the eggs were in the "crotch" of the mop and even a couple attached to the fine roots of duckweed floating on the surface. As the trio finished spawning I separated them once again although they show very little aggression towards each other, mostly just a puffy warning. This is a gorgeous killi and I would say maybe nicer than Joes plateau. Females though are once again quite plain. On a side note: the suggestions for better breeding would be once again to go into a 1 gallon jar with all three fish and spawn them in there, afterwards removing the parents and adding blue to the jar. No need for filtration with daily or every other day water changes of up to 50%, I prefer 25%.

Apon collecting the eggs I used film containers as usual and kept them a little above room temp. The back of a lit aquarium works good as the light fixture heats them slightly. I used the usual mix of 1 cup of water to 1 drop of meth blue, acriflavin could be used here. Fill the container half way and close. Open the container every couple of days to air the batch. The eggs hatched exactly in 14 days but this could vary, temps too cool may even stop the eggs from hatching and too warm could do the same. Also You could allow alot of plants in Your tank and just remove the parents after 4 or 5 days and let the fry hatch on their own. After hatching I transfered the fry to a small container of about 2 cups that had java moss soaking in it for a few days, this gives the fry something to eat as soon as the egg sac wears off. Green water could also be added. I will add more as the fry progress but over all, another 100% hatch out.

This is a very easy killi to keep and breed with amazing colors to boot. The activeness of this killi is pretty good so I would refrain from keeping this gem in a tank smaller than 5 gallons but that is just My choice as all My killies live in 10's.