I have fry from my wild-caught Ophthalmotilapia nasuta Kipili Gold! Finally! I was going to post the progress in the 'What did you do with your tanks today?' thread, but after several abortive attempts, I didn't want to jinx it, so I waited until I actually had free-swimming fry to post here.
I have had this group of WC young adults, 3 males and 5 females, for about 18 months. Like all wild-caught featherfins, it took them a while to settle in. Here is the colony, which also includes some Enantiopus kilesa.
I had the first spawning of these last November, but the female only held the eggs for 2-3 days, which is typical for the first few spawns. Here she is holding her newly-laid eggs; not nearly the obvious mouthful of other mouthbrooders-
I had two more spawnings in the spring, neither productive, and I believe two different females were involved. Here's the dad in normal coloration; in spawning dress the yellow gets more intense, and the fins and head turn smokey black-
My latest spawning was on August 21, and for the next two weeks I fed the tank sparingly, with flakes only, so that the brooding female could eat, but carefully. After 4-5 days she was still holding, so the critical period had passed. I kept a careful eye on her to make sure she wasn't being bullied, but then finally on September 9, her 19th day of holding, I moved her into an unoccupied 55g brooding tank, along with one of the smaller females for company. I moved the 'midwife' back to the main tank five days later.
This morning, four weeks to the day since spawning, the female was sifting the substrate, and five small fry were swimming just below the water surface, which is typical for these fishes just after release. Here is the proud mom; she looks very good after four weeks of eating only sparingly-
And her little ones (sorry about the bad pic; they move so fast it's difficult to photograph them). They are already showing yellow pigment in their dorsal fins, a bit hard to see here-
I'm super-psyched to have these fry. Kipili Golds have been bred in captivity, but you rarely see tank-raised fry for sale, and having a colony of F1 Golds- which are genetically equivalent to wild-caught but easier to handle- will be awesome. And generally once a female has raised her first brood, she's a much better parent going forward. These are one of my all-time favorite fishes, so a great day in the fish room!
I have had this group of WC young adults, 3 males and 5 females, for about 18 months. Like all wild-caught featherfins, it took them a while to settle in. Here is the colony, which also includes some Enantiopus kilesa.
I had the first spawning of these last November, but the female only held the eggs for 2-3 days, which is typical for the first few spawns. Here she is holding her newly-laid eggs; not nearly the obvious mouthful of other mouthbrooders-
I had two more spawnings in the spring, neither productive, and I believe two different females were involved. Here's the dad in normal coloration; in spawning dress the yellow gets more intense, and the fins and head turn smokey black-
My latest spawning was on August 21, and for the next two weeks I fed the tank sparingly, with flakes only, so that the brooding female could eat, but carefully. After 4-5 days she was still holding, so the critical period had passed. I kept a careful eye on her to make sure she wasn't being bullied, but then finally on September 9, her 19th day of holding, I moved her into an unoccupied 55g brooding tank, along with one of the smaller females for company. I moved the 'midwife' back to the main tank five days later.
This morning, four weeks to the day since spawning, the female was sifting the substrate, and five small fry were swimming just below the water surface, which is typical for these fishes just after release. Here is the proud mom; she looks very good after four weeks of eating only sparingly-
And her little ones (sorry about the bad pic; they move so fast it's difficult to photograph them). They are already showing yellow pigment in their dorsal fins, a bit hard to see here-
I'm super-psyched to have these fry. Kipili Golds have been bred in captivity, but you rarely see tank-raised fry for sale, and having a colony of F1 Golds- which are genetically equivalent to wild-caught but easier to handle- will be awesome. And generally once a female has raised her first brood, she's a much better parent going forward. These are one of my all-time favorite fishes, so a great day in the fish room!