Killie Eggs Order

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"Mass egg order" ... an individual's log

by Ronnie Lee

This page is dedicated to those...
who dare to face new challenges and
persevere to overcome the uncertainties.

The dedication also goes out to Au, who did the co-ordination work,
and to fellow forumers who made life so much fun!

The bane of local killie keepers is that most of the species are rarely available. Thus, the only viable option would be to acquire posted eggs from overseas.

When killifishes do make their rounds at the LFS, it's usually "aquarium strains" with vague species names. Heh heh, let's not even mention population codes here.

It isn't that aquarium strains are 'second-class killies' but given a choice between a 'mutt' and a 'pedigree', the choice is rather obvious, since we'd know what the next generation of fishes will look like!

A small group of hobbyists are moving towards the conservation of killifish populations, setting up specie-dedicated tanks and distributing these with correct names and codes. We hang out here pretty often and for some, like myself, it's like a second 'cyber home'.

The local weather in Singapore averages between 27 to 32º degree Celsius and that's out-of-bound for killies needing cooler temps. Shipping time is another 'disadvantage' especially with non-annual species and their shorter incubation times.

Hence the idea was mooted to utilize courier service in the hope that these eggs will survive the trip better. Such speedy service is not without it's price.

To make it affordable, fellow forumers compiled their wish list, shared the freight costs and of course, hope for the best! Feedback to our mass-order is logged at this thread.

In our first mass-order for eggs which arrived on Nov 20th 2003, the species brought in by respective members were;

Ronnie, aka Ronwill
Rivulus xiphidius 'PK 15'
Aphyosemion exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola'
* Terranatos dolichopterus 'V96/7'

Lily
Rivulus cylindraceus (Al Castro strain)
* Fundulopanchax filamentosus 'Ikeja'

Kah Kheng
Aphyosemion christyi 'Kinshasa'
Aphyosemion bivittatum 'Funge CI 91'(?)

Zulkifli
Aphyosemion cognatum 'kinsuka' F1
* Fundulopanchax filamentosus 'Ikeja'

Eric Yeo
Aphyosemion exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola'
Aphyosemion striatum 'Lamberene'

Kwek Leong, aka Timebomb
Fundulopanchax sjoestedti (instead of Niger Delta,
replaced with SJO VAKA)
Aphyosemion exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola'

Gan
Aphyosemion striatum 'Lamberene'

A. Rashid
Fundulopanchax sjoestedti 'Dwarf Red'
* Nothobranchius palmqvisti 'Ramisi' KE 01-11

Jesper (Rong Sheng)
Aphyosemion australe 'BSWG 97/24'
Rivulus cylindraceus (Al Castro strain)

Those species with a "*" were sent in a second shipment, also via courier and the seller was very kind to absorb the freight cost. These arrived on Nov 24th 2003.

When our killie eggs arrived in an envelope on Nov 20th 2003, our little bundle of joy were in little plastic petri dishes. These were individually labeled with the necessary information; genus, species, population code, number of eggs enclosed, the collected date and ,where applicable, the wetting date.

xxMine is in there somewhere...

Venue of collection for our loot was hosted by Kwek Leong and although I took some rather interesting pics of the 'expectant fathers', permission to upload their squinting faces is still pending, unless I want my butts booted!

Anyway, this is what I brought home... my pack of 3;
1 petri dish of Aphyosemion exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola'
2 petri dishes of Rivulus xiphidius 'PK-15'

3 petri dish

Rivulus xiphidius 'PK 15'
RIV 2

xxx

RIV 1 : 12 eggs Collected 14-15th NOV

RIV 1

xxx

RIV 2 : 13 eggs Collected 15-16th NOV

3 eggs... The good, the bad and the ugly...

There were a fair number of fungicised eggs from both petri dishes, which were removed to minimize the risks to the other good eggs.

Click on pic for a larger image.

This is the 'stereoscope' I use at the lab for precision attachments work.

It is something like a microscope except that it's more like a hybrid between a binocular and a microscope!

The 'magnifying section' is mounted to a stand, something like a camera-copying stand, and 'focusing' is dialed along a toothed-rail/pillar. It is 'stereo' in the sense that there's a 'left' and 'right' view, much like a binocular or bino-scope.

Since I wanted a bigger closeup, beyond my Canon A200's specs, I decided to experiment. A close friend always tell me... "you won't know until you try!"

When I realized that the eyecup of the stereoscope is removable, I focused manually on the object, placed the A200's lens snugly onto the scope's viewer and shot a test pic through it. Test peep! Vignetting is evident when macro is used at widest angle.

The following real close-ups were taken with the stereoscope and Canon A200 combo.

RIV - good, bad & fungicized. Click here to see a closeup of the 'fur ball'!

Montage of 3 good eggs.

A twin halogen lamp, on flexible 'goose-neck', was used as the main light source during the shoot and it does get pretty warm.

I took multiple shots of the same eggs because the shell kept drying out and became hazy. Then again, I think I've maxed out on the stereoscope/A200 combo.

If you look closely, you might be able to see the partially developed spine and head.

Click here and here for larger pics of the eggs.

Aphyosemion exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola'

xxx

Aphyosemion Exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola'

Of the said 19 eggs, I could only find 2 good eyed-up eggs. There wasn't any fungicised eggs but I noticed something else... I thought I saw a pair of eyes in a pile of mush!
Going under the scope, it was obvious that some of the frys had hatched during shipping!

Hatching tray with a wad of java moss and 'seasoned' water.

Peat is left within the petri dish, so that it's easier to spot any hatched frys.

Since I've had decent results having a Cherry shrimp with the hatching eggs, I decided to stick with it.

Update : November 21st 2003

Aphyosemion Exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola'

A lone fry... the first of many to come, I hope!

Update : November 23th 2003

Aphyosemion Exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola'

On the third day, after the frys have stabilized and became free-swimming, I transferred them to another grow-out tray with salvinia natans. There's a good infusoria count in that tray but started light feedings of vinegar eels and microworms.

I've collected 3 frys so far and there's none that I can see in the hatching tray.

Update : November 25th 2003

Rivulus xiphidius 'PK-15'

By the looks of it, I should be able to wet the Rivulus eggs soon.

In this group of pics, one can actually make out the shape of the fry's head and the eyes along the side.

I tried taking a better shot of the iris, but the fry kept wriggling away. Yes! it's already moving within the shell and probably responding to the halogen light.

The spine is quite well formed by now.

Even while waiting to wet the RIV xiphidius eggs, I'm already looking forward to meeting up at our first forum gathering and pick up the second shipment of eggs... my Terranatos dolichopterus 'V96/7'.

Update : November 26th 2003
Aphyosemion Exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola'
Fry count remained unchanged on the morning of the 6th wetting day. Decided to stimulate some activity by changing 100% of the hatching water (I know this works for the AUS eggs).

Later at night, 3 more frys hatched, bringing total to 6 frys.

RIV xiphidius eggs are still developing and the iris is getting clearer.

Update : November 27th 2003
Rivulus xiphidius 'PK 15'
During a break at work, I checked on the RIV eggs under the stereoscope and observed that most of the eggs have eyed-up.

x
I wanted to take a pic of the least developed egg and accidentally ruptured the shell ! Aaaarrrrgggghhh !!!
Since I wasn't sure if a ruptured egg will make the trip home, I decided to leave the egg in a glass petri dish of aged water, and hoped for the fry's survival... and it did! Whew!

Earlier, I read that Lily's Rivulus cylindraceus had already hatched and then it struck me, that if the least developed egg can hatch, perhaps it's time for the others to hatch too.

I wetted the remaining 7 eggs and over the next one and a half hour, little frys wriggled out.

TOTAL live frys as on Nov 27th;
Aphyosemion Exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola' = 6 frys
Rivulus xiphidius 'PK 15' = 8 frys

Recap on incubation period;

Aphyosemion Exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola'
Collected on Nov 9th 2003
1st fry hatch on Nov 21st 2003
Approximately 13 days

Rivulus xiphidius 'PK 15'
2 batches of eggs collected between Nov 14th-16th 2003
All peat incubated frys hatched on Nov 27th 2003
Approximately 14 days, in Singapore's weather!

x x
Update : November 30th 2003
Picked up the Terranatos dolichopterus 'V96/7' eggs at the pre-gathering meet and I'm stumped by the incubation period... it's gonna be a loooonng wait!
x

Collected September 20th and October 28th 2003. Incubate 4 to 8 months!!!

WOW!!!.. that means the earliest wetting date is January 20th 2004 !!! Ouch !

Let's see how much shorter the incubation is with Singapore's hot weather...

x x

Update : December 7th 2003 (Sunday)
Did a fry count during water change;
Aphyosemion Exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola' = 6 frys
Rivulus xiphidius 'PK 15' = 8 frys ... no casualty

x x
Update : December 10th 2003
Terranatos dolichopterus 'V96/7 - further observations and progress will be logged here.
Aphyosemion Exigoideum 'Ngoudoufola' - further observations and progress will be logged here.
Rivulus xiphidius 'PK 15' - further observations and progress will be logged here.

Copyright issues:
Fellow forumers at Killies.Com are free to use the pictures with proper credit.
All others are to request for permission first.

Page created by Ronnie Lee . Nov 20th 2003
Best viewed with Netscape 7.01
Updated December 10th 2003