It is common to see fry… breeding fish… even loads of eggs in aquariums. But to see the moments when eggs are just beginning to unfold into wigglers — that‘s magical! Here are some Erythrogaster oreas (Mountain Redbelly Dace) just beginning to hatch:

Submitted by: Dave McGrew Started: 08-26-2022 Completed: 10-11-2022 Species: Nothobranchius guentheri (Redtail Notho) I owe my introduction to Killifish entirely to PVAS Club member Bob Bock, who in my book will always be indexed under "Master Aquarist." He got me into breeding Fundulopanchax scheeli, and introduced helpful info on other species via YouTube videos like this one. Bob invited me to connect with MAKO (Mid Atlantic Killifish Organization) for some zoom meetings through the pandemic. This introduced me to other Killi enthusiasts. I began talking with them, and learned a good deal about African annuals from Clay Crawford, out of NJ. I connected with Clay in Lancaster, PA and traded him some F. scheeli for some N. guentheri. First, let me share some preparations... I set up a 10 gallon aquarium. I decided to make it a planted tank. I realize this is out of norm for most breeders -- plants can be a bother, distraction, etc. But I like fauna. And I do not think it negatively impacted the breeding process anyway. In this photo, you can see the plastic spawning dish set up without peat moss / coconut fiber. The stone holds the dish down. The process of getting everything ready included: buying plastic breeding dishes, exacto-knife, cutting hole opening, peat moss, hot pot, boiling peat moss (or coconut fiber), etc... What annual killis like Nothobranchius guentheri need is a "soil" location to spawn in daily. So, eventually I got a nice trio via Clay. The male really colored up nicely after a few weeks... I started feeding a diet that included live baby brine shrimp, frozen foods -- brine shrimp, and blood worms -- and let them mature. Eventually it became obvious that they were spawning every single day. Now, this was back in the late winter of 2022. I'll skip ahead over a few bumps in the road . . . which include . . . rupturing my achilles tendon, cracking this tank with the fall of a crutch I was using during recovery, subsequent loss of one female from the transition to another tank . . . a failed attempt to hatch out eggs from this batch (which was spawned in coconut fiber) . . . a new reset using peat moss . . . Which brings me preparation for the past few weeks. One thing that is important is to pull the peat moss / spawning soil, dry it out, and check for eggs. Then part way through the "dry season" it is important to check eggs again to ensure that some are "eyeing up" -- which refers to the actual eyes of fry visible in the eggs. Here are a few photos and videos of all that process: I remove the spawning container, empty the water, pour the soil out into a fine mesh net, them dump out and spread out on several layers on paper towel to dry over night. I store them at room temperature in freezer bags up on a top shelf of my fishroom. Zoomed in, you can see the eyed-up eggs from the peat moss. Hard to see, but this is what a search for eggs in the peat looks like... For N. guentheri, the dry season is only a two-month wait. For others (e.g. N. rachovii) the what can be as long as 6-months or more. It is important to maintain a good colony of vinegar eels. I use a narrow-neck bottle, fill up most of the way with vinegar eel culture + vinegar with the mother, put filter floss down the "throat," and then use clean tank water to fill up the top. The water stays up, and eels swim through the vinegar up into the water making harvesting (1) easy, and (2) less likely to crash your tank with acid. Now comes hatch day. This was 08-20-2022 for me. I use a 2.5 gal. aquarium. I have a mini filter bag set in the tank with some ammo chips in. My goal is to stabilize the water. I also use a mini sponge filter with the uplift _above_ the water surface to keep from over disturbing the water. I do also use a Ziss airstone on a rigid airline with a very minimal, fine bubble flow. I add ca. 3-4 inches of tank water from my discus tank. Then I dump in some peat + eggs. For this batch, I only hatched out 1/2 of the eggs. After about 24 hrs, the fun begins! Now, by Monday, I tried something new. I'd been feeding vinegar eels so far. But I wanted to see if I could use green water as a transition for them until the fry were large enough to eat baby brine shrimp. Since it is summer, and I have some water gardens going, I went for it. Very successful -- but not without some cautions. (my two-year-old making noises in the background . . . standard fare for the fishroom) I've also begun adding a skiff of java fern with each feeding. My thinking is just that there is a balance for producing and maintaining infusoria, and the addition of these greens may be beneficial here. By August 26, 2022 the Killis fry definitely transitioned over to live baby brine shrimp. Their belies are orange from feasting on BBS. As of 08-30-2022, the green water is still too cloudy to accurately account for all the N. guentheri fry. Fresh, cycled water was added to help dilute some of the build up effects from heavy feeding. Waterline was brought above the uplift of the sponge filter, to move water around a bit more. On 08-31-2022, the 2nd half of the bag of peat-moss + eggs was added to a flow-through floating tray in a cycled 20 gal long. This will be a back-up / alternate hatching setup. It is basically composed of a Tupperware container with a styrofoam collar, slats cut through the sides with coarse canister filter foam cut to fit through to allow water flow through while protecting from fry exit. By 09-05-2022, Labor Day in US, the first 1/2 of the bag has matured sufficiently to raise water and add more Java moss. Water changes are being performed more now - ca. 30% each week or so. I use cycled water from a recently water-changed tank — not straight tap water. Same date, the 2nd 1/2 of N. guentheri fry have hatched, seem to be really thriving in the floating flow-through set up. I’ve added a very light air stone to break up bio film on surface and keep O2 levels balanced. Most fry are now happily on to eating BBS. Some Java moss added as well to keep the biome balanced. My “helper” is at hand… -- Long Intermission here, during which: (1) the first batch in the 2.5 gal aquarium all suddenly died, likely from water quality crash after being overfed -- a sober reminder that small aquariums are very difficult to balance water quality with. (2) the second batch, hatched out in the floating flow-through fry tray thrived, and as journaled below, were released into the full 20 gal. long aquarium -- a reminder that Dean's fry system is really a fantastic way to hatch out and raise up fry. Here is a look at the N. guentheri fry in the tray, taken on 09-26-2022 And it's release day! Here they go, out into greener pastures... Here's a video, showing the fry enjoying their larger digs. Taken on 10-01-2022 By 10-09-2022, the N. guentheri fry are just beginning to show off some color. They have passed the 1-month critical threshold, and are ready for BAP submission... In conclusions, here are my notes on the species from top to bottom... SPECIES Nothobranchius guentheri REPRODUCTION Annual Killifish Soil / Substrate Spawner 8-week egg drying period required AQUARUM CONDITIONS Dried eggs with peat or coconut fibers are dumped into a small aquarium or tray with aquarium water. In this case, a shallow floating flow-through tray designed on the concept from Dean Tweeddale was used for hatching. The water chmistry was shared with the larger 20 gal. long tank that the tray was floated in. At time of BAP submission, the following measurements were made using API titration test kit KH — 2-3 drops pH — ca. 8.0 Temperature — ca. 80-82 F Ammonia — 0 ppm Nitrite — 0 ppm Nitrate — ca. 40+ ppm (API titration test is old...) Water Source — public / city water Water Changes — With killis, I do not complete large water changes. There is more topping off than actual changes. A typical 20% change is performed every ca. two weeks, otherwise the tank is topped off. I will note that I like to keep the salt from baby brine shrimp in the tank. Salt doe snot evaporate, and Killis do well with some salt slowly building up in their water. Filtration System — two sponge filters DECOR & ENVIRONMENT Live Plants — light Java moss, some Java ferns, several small marimo moss balls Caves or Similar Hiding Places — Sponge filters provide some cover; floating fry trays also provide some muting of lights Substrate: Black Diamond Blasting Sand; light touch of crushed coral Lighting Type and Timing: 5,000-K shop light LED filtered through cabinet liner grid for diffusion FEEDING At first hatching, vinegar eels and New Life SPectrum GROW Fry Powder are used. Once fry are able to take freshly hatched baby brine shrimp, that becomes the staple. After the fry are larger enough to take finely crushed flake foods, Bug Bites color0enhancing flakes and Bug Bites spirulina flakes are used for one feeding each day, with BBS for the other. After fry are large enough, frozen blood worms can be chopped up very finely. These killifish do not have a cutting organ at their throat base to break up large foods, resulting in death when food that is too large is fed to them. Some Killi keepers use vegetable shredding scissors to cut up live or frozen foods so that their fish can enjoy small portions. Live Grindal worms, white worms, blood worms, tubifex worms, and African red worms are all highly recommended if healthy source can be found — and when prepared in very small portions as described. COMMENTS & ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Annual killis are a unique breeder’s fish. They will only live for a narrow window of time — 6-12 months. During that window, they must be bred intentionally in order to propagate the line. Nothobranchius guentheri are an excellent “gateway” annual killi, because their eggs need only dry for a period of 8 weeks (2 months) befre they are ready to wet / hatch. In this window, from August through October 2022 several batches of N. guentheri fry were “wetted” for hatching. In each case, lots of fry emerged at the outset. But with the first batch, water quality crashed due to over feeding in a small 2.5 gal tank. The second batch — submitted for BAP — was quite successful, hatched out in a floating flow-through fry tray. A third batch was wet, hatched, but basically dissappeared within several weeks. Finding the correct balance between under-feeding and over-feeding is a challenge with raising up killi fry. Most all serious Killi breeders use a suite of live foods suitable for these nano fish. I have only maintained vinegar eels and baby brine shrimp. I like using Bug Bites flakes becuse they are made using Black Soldier Fly larvae. I think that this may help killis. Once mature, as has been stated above, great caution must be taken with feeding foods that are simply too large for them to swallow. They cannot cut a blood worm with the back of their throat, and will be forced to swallow foods much larger than they can really effectively digest unless care is taken to prevent this. Same is true of Mysis or other small shellfish. On the other hand, they are voracious eaters and will suffer if meals are skipped.

Been keeping these outside all summer. Just starting to bring them in. Here's a few photos...

Just sharing some evening regards from my Discus…

This year, I have greatly enjoyed getting acquainted with some North American Native fish (NANF) suitable for home aquaria. In one 29 gallon aquarium, I have found what seems to be a good harmony between three species: (1) Notropis Chrosomus — Rainbow Shiners (14x) (2) Enneacanthus obesus — Banded Sunfish (2x) (3) Etheostoma caeruleum — Rainbow Darters (4x) Here is a video showing the Shiners in breeding colors. Notice a Darter appears in bottom left, and Sunfish in bottom right (a second sunfish bottom left)…

by Dave McGrew 04-15-2022 After five months, a small group of Southern Redbelly Dace I've kept in a 20 gal.-long with few darters has moved from winter to spring. Males have colored up spectacularly. Here are several recent photos of mine... And here is my breeding set up: A Rock Tray is placed right under the circular fan / powerhead flow (small Hydor) and somewhat pressed down into the substrate. The Dace were spawning in the tray this morning (04-15-2022). Here is an illustrative video of their behavior (probably trying to eat eggs they'd spawned fallen down into the stones)... Here is a (rather boring) video showing the deliberate process of me discovering the first batch of eggs... And here's a very short video of the "gleanings" from this first pull... I pull the eggs, and place them in a DIY floating / flow-through hatch tray, then replace the shoes tray for more spawning... Here is a video explaining this all.. Later in the day (5:30 pm) I pulled the tray again... WOAH! BIG HAUL OF EGGS! On 04-19-2022, the first wigglers were starting to become visible… 04-20-2022 Wow! A lot more wigglers visible... Eventually, there arose a problem with fry getting through the coarse foam in the flow-through. I saw this happening... Decided to move the fry bin... And then settle fry into a new 10 gal growout... Fry really began to rise by 04-28-2022... They were fed on vinegar eels and New Life Spectrum "Grow" Fry powder for a week or so until they could eat newly hatched baby brine shrimp. Skip ahead to May 18, 2022... Finally crossing the one month threshold, here is a look at these SRBD fry on May 29, 2022... And here, May 31, 2022, catching loads of fry (I cannot count . . . maybe 200+) to ship out to a NANF wholesaler... Here are the measured Water Parameters and Tank Specifics: Spawning Tank Size: 20 gal. long Substrate: White inert sand-like fine stone Hardscape: Creek Rocks, Piece of Moping wood Plants: Pothos, algae, Java Moss, Water Wisteria, Money Wort Filtration: Sponge Filters (2x) Spawning Media: small multi-colored mandscaping rocks piled 2-inches deep in small glass bread-baking pan for SRBDs adults to spawn over top of AVG Temp: 70-78 F (no heater, basement temp. increasing with season) pH: 6.8-7.0 KH: Unreadably low (titration test drops started yellow) NH3 (Ammonia): 0 ppm. NO2- (Nitrite): 0-0.25 ppm NO3- (Nitrate): 80 ppm+ Water Change Schedule: Infrequent -- ca. once every three weeks Grow-Out Tank Size: 10 gal. Substrate: black generic Aquarium gravel (pea gravel) Hardscape: Nothing Plants: Assortment including Anacharis, Java Fern, Moneywort, Java Moss, etc. Filtration: Two Small Sponge Filters AVG Temp: 70-78 F (no heater / basement warming with season) pH: 6.2-6.4 KH: Unreadably low (titration drops started yellow) NH3 (Ammonia) / NH4+ (Ammonium): 0.75 (Ammonium, given the pH) NO2- (Nitrite): 0 ppm NO3- (Nitrate): 80+ ppm Water Change Schedule: never changed Here is a photo showing water parameters -- grow-out tank on the left, breeding tank on the right: MISC. NOTES The challenge with spawning many NANF is awaiting the arrival of Spring. As if on cue, these Southern Redbelly Dace transitioned from their drab winter colors to a brilliant display once (a) temperatures began to rise into the 70s, (b) photo period was lengthened to simulate spring, (c) water changes triggered spawning. As with yarn mops for mop spawning species, adding rinsed-out stones acts like a stimulant. These fish tend to spawn actively at first light once the breeding season sets in. They spawn over stones, fertilized eggs fall to the bottom of the tray amongst the landscaping stones (ca. 1-inch in diameter) beneath their reach, and should be retrieved same day as spawning. Eggs can be moved to a protected hatching container with air and anti-fungal treatment. I used a float-in / flow-through fry container. After a few days, fry become "scooters" moving around the bottom, especially when a light is shown on them. Another week, and they begin to rise. The fry are extremely small / thin, are attracted to any flow, and will pass through any available outflow regions in their container. Fry were fed vinegar eels and New Life Spectrum GROW fry powder starter for a week or more. Eventually they progressed to freshly hatched baby brine shrimp. Once they have been on BBS a week or two, finely crushed flakes were added. Bug Bites Flakes -- Color Enhancing, and Spirulina worked well. Also Xtreme Krill Flakes. As evident from their measured parameters, these NANF are not as delicate or demanding of parameters as some tropical species. Adults were fed a selection of frozen foods to bring them into spawning condition. Several young Rainbow Darters and a random Swamp Darter also share room in the spawning tank without any conflicts.

I’ve kept 6x of these Banded darters in a winter cold water 20-gal tank here. Just starting now to show vibrant spring color. Wonderful US Native fish…

I’m working on breeding Apistogramma Cacatuoides. I bought a group of 12x Pencilfish from my LFS. The manager isn’t all that familiar with identifying species. His supplier claimed they are “Coral Red Pencilfish.” I’m thinking they’re not. Are these Beckford’s? Golden? Something else? Male: Female (?): Group Photos: Sorry about all the BBS in the water. It was a big new hatch feeding day. I imagine this might be complicated by some of these being immature, and only recently acclimated. There’s also the _possibility_ that separate subspecies got bundled together. But for what it’s worth, there’s already breeding behavior!

I’ve a dream… breeding Discus for BAP. I’ve settled in to three possible pairs in my display tank: Pigeon-Blood Brown-Turquoise/ Striped Turquoise / Snakeskin Looking forward to the journey. I’d love insights from others who’ve been successful with Discus. (Especially golf pros 😎)

Thought I’d share some photos from my Rainbow Shiners breeding activity, how I collect eggs, and set up a hatching container. First, I notice they’re spawning over the target zone… I next look to see if eggs are caught in the rocks before pulling… Now, I pull the container… Carefully pull out stones… And look over eggs, remove detritus, snails, etc… Then add to prepared specimen container with airstone, put in just a few drops of Methylene Blue, and cover to keep dark… Now it’s a waiting game. Once I get Wigglers, I move them over to a prepped “Java Box”… All in one stand…

I thought I'd share with everyone some fish I hope to bring to PVAS mini auction in March 5, 2022. Because I know how important it can be to prepare well, I thought I'd share some photos and a few tips that I find helpful with these fish in case anyone is interested in bidding on them at auction. BREEDING PAIR OF BRISTLENOSE PLECOS These are in my Discus tank, currently. They can do well at many temperatures, but are currently at around 83-F. They are heterozygous - their father was Golden / Albino, and the mother as Brown. Their offspring will probably yield some golden and some brown. BREEDING PAIR OF EMERALD KILLIFISH (FUNDULOPANCHAX SCHEELI) Non-annual, Africans, these are in a large colony tank full of other Killis. I may have several extra single males to auction off as well. They are a unique splash of color, and can live in a relatively small tank. They are notorious jumpers, and require a tightly fitting lid. Though sometimes Ok in a community tank, the males tend to be fin-nippers if not distracted by a female. ELECTRIC BLUE ACARAS These were bred and raised in my water. If I can secure some breeding pairs, I'll sell them that way. Otherwise, I may have groups of 5 or 7 juveniles, ca. 2-3 inches long. They can grow up to 5 inches in a large tank. A relatively peaceful mid-sized Central / South American cichlid. They do fine with Discus, Rams, larger Tetras. Somewhat flexible on temperature, I find that warm water, 80-F or higher, along with light tannins tends to help bring out the best in them. GERMAN BLUE RAMS I was successful this summer breeding a handful of German Blue Rams. I hope to have a few pairs for sale. I may also have some extra males to add a splash of color to community tanks. They do best for me if kept above 80-F. MUTT GUPPIES Although the name sound unimpressive I'm pretty happy with several color-strains that are turning out of my Guppy Breeding project this year. These males represent two color forms that I've been able to group out. I hope to have a few pairs ready to sell. Because they are bred in a colony with mixed source adults, the Guppies are not heavily inbred. JUVENILE RAINBOW SHINERS (CA. 12x) The top photo here are the adult parents in spawning colors. I think they are the most beautiful fish I've ever kept. They are cold-water / temperate fish that live at room temperature. They are not picky eaters. These fry were born this year. They have not shown color yet, but will do well if someone is patient. They can do well in a 20-gal aquarium or larger. DISCUS I am planning to trim back / thin out my Discus tank to begin to allow some pairs to form for breeding. I plan to sell at Pigeon Blood from the photo above, as well as at least one of the dark blue striped varieties. These are nearing full maturity, 4-5 inches in diameter. I keep them at 83-F. All I use for filtration is sponge filters. I only water change 1x per week. These guys are not hard to keep, despite the reputation. My water is soft, however, so this may pose a challenge if you have very hard water.

by Dave McGrew These U. S. Natives have become a real passion of mine. I acquired a batch of ca. 30x from Blong Yang (White Cloud Dynasty) at the end of the year, 2020. He breeds them for color, using outdoor tubs in N. Carolina. Mine finally began spawning on 07.28.2021... They're egg scatters, spawning over stones in a glass dish. They like a bit of flow, and some direct sunlight all help to trigger them. The females lead the males, turning reddish-hue. The males follow suit, getting all "fired up." The goal is to get enough eggs dropped in the tray to then pull it and move the eggs to a more carefully prepared hatching environment. I breed them in a 29 gal. tall. I place a sterilite container with a sponge filter inside of the cabinet. This is where I move the eggs to for hatching. I call it my "java box." Here's my August 5, 2021 discovery of some hatched fry, and my moving it in... Here's a video of me feeding vinegar eels to the fry. I'm also trying to count the fry for BAP... The process from here was one of just slow and steady daily feedings of vinegar eels, then brine shrimp, sera micron, and eventually crushed flake foods. Fry were moved up to a breeding net eventually. I'll mention that it's kind of hard to express how staggeringly beautiful the adult Rainbow Shiners are in spawning colors. Here's three photos of mine spawning that don't even do them justice... When they drop their eggs into the glass tray, you can actually see the eggs. They look like this... The fry were counted and moved to a breeder net on August 25, 2021... From subsequent spawns, more than 75x fry total were spawned and raised up. Here is another hatching of eggs (Sept. 5, 2021), showing lively scooters in methylene blue... Here's a video once all fry had been moved to a 20 gal long grow-out tank together, taken Oct. 13, 2021... This accounts for several spawns between July and August, and a successful passage of time into October. I sold 60x fry, gave away ca. 12x to PVAS Club member, and still have ca. 17x fry. They are without a doubt my absolute favorite cold water fish. Here's a close look at two of my females full of eggs... I can help answer any questions that folks have. These are such easy fish to keep. Very undemanding. Quite peaceful. And utterly beautiful. No photos do them justice.

by Dave McGrew I decided to work on a "Mutt-guppy" project, gently selectively culling to get a range of colors influenced by particular favored genetics. Our LFS cannot seem to keep guppies in good health. However, ones we've bred and brought in perform very well for them. So, I'm setting out to be a help... On July 30, 2021, I bought a bunch of random females from our LFS. I unceremoniously stuck them in a 10 gal. quarantine tank in the closet... Not a pretty tank, but I fed them well. Meanwhile, I bought 4x male guppies and put them in a 20 gal. long with crushed coral (our water is pretty soft)... Sadly, by August 12th, only 2x of the males guppies had survived. Not long after adding the females, I lost one of these two... On August 14, 2021 I added 8x females with the two males... Before they were moved out of the QT tank, a few fry had been dropped (ca. 12x) from prior fertilization. These are NOT part of this BAP project, of course. Just what happens with guppies. As it turned out, the genetics were entirely wild-type / quasi-endler... Now, from here, I'll share a few videos . . . but basically, it's a matter of letting Guppies do their thing. Here's my little boy finding fry in the 20 gal long on August 16, 2021 (shared on Aquarium Co-Op forum)... Again, timing-wise, these would not be fertilized by the dark-blue males. We had to cull a lot of endler / wild-type as fry continued to drop. Here is a video from September 4th documenting some more fry... Here's a video from September 28, 2021... Skip ahead . . . and here's the same tank loaded with fry on December 22, 2021... There's hundreds of fry in here. I cannot begin to count them. To wrap it up, here are 10x young males filmed on December 22, 2021 that are beginning to color up nicely from this breeding project... Lots of variety in feeding. Frozen daphnia, live BBS, and quality flake foods form their diet. I'm glad to answer any questions. In the end, one male guppy is most heavily influencing the genetics in this line. Of course the females are from all different stock. My process is tp cull all wild-type male forms, and steer the project forward deliberately with favored genetics as they display in the males once they color up.

by Dave McGrew Decided to have a go at breeding German Blue Rams. My son earned points for breeding them a couple years ago, and since then bred and raised up a lot of them. I bought a nice male and female from my LFS. Their color form differentiation suggested to me that they were not from the same line (i.e. not siblings) The male: The female: Here is a short video showing their lively interaction upon their first "date"(06.11.2021) Temperature was set to ca. 81-degrees Fahrenheit. They were housed with a school of ca. 17x. Glowlight Pygmy Barbs (wonderful little fish). Their diet included some live BBS, and quality frozen foods. They finally spawned on 06.21.2021 I used the same technique as my son has found success with, pulling the eggs, and suspending in a Lee's large specimen container with air and H2O2 to prevent fungus... They were finally free-swimming on 06-27-2021... The caring process from this point forward is extremely detailed, and I will omit most of it. Anyone interested can inquire. On July 6, 2021 I counted a huge number of Rams -- about 89 total -- but there was a crash... In the end, long story short, I ended with less than half of these. Here are several photos from July 14, 2021, showing some nice fry development (along with irksome hydra)... By August 5, 2021 I had 32 surviving fry... These were moved into net breeders, to enjoy growing in better cycled water without being predated upon until they were large enough to add to the main tank... I'll admit that my Nitrates were bad both in the specimen container and the grow-out tank. pH was close to 6.0 in the hatching container, but nearer 8.0 in the aquarium. Again, long story short, they've matured nicely over the months since. Here is a video how they looked by December, 2021... Here's a couple photos taken December 14, 2021 of the best looking of the batch -- these have actually spawned in the tank already, though they ate their eggs... Young male from this spawn: Young female from this spawn: There is much more to report, but perhaps I'll just leave this here for now. Glad to answer any questions.

Enjoying breeding Notropis Chrosomus very much h! 17x are nearing 1-month. Another 12x just a week old. And some 50+ eggs are “wiggling” here. The adults in full breeding colors are unbelievable…

Finding my Notropis Chrosomus (Rainbow Shiners) in spawning dress today, I thought I'd make a rambling video explaining how I breed them. I wish I'd found something like this back when I started with them.