My L. ommata tank - questions
#1 Guest_RichardSFL_*
Posted 20 April 2011 - 02:29 PM
I think I’ve seen spawning behavior. Male and female side by side shimmying like crazy - never saw that in the first two tanks. But I have not seen eggs when they do that but then I don’t know if I would. How big are ommata eggs? I would love them to establish a colony but I am not sure I will be able to properly feed the newly hatched fry. From my reading it sounds like they would need green water and infusoria at first, and I have never tried to culture those.
For the 12 gallon, I plan to plant it heavily including water lettuce for the surface and am deciding between Etheostoma fusiforme and Lucania goodei. I would like to do both in that tank, but reading here I get the impression that Bluefins prefer to be alone. I also very much like H. formosa, but after my early experience wiht Platys, specifically homing the overpopulation, I am wary of livebearers.
Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.
Richard
#2 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 20 April 2011 - 06:45 PM
I've never kept Etheostoma fusiforme or Lucania goodei, but I'd imagine that every fish likes a bigger tank. Have you tried looking on your local craigslist for used tanks? You can sometimes get really big ones for really cheap. For example, my 55 gallon tank was $25.
#3
Posted 20 April 2011 - 08:10 PM
#4 Guest_RichardSFL_*
Posted 20 April 2011 - 09:05 PM
Erica - I too like as big a tank as possible and appropriate and only wish I had the room for more. Right now there are two incredible deals on my area Craigslist, a 90 g with stand and 55 g with stand, both with filters and both under $50.00. I'd like to move my 40g into one of those, but the work involved is daunting as it is very heavily planted. I was thinking the 12 g would be OK for the darter or the bluefin as the person I would probably buy them from says a 10 g is OK for both species. By the way, earlier this week I read through your long thread about your gilbertis. Very interesting and I had to smile when you talked about their shyness. My ommatas always move away when I sit near them, and the tank is so thick with hornwort, they are invisible. But if I sit quietly for a few minutes, most of them reappear, especially one female who seems to run the tank. She has claimed the area right under where the food comes in. I'd like to do gilbertis myself but it seems like they really need live food which I worry about being able to always provide.
Michael - Thanks for the information. You make them sound even more interesting! It seems you think a 12 g would be OK for them and they would be OK with bluefins. But would the bluefins like it? I'm torn; I love darter behavior and bluefin appearance.
Thanks again. I'll most likely at least start with the darters - 4 of them, I think.
#7 Guest_RichardSFL_*
Posted 21 April 2011 - 01:07 PM
#8
Posted 21 April 2011 - 01:41 PM
omatta and edwini now that is a really nice idea... makes me want to go back to the Okefenokee and get some omatta (I already have the edwini)...The Bluefin killies I kept years ago were pretty mean, and might terrorize L.ommata in a small tank.
Swamp, sawcheek, or brown darters would be less likely to intimidate your ommata.
#9 Guest_RichardSFL_*
Posted 10 May 2011 - 03:07 PM
The ommatas continue to do well eating BBS, decapped BS eggs, flake and now I have added Grindal worms which they love. Today I received some dried earthworms and some earthworm flake, so I'll be seeing if they like those too. Flake is, of course, their least favorite of the foods, but they do eat it. Still seeing spawning activity but no results yet.
A friend who is a killifish guy has spawned L. goodeis (his only native killie) but no ommatas, but he says that I need to collect the eggs. But I believe it was on here that I saw two people mention that they had ommata colonies that went on for a few years. It was not my impression that they were collecting the eggs. I'm assuming I do not have to collect the eggs(?).
My other question. I bought a PandS camera and have some pictures of the tank - not great as I learn to deal with glare and reflections but they show the tank OK. Am I allowed to put them in the NANFA gallery so that I can put them in this thread more easily? Also want to get some pictures of the native tank at my job. A paddlefish, a black crappie, and several other fish I am trying to identify.
Thanks for any help or suggestions.
#10 Guest_schambers_*
Posted 10 May 2011 - 07:00 PM
I think most killies can be kept one of two ways. First way, is collect the eggs and raise the fry in a separate tank, which is more work but can result in large numbers of fish. The second way is to provide a species only tank with lots of vegetation/cover for eggs and fry. This will result in fewer fry but can give you a self sustaining colony.
I also have several mangrove killies in brackish community tanks, and I have enough fry survive to slowly increase their numbers. Since I'm not interested in selling fish, it works well for me.
#11 Guest_RichardSFL_*
Posted 10 May 2011 - 09:24 PM
I fed them the earthworm flake tonight and they seemed to like it a much better than the Tetra Color that I have been using.
#12 Guest_RichardSFL_*
Posted 14 March 2012 - 02:12 PM
And I now have a tank of H. formosa and E. fusiforme - very entertaining.
#13
Posted 14 March 2012 - 06:10 PM
#14 Guest_RichardSFL_*
Posted 15 March 2012 - 12:21 PM
Also, all my fish except the ommatas love the earthworm flake, including my new swamp darters and H. formosas.
#15
Posted 15 March 2012 - 05:52 PM
#16 Guest_RichardSFL_*
Posted 16 March 2012 - 01:47 PM
I have never heard L. ommatas called lemon swamp killies. It fits my males for sure.
I've also never encountered a cyclopeeze wafer - what is the brand? Thanks.
#17
Posted 16 March 2012 - 09:19 PM
but also you can see it on amazon
http://www.amazon.co...r/dp/B001EUI426
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