Black_Male_1.JPG 75.56KB
27 downloads...and a close up of his face!
Black_Male_2.JPG 119.62KB
17 downloads
Black Chysotus
Started by
Michael Wolfe
, Jan 30 2007 08:48 PM
14 replies to this topic
#1
Michael Wolfe
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- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 30 January 2007 - 08:48 PM
Here is a photo of a fish we have been discussing in another thread...
Black_Male_1.JPG 75.56KB
27 downloads
...and a close up of his face!
Black_Male_2.JPG 119.62KB
17 downloads
Black_Male_1.JPG 75.56KB
27 downloads...and a close up of his face!
Black_Male_2.JPG 119.62KB
17 downloads
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#2
Guest_ashtonmj_*
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Posted 30 January 2007 - 11:06 PM
Is that the equivalent of a melanistic wild Molly? That is crazy. Now I know why Binkley said he wanted some to produce more.
#3
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 30 January 2007 - 11:18 PM
Goldstien's book mentions that some males occasionally have black spots, and shows a black and white photo of a fish with a couple of dozen spots.
The little Barron's Book (North American Native Fishes for the home aquarium) refers to them as a "black mottled form" and shows a picture of two fish (one in focus and one out) that are about a third to half a dark as the one I have.
I never thought much about it as he came from the plant tank at the LFS. But he is certainly tough... killed the other "normal colored" male not long after the three fish were introduced to the tank. Got very territorial, and just chased him into never eating. He has chased the female some, but never beat her up too bad. And they both seem to be fine in the 75 community tank with all the commotion of shiners.
If I can get him and his girl out of the tank, I will have to try them in an "outdoor container" (really its a trash can that I used to great success breeding guppies a few years back) this spring... which is really only about 4 weeks away here in the beautiful south.
MW
The little Barron's Book (North American Native Fishes for the home aquarium) refers to them as a "black mottled form" and shows a picture of two fish (one in focus and one out) that are about a third to half a dark as the one I have.
I never thought much about it as he came from the plant tank at the LFS. But he is certainly tough... killed the other "normal colored" male not long after the three fish were introduced to the tank. Got very territorial, and just chased him into never eating. He has chased the female some, but never beat her up too bad. And they both seem to be fine in the 75 community tank with all the commotion of shiners.
If I can get him and his girl out of the tank, I will have to try them in an "outdoor container" (really its a trash can that I used to great success breeding guppies a few years back) this spring... which is really only about 4 weeks away here in the beautiful south.
MW
Is that the equivalent of a melanistic wild Molly? That is crazy. Now I know why Binkley said he wanted some to produce more.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#4
Guest_ashtonmj_*
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Posted 31 January 2007 - 10:37 AM
Michael when do you put your topminnows outside? I'm a bit farther north and up on the Cumberland Plateau so it tends to be a wee bit colder here. I believe I put mine out in May but had no success with a pair of chysotus last year. Only the flagfish spawned. I was using round 15 (?) gallon plastic containers you see at hardware stores often sold has clothes hampers HEAVILY planted with a small sponge filter.
#5
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 31 January 2007 - 11:10 AM
To tell the truth, I have not done this before with topminnows. I had two 35 gallon trash cans with lots of java moss and water lettuce in them and raise guppies that I was using as feeder fish for a pickerel I used to have.
These were very productive. Lots of plant growth and lots of baby guppies... I know that is no big accomplishment, but I also had some natives get accidentally mixed in there in a tank moving exercise and they survived with no problem. And reading what others have tried with tubs, I think that I could be successful. I like the larger trash can shape, because of the depth. It can get really hot down here in Georgia, and the depth allows for some temperature gradient should the fish want/need it (as does the heavy planting, obviously).
I also know that F. cingulatus live in the wild in south georgia year round, so I was thinking that by mid-March or so, we should have nice enough waether that I could set these back up.
As a non-native note... the guppies did fine outside even in some rather cold weather and I did not kill any until one night the top of the water actually froze solid... and when I cleaned out the trash can a few days later all of the guppies were dead and there were two natives (shiners or chubs) swimming around in full health.
MW
These were very productive. Lots of plant growth and lots of baby guppies... I know that is no big accomplishment, but I also had some natives get accidentally mixed in there in a tank moving exercise and they survived with no problem. And reading what others have tried with tubs, I think that I could be successful. I like the larger trash can shape, because of the depth. It can get really hot down here in Georgia, and the depth allows for some temperature gradient should the fish want/need it (as does the heavy planting, obviously).
I also know that F. cingulatus live in the wild in south georgia year round, so I was thinking that by mid-March or so, we should have nice enough waether that I could set these back up.
As a non-native note... the guppies did fine outside even in some rather cold weather and I did not kill any until one night the top of the water actually froze solid... and when I cleaned out the trash can a few days later all of the guppies were dead and there were two natives (shiners or chubs) swimming around in full health.
MW
Michael when do you put your topminnows outside? I'm a bit farther north and up on the Cumberland Plateau so it tends to be a wee bit colder here. I believe I put mine out in May but had no success with a pair of chysotus last year. Only the flagfish spawned. I was using round 15 (?) gallon plastic containers you see at hardware stores often sold has clothes hampers HEAVILY planted with a small sponge filter.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#6
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Posted 31 January 2007 - 11:44 AM
I think depth, or lack of, was my greatest problem. I had about 10 gallons worth of elodea and then some sort of floating duckweed resembling plant that blanketed the top. They did a good job of blocking out most of the light but the temp was still regularly 80F and I think it baked my E. zonatum. The Flagfish did great, but my chrusotus died. I had amazing plant growth too and at the end of the year didn't know what to do with it and threw a bunch out. Now I have little to nothing. Going to plan a plant collection probably in April to stock the tanks and hopefully my 5 gallon of java moss will get rid of the nasty bornw stuff and be enough to put in a tub too. I think I'm going with a deeper tub this time too.
#7
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Posted 31 January 2007 - 11:57 AM
try putting your tubs in the ground, this will help significantly as far as keeping the temperature cooler durring the summer.
#8
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Posted 31 January 2007 - 12:25 PM
Brian,
I would have if I could for that very reason, but it wasn't an option for me. The apartment complex I live in does not allow anything on the grass behind the buildings, therefore the tubs were on the deck. Hopefully I will be somewhere by May and can begin this all with some modifications from last years attempts.
I would have if I could for that very reason, but it wasn't an option for me. The apartment complex I live in does not allow anything on the grass behind the buildings, therefore the tubs were on the deck. Hopefully I will be somewhere by May and can begin this all with some modifications from last years attempts.
#9
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Posted 31 January 2007 - 01:32 PM
I think I lost some fish in outdoor tubs one summer because there were too many plants. At night the plants stop producing oxygen and continue to consume it for respiration. And with no aeration and still, summer air, the O2 must have dropped to lethal levels. Lost a bunch of nice pygmy killies. Bummer. And this was a fairly shallow tub with lots of surface area.
MWolfe, maybe you should catch the shiners out of your 75 and use that to breed the killies. The larger the container, the better. All those plants would be good spawning and rearing media too.
MWolfe, maybe you should catch the shiners out of your 75 and use that to breed the killies. The larger the container, the better. All those plants would be good spawning and rearing media too.
#10
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Posted 31 January 2007 - 01:40 PM
This is the container I used last summer to make 30 killies from three. It's about 6 ft long.
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#11
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Posted 01 February 2007 - 12:12 AM
I have the melanistic chrysotus, but none quite that dark. I started with a pair or so with both sexes having the spots, I thought this a boon since suposedly females with black spots are rare. I have selected over they years for the mottled ones, since many young the first time around were regular colored. Getting some with bigger black blotches too.
I put mine out, depending on the weather, anywhere from early April to mid May here in central WI. One year I got them out the end of March, and no joke, a few years back I waited until the first week of June it was so ridiculously cold that spring.
I leave them out until late October to late November, again depending on weather. I check the weather sites a lot and have an indoor outdoor thermometer with the probe in the pond. I watch for the deeper spots to get into the low 50's and then start seriously planning to clean out the ponds/tubs.
One thing with Fundulus I have found, they need a bit more area than you would expect. Not sure if they are cramped in small tubs, or they eat their young in there. I usually have trememdous output in the bigger the pond, even with competition from sunfish and the like. I only had a small thirty gallon tub do alright for rubrifrons one summer. It was chocked with weeds though.
I put mine out, depending on the weather, anywhere from early April to mid May here in central WI. One year I got them out the end of March, and no joke, a few years back I waited until the first week of June it was so ridiculously cold that spring.
I leave them out until late October to late November, again depending on weather. I check the weather sites a lot and have an indoor outdoor thermometer with the probe in the pond. I watch for the deeper spots to get into the low 50's and then start seriously planning to clean out the ponds/tubs.
One thing with Fundulus I have found, they need a bit more area than you would expect. Not sure if they are cramped in small tubs, or they eat their young in there. I usually have trememdous output in the bigger the pond, even with competition from sunfish and the like. I only had a small thirty gallon tub do alright for rubrifrons one summer. It was chocked with weeds though.
#12
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Posted 13 August 2008 - 04:24 PM
Micheal, you still has that black killifish or does this killifish has gone to heaven?
#13
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 13 August 2008 - 09:28 PM
Micheal, you still has that black killifish or does this killifish has gone to heaven?
He's gone, but I think that I have some of his youngsters... I put him outside last year in an above ground pond (shown in another thread somewhere) with a couple of females (also black spotted)... and at the end of the summer has some juvenile fish, but not very many... raised em up over the winter, and put the teenager fish out in a pond again this summer... never see them much, but I think I saw some young the other day... so looks like I might be breeding them... we'll see in the fall, when I empty the pond and bring them in again.
He was a great fish and to top it all off he was a LFS find... got him out of the plant tank as a juvenile for the price of a feeder guppy... had him for three and a half years before I put him out for the summerlast year.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#14
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Posted 13 August 2008 - 09:55 PM
He's gone, but I think that I have some of his youngsters... I put him outside last year in an above ground pond (shown in another thread somewhere) with a couple of females (also black spotted)... and at the end of the summer has some juvenile fish, but not very many... raised em up over the winter, and put the teenager fish out in a pond again this summer... never see them much, but I think I saw some young the other day... so looks like I might be breeding them... we'll see in the fall, when I empty the pond and bring them in again.
He was a great fish and to top it all off he was a LFS find... got him out of the plant tank as a juvenile for the price of a feeder guppy... had him for three and a half years before I put him out for the summerlast year.
Oh yeah it was rare treasure from feeder tanks and you are much lucky to get a nice coloration of your male. Hope his coloration passed to his kids/grandkids, maybe black chysotus will reappear soon. Now what kind aquatic plants did you used to put in the tub as the leopard topminnows in?
#15
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 14 August 2008 - 07:03 PM
Oh yeah it was rare treasure from feeder tanks and you are much lucky to get a nice coloration of your male. Hope his coloration passed to his kids/grandkids, maybe black chysotus will reappear soon. Now what kind aquatic plants did you used to put in the tub as the leopard topminnows in?
I have a clump of java moss that has sunk to the bottom... and I have some bog type plants that are in containers hanging from the side (arrow arrum, some reed my wife bought me, etc.)... last year (when they did breed) that was it except for some duck week kind of floating plant... this year, I got rid of that and added the water shield (see seperate post).
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
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