Aphyosemion australe
I have found the most productive way of breeding A. australe is as follows:
-
For breeding I use 2.5 gallon tanks containing green dacron (sunken) mops
and some floating plants and a box filter containing aquarium gravel and
no cover.
-
My water has a hardness of about 50 ppm and contains 1 tspn of salt/gallon
-
The pH of my water is between 5.0 and 5.5 (At 6.5 I get NO eggs).
-
I pick eggs every other day and place them into plastic trays of the same
water they were spawned in. The trays are spray-painted black of the outside
to keep out light. The water contains just enough acriflavin to impart
a pale green color to the water.
-
At 75 degrees F. the eggs will hatch in 1 week.
-
The fry are removed and placed in 1 gallon tanks containing a small amount
of Java Moss and some "green water".
-
I keep adding fry for about 2 weeks since they apparently don't cannibalize
each other.
-
After a few days, I start to add a small amount of live baby brine shrimp
and a few small red ramshorn snails.
From here it is just a matter of how many fry and what size tank to graduate
them to. At approximately six months of age, they are saleable.
Good Luck,
Bob Schwiegerath
Socorro, NM
|